Need help from axle tube gurus. I messed up bad.

[Lucas]

So I have the ford HP44 with the cast mounts. After a little experimenting I found that you CAN grind the welds to the mount and the knuckle and rotate all the pieces seperately. I found this out by slowly grinding away at the pass side for about an hour straight.
Well, I moved onto the drivers side to do the same, let my mind wander a bit while using the grinder, and cut waaaaaayyy too far into the axle tube. When I used the BFH to seperate the mount (tubes are pressed in tight), the tube split at the cut. I tried to use some small welds to hold it together, but they snapped as I beat on the inner knuckle. Long story short I accidentally chopped my drivers side axle tube in half.
There is only about 1.5" of axle tube pressed into the cast mount, so the tube was only shortened by that much. My idea now is to use a 4" section of 2.5" O.D. tube/pipe and beat 3" of it into the chopped axle tube. Then put a piece of 2.5" ID tube over that, weld it up, and then stick the cast mount back on.
The big question is how to make sure I get my overall length correct. I searched , but all I came up with were instructions on shortening housings using different length axle shafts as reference. From the factory the cast monts could have been pressed on another 1/8 inch, so I have a little bit of wiggle room. Should I just splice the rest of the tube on there, mock it up with a shaft, and hammer to lenght so the joint doesn't bind in the knuckle? Are these measurements precise, or do they fall within a narrow range of specs? Thanks for any help.

 

[Lincoln]

Personally I would just find an axle shop and have a new tube pressed into that side. I don't know how the east cost is, but all over the west coast both sides can be tubed for $250 or so depending on the tubing used.

If you sleeve it make sure you get your alignment really close. It would have a similar effect as a bent housing and could cause the shafts to go in really tight.

Measure from the centerline of the yoke to where the actual tubing would stopped being pressed into the inner C. Subract that length from the shaft link (double check the length of the shaft from the center of the holes in the yoke to the end) and you will have the distance from the center of the diff (inner most part of the splines) to the end of the tube. That should give you about 1/8" play from the side gears to the center pin for error.

Sorry, I'm tired tonight and not explaining overly well. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[Lucas]

appreciate the attempt but a lot of that made no sense to me :laugh3:

What if I threw the inner axle into the good side, measured how the axle yoke/Ujoint lines up with the inner C holes using some plumb lines, and then trying to set it up similarly on the other side?

 

[Lincoln]

appreciate the attempt but a lot of that made no sense to me :laugh3:

What if I threw the inner axle into the good side, measured how the axle yoke/Ujoint lines up with the inner C holes using some plumb lines, and then trying to set it up similarly on the other side?

The center line of the axle yoke should line up with the center line of the ball joints. If you do it right it should work.

 

[Lucas]

What is the best way to keep it in alignment? Suppose I use a 7" sleeve and hammer in 6" of it. I'll use the fattest wall tube I can use without limiting my alloy shaft options in the future. There is so much material removed at this point that my little MIG won't cut it, so after get the lenght right I'll tack it up and take it to an industrial metal shop. Hopefully they will have some sort of jig to keep it relatively straight.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[xjbubba]

Wanted to pass on a thred discussing the use of a sleeve to extend an axle housing. Sorry for the delay; it took me a while to find it again: http://bc4x4.com/tech/2001/hpd60front/

 

[Lawn Cher']

I agree with Lincoln's suggestion of using a fresh tube. Why would you wanna run something that looks butchered and cobbled? (No offense to the butchers and cobblers among us.)

 

[Lucas]

Got it done today. Sleeved with a turned down piece of 2.5"OD HREW. Didn't turn it down far enough/didn't clean the tubes well enough so after a few inches the mini-sledge wasn't cutting it. I ended up puting a steel plate on the floor and picked up the entire housing and dropped it on the end to pound the sleeve in. The press fit (or luck) kept everything in alignment. Welded the gap to get penetraton in both axle tubes and the inner sleeve. Looks beefy enough.

 

[XJ_ranger]

Got it done today. Sleeved with a turned down piece of 2.5"OD HREW. Didn't turn it down far enough/didn't clean the tubes well enough so after a few inches the mini-sledge wasn't cutting it. I ended up puting a steel plate on the floor and picked up the entire housing and dropped it on the end to pound the sleeve in. The press fit (or luck) kept everything in alignment. Welded the gap to get penetraton in both axle tubes and the inner sleeve. Looks beefy enough.

pictures?

i want to see this...