i found that a couple weeks ago

 

Just curious if anyone here has run the LPW cover with the weld-on axle tube strut supports?
Not sure how much that would help honestly, but found it interesting when I came across them.

I have the TA cover on mine... and yeah, it leaks a bit, haha.


...and when it was mentioned if the axle tubes were welded on that 10 bolt... what exactly does that accomplish? I have a good friend who is a manufacturing engineer at AAM and I tried to vaguely explain that some guys I saw one here were doing this, and he scoffed that it was nonsense and said it sounds ridiculous, haha

 

Welding the tubes helps keeps them in true alignment. AAM only put 3 rivets on the 8.625 10bolt tubes to hold them in alignment. Some of the housings I have taken apart were as much as 1/4 inch out of alignment. Some flex and misalignment is acceptable but in a performance application excessive miss alignment will put un wanted stress that can lead to premature part failure.

The funny thing is if you look at a 14 bolt 9.5, they have 4 rivets. I believe everything larger also has 4 rivets holding the tube into the casting.

The other thing welding the tubes does is keeps the tubes from spinning in the housing. The 3 rivets are sometimes not strong enough and have been known to shear and spin the tube in the housing. This is usually more common on lifted trucks with blocks but does happen on lowered trucks as well. Especially when launching on slicks.

In regards to the LPW covers they seem to work for the 8.8 guys. The idea is that your minimizing how much the housing is able to flex under load. The problem is our trucks are alot heavier then the mustangs. In some cases by 1000-1500 Lbs.

 

gotcha, pretty much what I was imagining... I appreciate you taking the time to write out the basic explanation there. Hope I'm not throwing us too far off topic here...
Happen to know if there are, or you have seen, any documented evidence or photos of these occurences? Just simply curious for my own knowledge. I recall seeing some issues with the factory axle housings mostly on desert prerunners on other forums, resulting in the owners welding on elaborate trusses to the axle housings to reduce the flex and increase strength with so much travel and impact... but never saw any that had spun the tubes or anything from street/strip use.
As I've been getting closer and closer to pulling the trigger on a 4-link rear set-up, I really wonder if I will be ok with just using the 8.6 10-bolt? Can't really afford a fab'ed housing, and 14-bolts seem so heavy...

 

I never have a camera when I have seen the spun tubes, but I have seen some on the net. I do have pictures of a housing I did recently and you can see the deflection in the tubes. One side is pulled forward and the other one is bent up wards. You couldn't tell by looking at it, but when I put a Line up bar through it you see the issue. I didn't take pictures of the axles but you could see were the end of the axle were wearing at the C-Clip button.

There is nothing wrong with a 10 bolt when it's built properly. There is plenty of 9-10 second cars and trucks with them. It's the low end torque and wheel hop that kills them. 14 bolt's don't cost any more or should I say much more then a 10 bolt. There is just less info about them so they seem like VooDoo.

Fab housings are so much more affordable now. The problem is all the good parts you need to fill it, not to mention you have to get new brakes.

It all depends on what you plan to do with it. Welding up the tubes is a good start. How ever this should be done with a line up bar to insure they are straight before and after welding. Any good Automotive Fab shop will have the equipment. If you go 4 link adding a tube across the bottom of the brackets will help minimize deflection as well. The tube should pass all the way through all the brackets. Look on Google images for some pictures an you will see what I am talking about.