I need to weld some leaf spring pads on a 9" housing, but I'm worried about warpage from welding on just one side of the tube. What's the best way to do this?
If there is a drag race fab shop near you have them weld it with a narrowing jig. Theoretically, you can weld it and then apply the same amount of heat etc to the opposite side. If you are welding near the end then the warp won't affect things all that much, if you were welding hear the shoulder a little warp would affect things quite a bit. If the 3rd member is in it just slide the axle in and see if it seats clean into the bearing housing after welding and then go from there.
Put a solid 1 inch weld in the middle of the bracket on the outside of one bracket, go to the other bracket and do the same, come back to the first bracket and 1 inch weld on inside, then same on other bracket. Work back and forth that way and you shouldn't have any problems. Honestly you shouldn't have any problems just welding up the outside completely then moving to the other bracket and running a complete weld down the outside and then going back to the other bracket and welding the inside completely and so on, this is how I do it. I do put tack welds in the center of the pads on both sides first.
Check the area opposite were the brackets will be with a straight edge to make sure it is straight. After welding the brackets on, again check to make sure it is straight. If there is any warp age, it will be where the brackets are welded causing the opposite side to have a high spot. Take a torch and heat a small area about the size of a dime to the high spot until it gets red hot in the middle and let it cool to the touch and check for flat. You will be able to see how much the high spot has leveled out and it may take several times to get it perfectly level. The second time, you may want to make the heated spot a little bigger. Not too difficult but don't rush it, take your time and let it cool between heating.
If you have ever checked the straightness of a "stock" housing (before cutting or welding) with a bar you would be shocked to see how far off most are. If you have ever welded on a housing without a bar and than checked it you would be shocked how far off it will be. Getting a 4 wheel alignment afterwards is very humbling .................................JMO
Just weld the damn thing on there. The tube won't warp enough to matter. It may even end up straighter than stock
I'll post this, sure i'll get hammered. I just turned 61, when i was 16-18 we had a family friend who at one time was welder on Redstone Arsenal (nasa).He was in his 60's then.He left there went to a welding shop, then opened his own.I watched him many time take wet shop rags and wrap them on either side of the spot he was to weld.Heat sink. You have heard this saying before, but i truly believe he could weld the crack of dawn.
Applying the same amount of heat on the opposite side of the welded area has always seemed to me like a good idea. But if the tubes do warp and the ends go out of position, they can be put back. I worked in a rear axle housing production welding department years ago. Ran a huge automated wire-feed welding machine that pressed and welded the tubes with brackets and flanges to the center section. Even with evenly-applied welding, straightening was needed at the end of the line. The center section would be located and clamped to a fixture. Then the very ends of the tubes were pushed into position with manually-controlled hydraulic cylinders...up, down, fore, aft...until they again lined up with pre-positioned marks on the fixture. Obviously, they weren't concerned with exact straightness of the axle tubes per se...only with the final position of the flange/bearing relative to the differential. A guy could maybe do it himself with the right supports, clamps, a press and careful measuring, but I would probably just take it to an axle shop after welding for straightening.
While the full weld around it is prettier, doing the short welds and letting it cool and welding some more gives you a better chance of not warping it. That said I think my buddy ran 4 beads end to end when we did mine and I never had an issue with it. We didn't know much about it back in the mid 70's though.
I fabbed trailing arm brackets and welded 'em to my Ford 8". Clamped the rear down real good, wrapped the tubes with wet rags and welded 2" beads alternating between sides. Been driving the car for a little while now with no issues.
...I've done that exact same thing, never had any warpage problems... ...problem with welding the crack of dawn, is that it doesn't stay in one place very long,..lol.
looks like a Suzuki Samurai radius arm land cruisers have something similar but Im going with land rover looks like I got some scrounging to do
I didn't start out with a "Bar" for the first 20 years of building cars/trucks it came way later when I started charging for narrowing & modifying for specific application. Have plenty running around that were stick welded with no bar, and no apparent issues. I was convinced that I needed a bar when a front end shop called me about a customer that had a Hot Rod with the left rear tire 2 deg. off. If you think about it 2 deg. off is a lot when the tire is 28", 29", 30" at the outside radius. 2 deg. would not show up at the bearing end or tube to the normal builder at the time of welding..........................
I've seen them (Control arms) before, but having a senior moment. I think some one on here posted a pic of them a couple years back.
Yeah, that was probably me. Trailing arms came out a '99 Land Rover Discovery. Coilovers from an '88 Subaru wagon and the panhard bar is a trailing arm that I modded from an '01 Kia Sportage. Took this pic when I got home from Pick-N-Pull's half price day. Trailing arms - $33 for the pair. Coilovers - $9 each. Panhard bar - $11.
back in the 80's, i put a chevy rear under my 63 ford 1 ton to get rid of the 6 bolt wheels. welded some small channel iron on for spring pads with my mighty lincoln buzz box, and drove the shit out of it for 18 years. it was a roll back hauler with a stinger to haul two cars, didnt pay much attention to being over weight in those days. probably put 200 k on that truck, 2 cabs, 2 motors, switched to a 5 speed out of a bus, lots of abuse, no axle problems. weld it and move on
Here's a way to check rear axle for alignment. Assemble center section, axles, wheels & tires into the housing. Set the assembly on the floor on the tires. rotate housing. If the tires do not wobble or wiggle sideways the alignment is perfect. Another way. Again assemble the housing. Leave the wheels & tires off. Set the housing on tall jack stands. Clamp or bolt a rod or angle iron across the face of each axle flange . I suggest a minimum length of about 18"for each rod, the length of one rod can be different from the other. Turn each axle to put each rod to the 12 o'clock position. Measure from the end of one rod to the other. When measuring slightly rotate one axle until you get a minimum reading. Repeat this measuring method at 6, 9, &3 o'clock. If all 4 readings are the same the housing alignment is OK. Greg
Like has been said tack them weld small beads go to the other side weld a bead then swap sides you won't have a problem that way
Just weld 'em on, don't linger and over heat it. I have done dozens over the years and never warped an axle tube.
I have built a lot of new 9in without a jig it will warp. It doesn’t matter how slow you weld it. Take it to a shop that does it. I can’t see more than an hour labor on it. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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