I wanted a narrower nine inch for my new project and I wanted 5 on 5 1/2 bolt pattern. The early Bronco was almost everything except they are hard to find and not the best looking housing. '57 till about '64 F-100 complete rear end was found and it was perfect except to wide (61inches). Both axles are the same length and the center and pinion are offset to the p***enger side. I picked up a used Early Bronco short side axle and compared it to the F-100. After scribing index witness marks on the housing the housing has cut twice on the drivers side,removing the 3 inches that the Bronco axle was shorter. Jason turned us a sleeve 6 inches long with .005 interference fit. After heating the housing the sleeve was dropped in using a hose clamp to set the depth at 1/2 the sleeve length. The clamp was removed after the housing cooled and the sleeve tack welded. The end of the housing was then heated and dropped over the sleeve with the witness marks in line. The third member and the Bronco axle were installed and the housing welded up. All done, 58 inches wide with a smoothe housing that is almost centered and early ford bolt pattern.
Nice work! Seems like a great way to keep everything trued up. I just gotta ask though. What's ugly about the early Bronco rears?
Slick job. I kinda like the look of the later truck housings too. Here's a '77 150 truck rear I narrowed to about 61" flange to flange. I did it pretty much the same way as you except I added a couple rosette welds (admittedly overkill) as well. BTW these truck housings are pretty cheap too.
That is a really good idea for lining up the housing end, except that you are ***uming that the housing was straight to begin with, which I can almost ***ure you that it is not. I have to straighten at least one tube on 9 out of 10 rear end housings that I narrow at my shop. I have seen them bent where you will have positive or negative camber, toe in or toe out, or both. The best way to align a housing that has been narrowed is with a jig that centers on the bearing bores.
Yeah, I've done it both ways and the use of a jig is definitely the preferred method. When your "jigless" you can also check to see the housing is reasonably straight by using the axle itself. Pull it out just enough to be clear of the outter bearing. Now move it back and forth / up and down - by measuring you can get a feel if it's resoanably centered or not. Again not as good as a jig, but sometimes ya gotta do what you gotta do.
Housing appearance is a matter of personal preference. If you don't have a jig but have access to a lathe your in business. We could have used a pipe cutter but didn't have one of them either. Since as Drive Em stated most have to be straightened any how close is close. Strightening an axle can be done at home with heat and a wet rag when the bend is in the middle of the tube but when the end is bent its rough to fix.
Since we're on the subject - anyone got any other "home brew" methods for checking housing straightness - for those of us who don't have a jig. Seems to me you could stand the housing vertical and put a level on it - comparing the flanges. Again - not as good as the jig, but....I've got a pretty decent level. Seems to me if I took a flat plate of steel drilled 3 holes in it for leveling screws - put it on the ground - leveled it - set my housing on it and then checked the opposite flange with a level - I could at last establish that the housing ends are parallel. I'm gonna try this on my next one. For setting up the rear end in my dragster - I made a "plug" that fit into the pinion bore of the 9". In this plug I attached a laser. I bolted the plug in place and then I rotated the laser to insure I was actually measuring a line that was in fact parallel to the plug. If the laser "draws" a circle when you rotate it - then you use the CENTER of that circle for the true center point. This could be done for the ends as well. Gotta be many ways to get this done......
Try this for checking for a bent housing; 1.With the rear end out of the vehicle and complete with tires, scotch the tires so they can't roll. 2.Make a mark on the top of each tire and measure the distance. 3.Without moving the tires rotate the housing so the pinion is now pointing 90 degrees from where you took your first measurement. 4. Repeat step 3 until you have four measurements which should all be the same. If you get different measurements your housing is bent and you need to shrink the long side.
turdytoo, That's neat, but how do you determine which side you need to straighten? Also couldn't one use your method with the rear end still in the car?? Jack the car up. mark your tires. measure at 0 deg rotate both tires 90 deg measure again repeat.
I don't know why it wouldn't work in the car. As for where the bend is, straight edges on the tube, easy in and out on the axles, eye balling the inside of the housing with the axle removed. No simple answer.
Won't work in the car. Your checking the housing...just spinning the axles won't tell you there's a bend in that. The housing bearing races are the key. By locking the tires and axles down and rotating the housing itself the alignment of the races is compared at 180* to each other and a misalignment will be noticeable. It's the housing that needs to move for the check. Very cool and simple way to do it Turdy!
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