Ford 9" narrowing pictorial and tech on how this is don

[bowtietillidie]

Just as a side thought .   I think it would be great if  pictures were taken step by step of a Ford 9" being narrowed .   I think lots of RRT 's would love this type  of information.  Plus they could see just how time consumable this process really is  

[brucer]

its not very time consuming..  
narrowing a housing takes about 2 hours..

[enjenjo]

I'll take pictures of the next one I do.

[wayne petty]

i have a question.....

how does anybody clean out the welding scale from the inside of the housings tubes after welding ? so any slag or scale does not fall off and into the gear oil ...

[enjenjo]

i have a question.....

how does anybody clean out the welding scale from the inside of the housings tubes after welding ? so any slag or scale does not fall off and into the gear oil ...

Bore brush and pressure wash. At least that's how I do it.

[bowtietillidie]

Clean out of axel tubes:
 
This is why I say it takes so long to narrow a 9"
I have a jig that holds all the pieces with the proper but gap on all welds.  
I clean all the pieces to be welded inside and out  till they are shinny almost like chrome.   I then jig all parts up . Next I    T.I.G. all first passes or root weld Let cool till I can hold my bare hand on any of the welds.   Then I finish all welds with  7018 ...... 3/32 welding rod all the while checking to make I have not warped any thing during the process.   I have probably forgot some of my procedure because I never had to write it all down before..
But I hope this helps answer a few questions , such as internal cleaning :!:

[tomslik]

the guy that did my mopar rear charged me 50 bucks, i didn't hve a ten so i gave him 60....
yes, he does know what he's doing....

are you guys cutting the ends off or taking a section out of the middle of the tube?
if you're cutting the ends off, take some pics, i need to know a good way....

[kb426]

I only use tig so there is no spatter to clean up. When I narrow a housing, I cut the ends off. I have the center section with the bushings. I put the alignment bar end through and put the new ends on with the alignment bushings. I know there is several ways to do this but this is the way I did it for drag racing. This required a 9" centersection, some bushings and a length of 1.5" thick wall tubing. The ends were put on after all the brackets were welded on. I have no pics of this.

[enjenjo]

I use a 1.5" bar and bushings, it will work when retubing, or just changing the length. I MIG weld them, never caused a problem. I have a pair of bushings for inside the tubes, so when retubing one I can get them straight. Very few original housings have straight tubes. I also weld on the brackets before installing the ends.

Retubing, depends on which type of housing you have. the early housings, the tube is just butt welded to the center. You can make a bushing for both ends of the tube to hold it in place, make sure the inner one can be removed before welding.  The tube centered, may not line up with the housing perfectly, so a bushing doesn't always work. in that case you have to use a sleeve, and live with the misalignment. It does not affect anything but the suspension brackets to be misaligned.

Later housings the tube is inserted into the end of the center about 4", so you only need a bushing on the outer end. The later housings come with both 3", and 3 1/4" tubes at the housing, the latter is referred to as a swaged tube. If replacing with a 3" tube, you need a spacer on the tube to take up the difference. You pretty much have to machine one, there is no standard size tubing that works.

When welding the ends on, if the tube is not centered, you can either straighten it in a press, or just weld the end on straight, but misaligned with the tube.

[bowtietillidie]

I have narrowed the nine about every way that is possible and a couple of times they fell into the impossible category or at least as far as my ability goes.  The easiest way I have found is to narrow from the barring receiver
ends .But if there has to be a lot taken out you start getting into the taper part of the axel tube. This requires a lot more time to get straight (axel tubes) I made all the spacers and alignment bar.  They were machined to a close tolerance ( thousand and one half ).  When I weld on  a rear end like the nine inch Ford I don't weld long then I turn the alignment bar at least one rev . If I  find any tight spots I stop till I get everything back straight.
in case any of you are wondering why I do all this extra work . I do these rear ends for small pulling tractors and the straighter the housing the longer the rear end will last.

[brucer]

i have a old 9inch center section with 1.5 inch I.D. bushings in place of the carrier bearing races and a 1.5dia stainless bar, and bushings that fit in the ends for small and big bearings..   i cut my ends and square the ends up in a lathe first, then tig.


i've never seen an old straight 9inch housing, theyre all bent or just not straight from the factory to some degree, seen them as bad as 3/8 of an inch... i use a torch to shrink in badly bent housings..

[Crosley.In.AZ]

do  you weld around  the axle tube in one continuous  weld?

then check for straightness?

[enjenjo]

do  you weld around  the axle tube in one continuous  weld?

then check for straightness?

I usually weld in segments 1" long or so, on opposite sides of the tube.

[brucer]

i do the same stitch weld around it, alternating opposite ends and also opposite sides..

[bowtietillidie]

I have welded around the axel tube in one pass .  But it is much more easy to do stichs.  I use heat to draw everything straight.   A few I have had to put in the 50 ton press and hold them straight .   This generally happens when I do the filler pass and cover pass.