I am looking to narrow my rear axle housing and would like some pictures of what kind of jig or set up you use to do this. Also if you have any tips and tricks to share, I would appreciate those as well. I have a nbs '99 Silverado with a factory rear end but any pictures will help.
If anybody else has pics, feel free to post.
The guy that posted on pirate 4x4 is on the right track, I have narrowed rear ends and the set up I used was 2" and 2 1/4" solid round bar through the middle, believe it or not when you weld the tubes, TIG or MIG it still pulls and bends that 2" solid bar, but if you heat and cool the tubes until the bar slides out nicley then you know it is straight.
Originally posted by rizz0
seth wouldnt your setup not work on an axle that had an offset tube diameter?
take the same amount out of both sides.. then its still offset the same.
do you know whats really simple, get someone you know that has a lathe to build you some bushings out of steel that are the 0.001"-0.002" smaller than the OD of your outer and inner wheel bearings then get your machinist to Bore a 1.501"-1.502" hole in the bushings and get yourself a piece of 1.500" cold rolled steel shaft that is wider than your rearend. after you have cut your rear end apart and takin out the neccesary sections, install all the bushings and the rod through the bushings make sure its all squared up and weld that bitch together. DONT REMOVE THE STEEL SHAFT UNTIL THE REAREND IS TOTALLY COLD or it will move and warp...
Originally posted by rizz0
yea i dint really xplain that right. i mean if the tube isnt the same diameter all the way through. like most import rears the tube is kinda tappered
Find an area where it is as straight as possible. I haven't done an import axle so I can't say for sure.
Originally posted by blazed89
seth how did you make sure all the bearings lined up. The inner and outer bearing would have preload on them if they were not lined up.
The pictures are fairly self explanatory. Using flat stock to keep the tubing straight. This thing was narrowed 8" per side, there where no issues. The affects on the axle and bearings are amplified with an axle that short.
When I usually narrow a rear end I cut the amount out of the housing tube I intend to shorten it by. I then machine a sleeve that presses into each halve of the axle. I usualy make the sleeve about 4-5 inches long. I bevel the edges on the housing and tig it back together. CBA
At the shop that I work we narrow a rear end almost ever week form 10 bolts to 9". We use a jig from BHJ that has a bar with little run out and bushngs that sit in the 4 bearing locations. We have had many of rear ends when we weld them together the ends are off set up to 3/16 of an inch. This can be do to many things when using old rear end out of junked cars/trucks. We have seen it a lot in 9" rearends. Yes the more you take out the less you notice this but the preload is still there. This can cause premature failer.
WHen the guy narrowed my rearend, the tubes where off by about 1/8 of an inch. The bar slid freely through the axle so we knew it was strait, but for some reason the tubes were off a little. It was a salvaged rearend so maybe it was bent or something.
I machined some pucks that fit into the carrier bearing and the outer bearings and run a 1"7/8 colled rolled solid bar through the pucks and then carefully welded up the ends. Bar slid right out with no problems. I have a couple of pics on my profile if you want to get a idea of what im talking about.
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Posted: 3/3/2008 via Website
