Welding brackets on a rear end/help needed

Keep telling yourself that.

Take a couple 4' chunks of square tubing and clamp to housing ends parallel to ground. Pull a tape between them, check toe.

Move them 90* so they're perpendicular to ground. Pull tape, check camber.

Of course this is super crude, but if you can see it with a tape the housing's off a mile.

Here in circle track land $75 straightens a housing all day long.

 

Everyone has different opinions, I have stick welded welded and later migwelded brackets and spring pads to rears for over 40 years never warped one or had a problem. A bit of common since goes a long way. Like your frame holder it should work just fine
I also shorten my own driveshafts, the only one that I ever paid to have balanced was, you guessed it, out of balance.
I have a very small budget and can not afford to spend money like a Democrat.

 

Roger on the $75.
For what it's worth, it is absolutely impossible to do ANY welding on a rear end housing without warping it. They have not repealed the laws of physics yet.
I used to build the rear ends for Penske Racing and I have done a bunch of them. Never had one that didn't need straightening after welding.

 

I put the wheels on and block them. Rotate the rear end and measure movement at the tops of the wheels. There shuld be none if straight. Easy check and then you will know if you have a problem

 

when I recently welded leaf spring pads on a GM housing I put load on the housing on the opposite side from where I was welding just using a heavy chain and a 4ton porter power. worked well.
IMO you can't tell how straight it is or isn't until the wheels are on.
In my case I 4-wheel strung them to the front wheels and both sides were great for toe, and the camber was real good too.

afaik ...GM housings are thinner than Ford/Mopar?

 

I ran across this thread with some good info in it. Just doing my homework. I need to do some welding on not only a rear end but my torque tube. One gentleman on a different thread had a good idea I thought to keep his torque tube from bending. He tacked up a thick tall bar to the opposite side of the tube of where he would be welding. Then welded his bracket on. Then cut the bar off on the other side he tacked on. Any reason why this would not work on a rear end too?? tack a thick tall bar on the opposite side of by bracket, then slowly (allowing things to cool) tig up my brackets.

 

Back step your welds! And move from side to side to avoid warping.

 

10-4. I plan to.

 

I highly suggest you do one side at a time and check straightness after welding each side using the procedure in my previous post. If you get a warpage, you will know which side is out. My roll the rear over deal sounds stupid but will really determine if there is a problem. A problem can be fixed by heating and shrinking until the side is straight. I have done 4 rears this way and they come out perfectly straight.

 

I'll bet ford & GM don't straighten their axle housings after welding on them!