Got the right hand side tube in.. I can only tell about .25* off from the two sides, considering I didn't make a jig for it Iam a little suprised, but mostly happy I thought it was gonna be way off. Now before I put the ends in and the back brace on I have to true the ends of the tubes and chamfer them. I have a jig for this part to hold everything in line and it centers off the bearing caps in the center section. It includes a solid bar, dummy center with special inserts in the caps then has locking collars that hold the bearing ends on.


I think I'm going to build a lifting point onto the housing, it's super heavy already and if it gets too much more I probly can't pick it up. Ha!!! When you feel out of shape and your body lets you know. Terrible feeling!!

I just slid the 4 link brackets on they haven't been welded on I just didn't want to forget to put em on

 

Nice work, but yea, with that type of welding you may need to straighten it some before you jig up to put the ends on so they aren't hanging off the axle tubes and look like ****. Keep it coming.

 

Thanks ya Ima install the jig and see how it looks. I'll snap some pics later.

 

The Line up bar will tell the story.

I usually put the bar in to tack and weld the tubes in place. I made a special puck to hold the tube's. When I do the back brace, is when I put it face down with a center section and pull straight down with some C clamps in the ends of the tube to the table to load the housing. When you weld the back brace on, it can pull back like a ****...

 

So.... Ima complete retard!!!

Come to find out the jig that I have is a dual purpose design that is setup to align the axle tubes up to the bearing caps in the third member. As well as the housing ends. Here I spent all that time trying to mock stuff up only to find that .25* on the one tube is a good bit off at the flange. Good thing is there is a guy that can "straiten" it here local. Bad thing is it was totally avoidable. Hopefully it can be salvaged if not it was an expensive lesson learned. And I can't even blame it on beer because none was consumed the whole process.

I could just weld the gap but that's gonna look like hell. And I want it right!

 

In the past I have had to message the tube openings in the housing slightly but I always use the bar to make sure they are in straight. Fix it now or forever hold your piece's... Lol

 

Got the number of the guy, Ima call him in the morning. See what they can do for me. They have a gigantic hydraulic press and use it to straiten housings for modified dirt cars. I'm assuming this will be an easy job for them.

 

It looks like he's gonna get it strait. Nice! So any pics of how to how to hold the housing strait while doing the back brace?

 

I have to back and look.

Did you get it straightened?

 

Ya crazy he straitened it without even heating it. And you can't even tell except a couple light scratches on the tubing from spinning it in the jig he has made. Very impressed! He said took him about 3 hours. Billed me 150$, pretty happy with that and I know it's strait! He said its pretty stout piece, very strong took a lot more pressure to move it than most of the dirt track 9" he's used to. Then he asked about the truck a little and showed him some pictures. Says he wants a ride, I'd say we can arrange that.

.....Now back to business! Lesson learned!