any tips on narrowing rear?

[redneckjoe69]

took a million measurements before and after finish welding, looks good to me. pulled the axles out cause i need to replace the seals, brakes, etc. taped off the yoke and added some hammer tone paint from lowes.

[Russell]

Looks great!

[Huskinhano]

The welds look nice. A good friend of mine works for a small commercial kitchen company. They had a small stainless steel welding job, they bought the HF tig. He said it worked great. It's downfall besides not having a foot switch he said, it's only good for steel, not aluminum because it's AC only.

I think I would have clamped some 2" angle iron about 1/4" thick to help keep the tubes straight. I can't help but to think the exhaust tubing being mild steel is going to move around when it gets hot from welding.

[JamesMayberryIII]

I'd have thought it be easier to drill out the spot welds holding the tubes to the center, pulled them, cut them and then re installed and then plug welded them to the center..

but maybe I missed something..

[Loren]

It makes perfect sense theoretically, and I've narrowed a couple axles that way including a truck floating-axle housing where all the wheel stresses go into the tube and I did not want any welding there, and our Cherokee where a Blazer front D44 short tube needed to be pulled out and replaced with a long one to help move the diff over to driver's side. The troubles start when you go to remove those plug welds, that arc-weld filler is hard stuff. Drills dull immediately, even carbide burrs don't work well, and you can't plasma or oxy/acet cut into what amounts to a blind hole that way. "Air carbon arc gouging" does the job but is a messy process and difficult to get a clean release between the casting and tube, which you have to do on every plug. Getting that tube which is press-fit out of there is the next challenge, in my case I have a press big enough to fit the whole thing in upright, support the housing and press it out with a thick rod going through the opposite tube. Then some axle tubes after being cut are not exactly round or may be made oversize and designed to be machined down, you need a lathe big enough to do that. Pushing the tube back in once you have the correct fit only takes a few tons, which I've done it in a press by supporting the opposite end of the casting from where I was pressing and distorted the casting thus turning it into scrap, and then I made a threaded-rod-and-discs deal to pull it in which worked better. All press work needs to support at the side being worked and not stress across the open housing...as it turns out. Re-welding is of-course routine but you needed to have cleaned the slag out of the plug holes, carbide-burr or better-yet sandblasting because of that hard material in there again.

After all that, you do get a pretty-nice piece.

[redneckjoe69]

thanks! i took my time,....measure,...tack,...measure,...tack, etc. it came out very straight in my opinion. i guess ill know after its all put back together. definetley a ton of work. decided to go with redneck coilovers for now til i can afford some real ones, lol.

[redneckjoe69]

thanks! i took my time,....measure,...tack,...measure,...tack, etc. it came out very straight in my opinion. i guess ill know after its all put back together. definetley a ton of work. decided to go with redneck coilovers for now til i can afford some real ones, lol.

made new control arm mounts and tacked them in place.

[redneckjoe69]

also made a brace to hold the car up during the welding/re-fabbing process.
thanks again everybody for the tips. i'll post results when its done.

[Russell]

Never heard of redneck coil overs how do you make them / how do they work?

[redneckjoe69]

Never heard of redneck coil overs how do you make them / how do they work?

they're helper springs for a truck, lol.

http://www.autozone.com/suspension-system-coil-springs-and-lift-lowering/coil-spring/superior-automotive-coil-spring/mercury/sable/1997/6-cylinders-u-3-0l-mfi-ohv/541276_0_0/

by going with a coil over set up, it looks like i might be able to keep the factory gas tank. that would make me happy.

[redneckjoe69]

[JamesMayberryIII]

they're helper springs for a truck, lol.

http://www.autozone.com/suspension-system-coil-springs-and-lift-lowering/coil-spring/superior-automotive-coil-spring/mercury/sable/1997/6-cylinders-u-3-0l-mfi-ohv/541276_0_0/

by going with a coil over set up, it looks like i might be able to keep the factory gas tank. that would make me happy.

The unitbody,, shock mounts wasn't built to hold up the car, you might have to fix that.. so you don't blow the shock through the floor..

[redneckjoe69]

i agree 100% James. i plan on making a steel bracket that connects both sides of the car. i also have to move the mounting points about 4" inward. definetly going to be strong. havent had any time to mess with it lately, work is taking up most of my time.