I thought I had broken the spring perches and bent the axel tube when my pinion angle had moved up by 5°, but after taking it all apart it looks like the axle housing is still strait. I opened it up and looked down the weld seam inside the axle tube and everything was perfectly strait (and took lots of measurements), and the axles/spool look as good as the day I installed them 9 years ago. The only issue was the dent left in the tube from the spring perches getting pushed in.
My question is: after removing the old spring perch can I just weld on my new one? The problem Im seeing is there is about a ¼ inch gap where the perch is not contacting the axle tube due to the dent in the tube (the tube is a little flat on one side). Is this a problem, or can I just weld it in? I ordered a back brace and Calvert Racing HD spring perches to weld on my 8 ¾, but if this thing is trashed I dont want to waste my time (and money) fixing it
Ill just get a MO875 housing or something. The Calvert perches cover a lot more surface area (cover 180° of the axle tube) compared to the stock perches, so they should stay put.
Here are a couple pics if that helps: