Spun Tube

[alabamaboy54]

So, having wheeled an AMC20 rear pretty hard with 33's and 2.73 gearing for about 2 years with no problems, I finally found a deal on a set of Widetracks with 4.10 gears and lockers front and rear, WARN full floater kit on the rear and disc brakes. I knew I needed to weld the tubes to the chunk and truss but I ran out of time and figred one trip wouldnt kill me.. Lo and behold, I spun the drivers side tube on the rear about 1/2 inch. Its not much at all. My question is how hard is it to fix this? OR is it even really posible for that matter. I dont want to trash the axle as all the parts are brand new in the front and rear. I was thinking maybe pull the axle, heat it up and try to spin it back? Am I on the right train of thought anyways?

 

[Torxhead]

Good luck on turning that tube, you might even want to contact a local 4wd shop on that. I think you should jump on those widetracks with the full floaters, hopefully they won't cost you a fortune. I have them on my Dana 44 and am quite satisfied. Try and get the instructions that they came with for maintaince use.

 

[alabamaboy54]

I bought the set and swapped them in just in time for the trip last weekend, so I didnt have time to weld the new axle up. So the spun tube is on the new axle. And i actually feel that I got a good deal on the set. But there are no local 4wd shops here. Only a few shops that cater to full-size trucks and bolt on chrome and such. "Truck Accessory shops"

 

[PaRenegade]

You need an axle shop or a machine shop that has done this kind of work before. Alignment tools would be key, as would experience welding dissimilar metals. It's a tough one for those of us outside of the large towns and cities.

 

[alabamaboy54]

Yeah I have no worries about the welding, I know a few good ones who I have explained it to and said that theyre more than happy to do it right. I just need to get the tube back where it belongs.. I dont think theres a worthwhile axle shop anywhere around here either

 

[Old Dog]

Ok so heres a dumb question. What would it hurt to just weld the tube to the pumpkin where it is, other than the brakes being a little off?
You could just weld a new spring perch on where it belongs.
speaking of spring perches, you better check yours. When I twisted mine it bent the perch.
I just junked mine and put in an 8.8

 

[PaRenegade]

The problem with that, and I've only read this, I have no experience; is the bearings wear prematurely due to the slight mis-alignment.

 

[Old Dog]

The problem with that, and I've only read this, I have no experience; is the bearings wear prematurely due to the slight mis-alignment.

I can understand that if the tube bent (which it might have) but if it only twisted the bearings would still be lined up straight wouldn't they.?

 

[Old Dog]

The other option is you could just transfer everything over to your old housing if you still have it.

 

[alabamaboy54]

Yeah leaving the tube where it is and welding a new perch on in the correct location was my next train of thought, but then I thought about the brakes being rotated a little but that cant be too much of a problem I wouldnt think? And my next thought was to transfer everything over to the old housing but I do not know how to set up the gears and everything and that would also require a new master install kit wouldnt it? All of which just adds up the time and money involved.. I also would have to swap the full floater kit and disc brakes over since my old axle has 2 piece shafts and drum brakes (that I destroyed when taking them off...)

 

[alabamaboy54]

To attempt to put closure to this thread, and hopefully maybe help someone else one day I figured I'd update. I have decided to take everything off of the axle with the spun tube (includes-full floater kit, gears, locker, disc breaks and all the good stuff), and put it all into my old axle housing that I have sitting on the ground at the shop. I decided that sense I have a housing that I know is perfectly good I might as well use it instead of dealing with the one that I spun. This way I should not have to worry about the bearings wearing out because they are slightly off and my brakes will all be in the correct positions. Decided to stitch weld the tubes using Ni55 rods, as per some research I did, (feel free to correct me if I should use another tactic..) and ordered a truss from Eddie at Ground Pounder Fab. Also ordered a u-bolt style yoke while im fooling with all this. Plan is to weld the tubes to the chunk and then weld the truss all on the bare, clean axle housing and then take it all to the shop and unfortunately pay someone to set the internals up. Hopefully once all is said and done I will have eliminated most of my potential issues with the rear axle..but who knows, it is a Jeep after all.