How hard to shorten a 9" diff

[32coupe]

Hi
It looks like the diff that came out of the panel truck we took home is goin to be about 3" to wide for it's new home so, how hard is it to shorten a diff?

Is it something that we can do in the shed?
Or should we take it to someone who knows what they are doing?

Thanks
Andrew

[Harry]

Take it to an experienced race car builder.
It's easy enough to cut and weld, but keeping everything in alignment is tricky.
I had an 8" Ford rear end narrowed. They use a long bar with "donuts" where the seals and bearing go, to keep everything lined up.

[phat46]

If you only need 3" you might be able to take that out of one side if it's one of the 9"ers that has one side longer than the other. I shortened one 4", the same amount it was offset. I did it by cutting the longer tube where it was welded at the center section and cutting  4" off the ube at that end. then sent the axle out (Moser Eng.) to be shortened and resplined. I tacked the tube back in the center section and took it to a local guy who has a jig to check/keep the tubes in line. He jigged it up and finsih welded it for me.  No messing with bearing ends or tapers in the axle tube this way.

[enjenjo]

What he said. I just finished cutting two of them. It takes a setup jig to do it. Here is a pretty good article on doing it. If you can get by just cutting the left side, that is a Moser axle and can easily be resplined. The other axle is a stock Ford axle. As I recall, that one has the pinion offset to the right.

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Narrowing_a_rearend

[32coupe]

Thanks guys, it looks easy, but I might have to take it to the experts this time as I don't have any of the fancy jigs needed to do it at home.

Interesting article that one, made for good reading.

[BFS57]

Hello;
In the latest issue of Rod and Custom there is an article on just such a subject except this is at the Curry Factory showing how they shorten them.
If you want great results, take it to an expert. If you want the potential of problems down the line, do it yourself.
I have read post about rebuilding the "pumpkin" and with so many "special tools" for holding and such, this job is better left to the experts!

Bruce