Most people who build fab rears will have the typical jig to weld the ends on, but have modified pucks for holding the thing rigid while you weld on it.

 

That's the thing I had one.... Pretty dumb huh. The guy I borrowed it from gave me a brief how to with it. When I say brief I mean, "Here this should hold it all strait" I thought it was just for holding the ends strait didn't realize it held the tubes strait too while they were tacked up. Oh well it's strait now.. No biggy. Ha

 

Hey, you're learning.....

 

Had to go way back to find some pictures.

I use a 2 inch line up bar. The pucks for the Tube are custom made. I usually buy my center section line up rings from Mark Williams Unless the don't have anything.

I weld the tubes in with some custom made end pucks. After they are fully welded, I fit a back brace. Once it's ready to weld, I clamp it down with big welding clamps as shown in the pics below. It's putting some preload in it at the tube end to avoid the tube from being sucked backwards when the brace is welded up.

After the back brace is done I fit the 4 link brackets. Once its all welded, Then the ends get fitted and welded on.

I mentioned it previously But I prefer to buy my strange housing with the rear cap loose and build my own Fab style back cap.

 

Very nice work man.

 

Thank you!

 

Thanks for that! Makes since! And looked good when it's done!
My rear axle is right at 57" including axles, which puts me at roughly 51" wide housing. The frame measures 35" inside to inside on my truck. I intend to mount 4 link brackets centered on housing at 30" od which will in my thinking give it the best stability and plenty of frame clearance at 2.5" on each side with the coilovers mounted on the outermost brackets on each side. The comp engineering kit says to have a minimum of 3.5" of axle travel upward and the top of my housing ends will be roughly where the bottom of the frame is so I will be doing a c notch as well as boxing the frame in where my front crossmember will be mounting. I will be filling the holes from the old shock crossmembers that were removed. I will be doing this with 12 ga mild steel.

Another thing that I've decided is that I will be deleting the inner bed structure for my step side completely and will be relocating all the heavy items from engine bay to the rear of the truck such as radiator, fans, battery, a/w intercooler, water tanks, Trans coolers, pumps, I have been considering raising my cell up above the frame for wheelie bar clearance. Then will be building an inner "tree" to hang the stepsides from. Everything will be enclosed under an aluminum cover, I will likely be building weight boxes to be able to add weight back in where needed. I do still want to have a large fuel tank behind axle with some storage availability for long trips like drag week and Rocky Mountain race week. Large enough to have personal belongings small tool box and hopefully extra wheels and tires I'm hoping but we will see.

 

Started putting the 4 link brackets on. I don't think the housing has enough room for a back brace it's only gonna have a couple inches of brace on the tubes before the brackets you think it's worth the time? I'm thinking it's pointless when the housing has an internal gusset IMO.

 

And here's another pic

 

The back brace is supposed to extend all the way across the tubes first, then you fit the 4 link brackets over it. This is where the strength comes from. The internal gussets can only control so much. Think of it as a long lever. The further out you go, the less amount of force it requires to bend things.

Without a back brace, on my little housing with some welding clamps, I can pre load about 1/8 inch on each side. If I can do that with some basic clamps think what it will do on a slick in a with a 1000 plus HP and FtLbs. of torque in a 3500-3800lb car. The further out of alignment, the more you start wrecking parts like bearings and axles.

My first housing in my first car was built by someone but did not have the 4 link housing brackets on it. Needless to say it wasn't straight But I didn't have the equipment or knowledge to know any different. Just pushing the roller around while it was getting caged and sheet metal work done, it tore up the axle bearings.

After I sold that unfinished project to finance another project, The new owner brought it down and was concerned that it tore up the bearings. At this point I purchased my own bar so I could build my own housing for my new project. Sure enough a lign up bar confirmed it wasn't straight... The last shop never told me that it had any issues But they took my money and worked on it any way... This is exactly why I have my own equipment now and learned how to do it on my own. Paying for work once is almost as expensive as the equipment. Paying to have it Re-done because it isn't right is Painful to say the least...

In Summary, Yes I recommend a Back Brace!