Might need to narrow axle housing

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gtmopar

gtmopar

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I may need to narrow my axle housing and i have a few questions. Whats the best way? Tape as a guide? And ive seen tapered bearing retainers that fit right on there and are easier to weld on. What are some of the issues i may run into? Thanks
 
Tape as a guide for what??

I was going to do this, but found an axle that dropped into my Dart.

If you have access to a small lathe, you can buy or build what you need. You need to obtain a nice big piece of straight material to act as an arbor, and either buy or build bushings which will mount in place of the carrier bearings, locate your arbor, and project it out at least one side at a time to the end. Then you need an additional bushing to center and locate the outer end to insure the bearing mount is true.

Or in other words..............

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46025
 
Lets say you get some 1" tape. You wrap the axle housing with the tape to use that as a guide as a cutting line. I saw some bearing retainers that were already machined that slide into the axle tubes and have a v groove machined into it so you can run a nice bead.
 
gtmopar said:
Lets say you get some 1" tape. You wrap the axle housing with the tape to use that as a guide as a cutting line. I saw some bearing retainers that were already machined that slide into the axle tubes and have a v groove machined into it so you can run a nice bead.
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That's nice, but the bearing retainers have to end up being parallel to each other, and preferably in a straight line too. If you just cut the ends off and weld the housing ends on, there's nothing to say the axles will line up.

You need a jig to do this right, like the one here. Its not for an 8 3/4, but you get the idea.
 

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gtmopar said:
Lets say you get some 1" tape. You wrap the axle housing with the tape to use that as a guide as a cutting line. I saw some bearing retainers that were already machined that slide into the axle tubes and have a v groove machined into it so you can run a nice bead.
Click to expand...

Did you read the link I posted?
 
We leveled everything up and cut it on a gravity band saw and this is what we did to brace the rear while welding it up. No issues at all:
 

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What you did there might be "accurate enough" most of the time and IF IF you have a housing with straight tubes, but many axles, including 8 3/4 and Ferd 9" do not
 
I have a question about axles. If you are going to narrow the housing do you need to find an axle and narrow to that width or can the axles come in or be modified to any length? Does that question make sense?
 
Hemi_Duster said:
I have a question about axles. If you are going to narrow the housing do you need to find an axle and narrow to that width or can the axles come in or be modified to any length? Does that question make sense?
Click to expand...

You need to do one of these things...

1. Narrow the housing to the same width as another stock axle- ie, narrowing a truck 8 3/4 to A-body width and running A-body axles

2. Have the axles shortened and resplined to fit the narrowed housing. Just FYI though, not all axles can be shortened and still work. Some of them taper or have steps in diameter, so they won't be the right diameter once they're shortened.

3. Buy custom length axles.
 
Ok that is good info. I assumed the first but wasn't sure about 2nd. Third I figure that's where companies like strange come in. Thanks again.
 
I have some experience doing this on ford 9" housings. It can be done without a jig but its best/easier/more accurate to do it with a jig. Easiest way is to get housing ends such as currie ent. they have a tapper machined on that will fit into the tube and help square it up. When i did this I just tacked the ends on got my new axles and used them to help get it square. Took many measurements to make sure it was square as possible. In the end Axles do not like to go in if the ends are too far out of square.

It can be done!
 
cosworth said:
I have some experience doing this on ford 9" housings. It can be done without a jig but its best/easier/more accurate to do it with a jig. Easiest way is to get housing ends such as currie ent. they have a tapper machined on that will fit into the tube and help square it up. When i did this I just tacked the ends on got my new axles and used them to help get it square. Took many measurements to make sure it was square as possible. In the end Axles do not like to go in if the ends are too far out of square.

It can be done!
Click to expand...

I will most likely narrow my 8-1/4 myself. Luckelly for me I work at a machine shop! I believe I will just order premade axles but once I get it appart the machinest can see if we have tools to re-spline the axles. Look forward to being at that point of this project.
 
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