Thread: rear end set up

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is it necessary to remove every thing from the rear end when doing work , like grinding the brackets off and welding new ones in. I have installed a eaton posi , and want to know if I will damage it , or the bearings by welding on the rear end.

Hi Chris, and welcome to CHR.

Depending on how much welding and how close the proximity to bearings you're welding it could be very likely you will cause damage. Also, if you leave the lubricant in there you could easily fry that too.

More importantly, whenever you heat and cool the axle housing by cutting (especially if you use a torch), grinding (the more the worse), and welding, you'll run about a 100% chance of warping the housing. That in turn will lead, at least, to shorter bearing life.

You will likely be happier with the results if you find someone in your area who has the tooling to either maintain housing straightness during modification, or can straighten the warped housing after the work is done.

The most common set up I've seen is an absolutely straight steel shaft, 1.5 to 2 inches diameter, that is longer than the width of the housing. Collars that are machined to the same O.D. as the bearings are located at each bearing point (typically the axle ends and the carrier bearing saddles) along the shaft in the axle housing. If used before modification (assuming the axle housing is still straight to begin with), and allowed to stay in the housing until it cools, the positions of the bearing mounting points will stay straight relative to one another. If the housing is warped before insertion of the tooling (due to abuse or previous work done), the goal will be to strategically heat and cool the housing until it moves to the point where all the machined collars will seat properly. This takes some skill to know where to apply heat to get the desired direction of movement, so finding someone who has experience is a plus.

Hope this helps with your decision making.

Praise the lowered!!! Make it a worm burner!

Thanks for the helpful info. I am planning on doing the work myself, so I will be getting the tooling for myself . What you have posted makes sense, but I have not seen alot of people just cut the old brackets off , and weld the new ones on with out a care about straightnes. Seeing this I guess I forgot that it takes alittle more time to do it right.

yo bob what do i need as far as brackets, an parts to put this 9" ford rear end in,or just go with leaf spings ,,,i don't no how to fasten in this rear