oh no, is this 8.75 housing too bad?

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killnine

killnine

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So I bought a 8.75 rear end pretty much complete minus brake hardware, and just started digging into it to replace what should have been the only thing that it needed, the seals. It's got tapered bearings on the axles. I got the axles out, and after looking into the housing I notice that the housing end seems to be welded on about half an inch off center. It seems to be on 'straight'; I haven't checked whether the flange face is 90 degrees to the rest of the housing, but it's definitely not on centered.

The other end isn't perfect either, but is only a little noticeable. So now I am starting to think this housing was cobbled together, or had the housing end repaired at one time (badly). I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have happened from the factory. The measurements all add up, so

I'm not doubting its origin, just what happened, and how to recover from this now. The person I bought it from is a member and seems trustworthy. This is more about what the hell do I do now. Anything? Run it? Grind it cut it and weld it? I don't have the time or money to ship it back or look for a new housing.

I was really hoping to get something I didn't have to fabricate (or when I do it, some other word that isn't quite as honorable). I need to replace my 7.25 which seems to be ready to kill me with this by the week of Christmas so I can go see my wife 13 hours away.


Here are some pictures.

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Other, not so bad side last

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That, my friend is junk. A rear needs to be narrowed AT LEAST on a jig to insure that the ends are square, and at best, with an inner sleeve and rosette welds. The offset there will never allow the seal to sit properly on the axle..and with that level of sloppy, I'd have serious doubts about the integrity of the weld. Don't use it, man.
 
That's bad. Id' think even the average teenager would know better than to weld the ends on crooked. The only thing I'd use that in is a demolition derby car
 
I have seen this in the past. My guess is that the housing was bent and this was someones attempt to get the axles to line up properly. I bought a shortened 9" housing and one end looked just like that. I have a 9" jig, when I put it on this housing you could tell it was purposely welded offset in a attempt to get the axle/bearing in the housing.
 
Old Caddy mechanic (like late 40's to 80's said they would factor in a 1/2-1 degree of + toe inr into the rears when they built them for track duty. Something about stability but I never bought it. That needs to be cut and corrected, and knock about 4" off each side :)
You can buy ends, but before you cut it, the tubes might be the thing that is off and they might have corrected the track with the offset end. You would have to send a 60" shaft through the mounted carrier (or some C-body axles) and see where it ends up in relation to the ends, might be spot on.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
I have seen this in the past. My guess is that the housing was bent and this was someones attempt to get the axles to line up properly. I bought a shortened 9" housing and one end looked just like that. I have a 9" jig, when I put it on this housing you could tell it was purposely welded offset in a attempt to get the axle/bearing in the housing.
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Great, so basically I got a cone SG 3.23 and carrier, which given the state of everything else now I'm not sure will run at all or not, a set of axles and bearings that are probably junk from being run with no seals and in a questionable housing, and a housing that is probably junk as well. And some backing plates and ebrake cables. For $1150 plus the gas and time it took to drive back and forth to Tennessee in a rented truck 14 hours. Awesome.
 
killnine said:
Great, so basically I got a cone SG 3.23 and carrier, which given the state of everything else now I'm not sure will run at all or not, a set of axles and bearings that are probably junk from being run with no seals and in a questionable housing, and a housing that is probably junk as well. And some backing plates and ebrake cables. For $1150 plus the gas and time it took to drive back and forth to Tennessee in a rented truck 14 hours. Awesome.
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Have you tried contacting the seller? If he's honest he should do what he can to make things right
 
$1150 for a 3.23 8.75!!! Damn, I gotta jack my prices up some. For that kind of loot, I'd be holding the seller accountable for the housing.
You can save that with a new pair of ends, but you're probably best off to find another housing and start from scratch.
 
If you do decide to replace the ends be careful which aftermarket ends you buy. Some will not accept the factory axle seal which you absolutely have to have with tapered bearings.
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
$1150 for a 3.23 8.75!!! Damn, I gotta jack my prices up some. For that kind of loot, I'd be holding the seller accountable for the housing.
You can save that with a new pair of ends, but you're probably best off to find another housing and start from scratch.
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Well, it's a lot of money but comparison shopping for a full put together setup, with everything but the brake hardware, and known working from a hopefully honest member... it's not so bad. Of course the known working part is now the part that isn't coming together so well.
I really haven't seen anyone selling all of this stuff together, and what I have got offers on has been just the housing, or something I could hack together myself (weld, cut, etc). I was hoping to get something I didn't have to work on. There are packages on ebay of course, and other places, but for much more money.

