Help installing rear axle housing ends

[reynard101]

Has anyone installed new axle housing ends? What's involved to get them on straight? Does anyone have pics or a tech articles that they can point me to? I have a medium bearing rear end that has a bearing area that's been eaten away badly. I've seen a local industrial machine shop weld up the area and turn down the area on a loader axle, but axle ends for the 9" are only $80. If I can whack off the old and weld on a new set that seems like a fairly cost effective way to go.

 

[broncnaz]

A lot of places use a jig to keep them straight. If your real careful and recheck everything before you fully weld it I would think you could do it. Big issue is you may even think its right then find out your eating axle bearings but even some factory trucks have had that issue.
Might try finding a local racing/fab shop they may have the jig and beable to do it cheaply they commonly cutdown axles for use on race cars.

 

[surfer-b]

I would take it a shop that does custom fab work on axles, but if you just want to try, get a piece of steel pipe with the OD that is the ID of the housing, slide it in, place the end cap on and weld, just make sure to tack and rotate or the heat will pull it out of alignment. O, and make sure not to weld the pipe in there or you will have to start over.

 

[Apogee]

The housings are not necessarily true to the center section, so it's best to use an alignment fixture through the carrier bearings. Any shop capable of properly narrowing a housing should have the necessary tools and experience to do it right the first time. The last time I priced it at Dutchman's in Portland a few years ago, it was ~$250 with the housing ends.

That said, you can buy a new housing from various places in the low $300's and up depending on how heavy-duty you want to get. Currie offers their CE-2001 and CE-2002 housings for $330 and $400 each respectively on their website...not bad considering what you get. At those prices you still have to weld your own spring perches and shock mounts, but you can get them pre-set up for EB's too.

 

[gddyap]

These slide over the axle housing tubing instead of being butt-welded on:

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Semi-Float-Ford-9quot-Flanges_p_1612.html

They would maintain alignment better than the normal butt-welded versions. You should probably still use a fixture to keep everything in alignment. The bolt pattern may not match the retainers on your shafts so you may need new ones. If I were to attempt to weld housing ends on at home, I would use these over anything else.

 

[reynard101]

Those are different, never seen them before. Thanks for the tip.

These slide over the axle housing tubing instead of being butt-welded on:

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Semi-Float-Ford-9quot-Flanges_p_1612.html

They would maintain alignment better than the normal butt-welded versions. You should probably still use a fixture to keep everything in alignment. The bolt pattern may not match the retainers on your shafts so you may need new ones. If I were to attempt to weld housing ends on at home, I would use these over anything else.

 

[bludorbronc]

i bought a 1.5 inch solid round bar stock long enough to go thru the housing. next i had a machine shop make two slugs that would go over the bar and slide into the bearing ends. next they made two slugs that would fit into the carrier bearing spot and let the bar slide thru. next i took an old third member and used a band saw to cut the pinion nose off so i can get my hand in and tighten up the carrier bearing bolts with the slugs and bar in place. with bar located in third member and sticking out both ends slide axle bearing cup over bar and install slug into ends and over bar and your set to weld.

 

[67ster]

You would be surprised at the number of bent housings that we used to encounter when changing lengths or ends. I've built and used a fixture made from ground and polished solid hydraulic shaft and sleeve bored and turned to fit an old 9" third member and adaptors to fit the ends. I had to use a 20 ton press and a bit of heat to save several that had ladder bar brackets welded on and not straightened afterwards.