Put the chuck in and slide the axles in they should go pretty easy. I got a fixture here but you are a ways off or I would offer to check it for you. Looks to me as though it were bent and instead of straightening it they just welded the housing ends on offset. In defense of them while it is a sort of Saturday Night at the Bull Ring sort of a way to od it they are nice looking welds.
Roo they have them that way too. You can get them with re-tubed factory Ford centers as well as other options Here are a couple I've used from them recently.
Its funny. Most of the time (not all the time) I end up replacing the tubes on one that I am altering. The Stock Ford axle housing is just sheet metal and more often then not they are either no longer round or are bent or warped in some fashion. I have heated them to straighten them but end of the day it is normally just cheaper and easier to weld a couple of pieces of mechanical tubing into the old punkin and be done with it.
I'd think a little of both. Somehow that axle has low buck circle track repair written all over it to me and quite possibly the guy who did the work is used to reworking circle track dirt car rear axles more than working on axles for hot rods for folks that demand perfection in appearance along with performance. As far as what appears to have started by miscommunication between the OP and Moser and I don't know on who's part one would have to see what he had written on the original work order sent with the axle housing and axles to determine that. I personally like the axle housing visually centered between the flanges on a hot rod while we have a whole cadre of guys on the Hamb that have a total breakdown if the pinion is off center and the driveshaft is angled to one side a tad or just about that inch and something. If you want the pinion centered the housing is going to be visually off, If you want the housing centered visually the pinion is going to be in it's normal Ford offset that every 9 inch has had since 1957.
I would have to ask....was a price given by Moser to straighten the tubes...and refused by the OP? I have a Dana 60 housing that Moser shortened and added brackets. Top notch work.
Yeahhhhh...but what was done kinda speaks for itself. If it was me and I was redoing it as a favor or for customer satisfaction, I would have just used a new piece of tubing from the center section to the bearing flange. Same amount of weld, same amount of work + 2' of tube = customer satisfaction AND shop credibility. They did do what was necessary and I'd bet the bearing alignment is bang on...but they blew the job by letting it out the door looking like that. Sometimes we just do stuff like that to ourselves... I'd have to see a lot more bad stuff coming from the shop before writing them off though.
I am 65 miles from them can get it the same day , and do not have to pay for shipping and can inspect it there at the pu desk plus when I order a special i can speak one on one with the guy in person so no mistakes , but thanks anyways ..
Dana 60 does not twist because of the cast iron center vs the sheetmetal unit of the ford , other than the tubes if its been abused and then it had to be used in a real hard enviorment ( truck or fuel car) as those tubes are thick too . a D60 is a HD unit and its weight shows it ( we have seen many bent up 9" units from mudding and some snow plowing and dragracing , but only sheared axles in a D60 and that was from spinning a tire and then getting traction while mudding or plowing . .
I was not contacted regarding the housing being bent Here are pictures of the housing when relieved back the first time . Note the measurements
If contacted I certainly would have approved and paid to have it straightened This was not about being cheap, I wanted the look of the old rearend .
I figured you would have approved having it straightened. It looks to me like they had it jigged up and saw the mismatch, but they just wanted to get it over with and finish the job. I think somebody didn't want to delay production in the shop, so they neglected to call you about the issue and just welded it up.
Hmmm...according to your measurements of the original job they did, the housing WAS offset 3/8ths of an inch...just like they said it would be. Regardless, what is odd to me is that the original job doesn't appear to have the housing ends welded offset to compensate for a "bent" housing. Weird.
Original repair was dead on everything was straight , if the difference side to side was not visible I would have left it To clarify the measurements are 20 & 13/16 vs 19 & 9/16 Difference of 1 & 3/16
One more thing ... I didnt know it was common practice to butt weld ends on a housing? I was taught that the end gets sleeved into the tube ... I would of figured that's the way all the pros did it?
I had a friend help me with mine, and one tube was off 3/16" on one side,( bent) when checking with the alignment bar. He used a rose bud and the side that he wanted to pull over, made a red cherry hot spot the size of a quarter and we waited for it to cool. I couldn't believe it, when it cooled it pulled over but not all the way but most of the way. Heated it again, just next to it because was it needed to be pulled from different angle, and it came right in where it needed to be. Alignment bar could be slid through the mains, and bells ends and turned by hand. There is NO reason why those tubes should have had the step in them to compensate for bent housing, other than just being lazy.
In the pics it looks like 20 3/4" and 19 15/16th...which I rounded off to 20". The measurements are a moot point anyway. Wow....I wouldn't let that housing out of my backyard for free looking like that...let alone charge for it.
I've stayed away from this discussion only because I had good quality come from Moser. But that was just a pair of axles, and it was before the owner died. In my eyes, you would have to really work at getting those axle tubes to look that way.
Worse comes to worse, My buddy Dave in Lannon could put 2 new tubes in your existing housing and get the lengths to where you want them. I don't know what part of the state you are from.
I bought axles for a GTO from them ...... the axle length did not match the originals ........ I called ......... they were rude and offered no help ...... said that my car wasn't original ......... it was ..... and still is .......... had to PAY to have the axles shortened ........... three calls .......... three short - rude conversations ............ They do not exist as far as I am concerned ...
I'm assuming they centered the pinion first and you wanted the drop out centered - right? Then they reworked the housing for free and charged you for the axle work. Sounds like a no win situation for both of you. I'm sure they could have straightened the housing instead of offset welding the end, but it would have taken a lot more time on a job they were already losing money on. And I'm gonna guess you didn't want to pay a lot more for a job you'd already paid for. Bad situation for everyone involved. I hope you get it worked out. I am gonna guess Moser wouldn't weld an axle end on without putting it in a jig. The axle bearings will probably be aligned with the drop out, even though it doesn't look like it with the bare eye.
This is a very interesting thread. I sure hope Moser is watching. And I bet they never do another rearend for a hot rodder again (might not be by their choice, or then again maybe it will be). But, overall, I hope they see it so they will get back to rcnut and fix his problem. Granted there was maybe a little miscommunication somewhere along the line, but Moser should expect 99% of the guys who pay big money to have this work done would want it to be visually appealing as well as aligned. Fixing it now is just the right thing to do.
I'm thinking a moderator, or the OP, should invite Moser to join this conversation. I not a fabricator or a metalsmith, but I sure don't like the looks of that rear end as pictured.
No kidding oj. That ugly thing reminds me of a kids' 46 Ford truck from high school around, 1970. Somehow this guy acquired a (real deal) 365 horse Corvette motor and an old B&M hydro. He has all the mounts made and motor put in but runs out of money (can you relate). Kid can't afford to have a custom driveshaft built so he takes the front of one driveshaft and the rear of another one and has a neighbor weld it together (in the middle), he, he, he! We told him it wouldn't work, and nobody would ride with him on the trial run, but he proved us wrong, it actually worked, that is until he took it out on the freeway, guess the dummy didn't believe us as it came back on a wrecker, had to borrow money to get it off the hook.
I use this method to straighten rears. I put heat opposite the welding and have always been able to get zero run out measuring the tires with a dial indicator. Works great.
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