I think the seller assumed this stuff was fine, put the diff in for me and hoped for the best. Of course I'm going to lose out on this, no matter how it's handled, because even if I ship it back and get my money back, I'm still out a **** ton of time and effort, and gas money, and I don't have a rear end.

I'm thinking I could source another housing, and put the diff and carrier and maybe even the axles in that, and maybe be alright. By the time I find a housing, and pay the shipping, I'm out half the money I paid already.

I might just have to look to get some money back for whatever it's going to cost to fix the housing, and hope for the best on the rest of it.

I don't want to say anything bad about the seller at this point, because he hasn't responded to me yet, and so far he's been a good guy. I may have just put too much faith in how much he knew about the housing before he sold it to me.

If I were to pay someone to cut, grind, and weld this thing back together properly, am I really going to need to get new housing ends? It seems that housing ends are all made for green bearings. I've already got the proper gaskets and all for these bearings, and the seals. I'd rather not spend any more money. Is someone who can weld and layout going to be able to handle this, or is it going to be a mess once he/she gets it ground back off? Does it require a jig to do it right for a driver? If so, it sounds like I'm going to just be driving on the 7.25 until I find another housing.
 
All the guys that I deal with that narrow rearends cut the old housing ends off and re-use them again as long as their not damaged. One thing to keep in mind is if that housing is the proper a-body width and someone added 11" brakes they just made it about 3/4" wider than stock cause 11" brakes and the required axles are wider and have more offset than a-body brakes and axles. If it is a-body width (52-5/8") housing end to housing end) there should be enough meat there to cut it down and still be usable cause they don't lose much cutting the ends off.
 
Here is what you can do. Install the axles and measure them they may be straight after all. IF they are not, ie toed in our out or whatever, cut the ends and let them float on the axles: get the axles where you want them, ie straight as you want them and then tack the ends back on using the axles as the guides. remove the axles and take it to a welder and have him finish the job. You said they are set up for green axles? NEver used them so this may not work. Hope is not lost. Its just metal. Cone SG are fine, how many times do you really rebuild the clutch style?
 
pishta said:
Here is what you can do. Install the axles and measure them they may be straight after all. IF they are not, ie toed in our out or whatever, cut the ends and let them float on the axles: get the axles where you want them, ie straight as you want them and then tack the ends back on using the axles as the guides. remove the axles and take it to a welder and have him finish the job. You said they are set up for green axles? NEver used them so this may not work. Hope is not lost. Its just metal. Cone SG are fine, how many times do you really rebuild the clutch style?
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It's tapered bearings. Proper length axles for an a-body, but with LBP. I believe they are the ones from Moser or similar, where they are right for a SBP a-body brake but LBP. The current brake setup is the 10" 1.75 backing plates with redrilled 10" bell drums for LBP. There is no way I will get a seal into the axle tube the way it is currently, so even if the axle tubes are fine, the end has to come off. It sounds like my best bet is to grind off the sh*tty welds, float it like you said with the axles installed and checking with some kind of straight edge, and tack it up and get it welded. It's very unfortunate that I am doing all this to go see the wife. She is a journeyman boilermaker, and a certified welding inspector. She did leave the miller rig here though, so I can manage a tack, even though I can't weld glue to piece of paper. If she were here she probably would have taken one look at the welds on this rear end and told me to redo it all any how. I'm starting to think I should just try to make it to Oklahoma with the 7.25, put the 8.75 and the miller rig in the trunk, and let her help me deal with all of this. What a mess. I'm just worried the 7.25 will seize on the highway on the way there. It makes weird noises when I make slow turns, and when I first got it it made a very large bang noise after slipping a little pulling away from an intersection.
 
take it to some one that has a housing jig to see if the housing is straight. you might be able to do this with a laser level. if you fine out its not straight have it fixed by the guy with the jig.
 
A piece of tubing, pipe or even thick PVC the same OD as the ID of the axle tube is all you need as far as a jig goes. If your wife is a certified welder, ask her how far she would trim back from the bead you are redoing before you go any further. If I was doing this myself, I'd be very leery of the first quarter inch or so of either side of the old weld. Remember that every time you step on the brakes that joint is being twisted.
 
bOb shingler said:
take it to some one that has a housing jig to see if the housing is straight. you might be able to do this with a laser level. if you fine out its not straight have it fixed by the guy with the jig.
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I agree. Doing it with a jig is the only way to do it right. When you go welding on metal you'd be surprised how it'll twist and distort, even if you just weld a little at a time. That's why you need a solid jig to hold it straight.
 
killnine said:
It's tapered bearings. Proper length axles for an a-body, but with LBP. I believe they are the ones from Moser or similar, where they are right for a SBP a-body brake but LBP. The current brake setup is the 10" 1.75 backing plates with redrilled 10" bell drums for LBP. There is no way I will get a seal into the axle tube the way it is currently, so even if the axle tubes are fine, the end has to come off. It sounds like my best bet is to grind off the sh*tty welds, float it like you said with the axles installed and checking with some kind of straight edge, and tack it up and get it welded. It's very unfortunate that I am doing all this to go see the wife. She is a journeyman boilermaker, and a certified welding inspector. She did leave the miller rig here though, so I can manage a tack, even though I can't weld glue to piece of paper. If she were here she probably would have taken one look at the welds on this rear end and told me to redo it all any how. I'm starting to think I should just try to make it to Oklahoma with the 7.25, put the 8.75 and the miller rig in the trunk, and let her help me deal with all of this. What a mess. I'm just worried the 7.25 will seize on the highway on the way there. It makes weird noises when I make slow turns, and when I first got it it made a very large bang noise after slipping a little pulling away from an intersection.
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I wouldn't trust that 7-1/4 going around the block if it were making noises like that.
 
fishy68 said:
I wouldn't trust that 7-1/4 going around the block if it were making noises like that.
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I found a couple performance shops that work on drag cars in the neighborhood. They narrow rears, so they should be able to handle this. Let's hope so. Waiting to actually get someone to answer the phone. The 7.25 only makes the noise when making a very slow turn, or coming out of the turn and getting straight again. It's kind of a popping noise. At first I thought it might be the bearing but it doesn't sound like it, so I decided not to waste my time on it and got this 8.75. I drove it 13 hours back from Oklahoma and have been driving it back and forth to town for the last 6 months like this. Locking up at 30-40 mph is one thing. Doing it at 65 or 70 I don't know if I could handle.
 
There is nothing wrong with that rear. Most housings are not straight. The ends being offset just means it was narrowed correctly with a jig. I narrow rears and this is correct. What I have done for customers for a great deal more cash, is, cut the ends off, jig it, then heat and straighten the tubes by heating and bending. This is very common on rears that have a back brace installed (harder to straighten). The centerline of the carrier does not care where the tubes are located but the centerline of the axle/bearing end is critical.
 
Put green bearings on your axles, stuff the original seals in the rear if not already there and run it.

You will NOT fix that by cutting the ends off and re-welding it. The housing needs to be put in a press and have the bow taken out of it. It will end up back in that position again very soon when you beat on it!
 
69MOPE said:
There is nothing wrong with that rear. Most housings are not straight. The ends being offset just means it was narrowed correctly with a jig. I narrow rears and this is correct. What I have done for customers for a great deal more cash, is, cut the ends off, jig it, then heat and straighten the tubes by heating and bending. This is very common on rears that have a back brace installed (harder to straighten). The centerline of the carrier does not care where the tubes are located but the centerline of the axle/bearing end is critical.
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I hear what you're saying, but given that I can't even fit a seal in it it's so bad, and that the booger welds oozed into the inside and created their own new edge where the seal is supposed to seat, I really doubt this was done by someone who knew what they were doing. I did reach someone locally who does mostly 9" ford rears, but he thinks he can make his jig work. He should be able to tell me if it's that bent or not.
 
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