I probably should not reply to this thread at all, but I am confused.
I am truly trying to look at this situation objectively, personal issues aside.
See if I have this right....
1.Parks says the the housing is sprung ie bent.
2.Elements says the bending came after the tubes were replaced.
3.The housing Elements bought off Ebay was just a center with a little tube sticking out.
4.OLM was contracted to tube this. (frt w/knuckles or rear tubes only????)
5.Caps were mismatched
Is that about it?
First, Parks is about the only one down there I would trust, but this whole thing seems very odd....
In 17 years since my first job in a shop, I have not seen a bent 60 center section. Seen broken ones, spun ones, cracked ones, ones with the tubes broke out, etc....Never even had reason to check one. Never heard of it being checked in such a way.... Setting it on a flat surface and having it rock only proves the cover surface is not true. It does not have to mean the housing is sprung. The important issue is if the carrier bearings are in line with each other.
I have used case spreaders to get thight carriers out....It is VERY difficult to spread a 60 center much more than a small fraction of an inch.
I NOT calling anyone a liar, I guess it is possible to bend one, just seems odd to me.
I am also wondering why, if the tubes were already cut too short to properly sleeve it, why not just re-tube it? (machine out the plug welds and install all new tube.) this is how Tera/Dyna/etc do it. In fact I watched Chad build B's axles that way at Tera. We also did some this way way back when at AFWDS.
IF a housing has a slight bend to it, it can an is corrected if it is put together with a line up bar through pucks in the bearing lands. There is NO way it can be wrong if done with a bar, welded with the bar in place and allowed to cool. The bar holds everything in line. It could even look completely bent out of wack on the out side, but as long as all the bearing lands are in line, it will work fine.(asuming it is not soooo bent that the shafts contact the tubes.)
I learned a long time ago to not trust how it looks until you stick a bar through it and check.
Another thing I do not understand is how welding a tube to the little tube left in the housing could bend a center section. I do not see how that is possible. Both tubes are indepent and exert no force on the center. However if a brace is welded tube to tube, it could bend it easily.
The line bore will fix the cap issue and allow for a line up bar to be used effectively. From What I read here, I see no reason why the housing can not be used. Even if the housing is now sprung....before or after OLM, the line bore will assure the carrier bearings are lined up. From there out it is easy to keep everything lined up.
So I guess my confusion is niether Elements or Parks statements make complete sense to me. Niether of them fit with the experiences I have had.
BUT, I learn something new everyday.
I am not trying to dis either of you, I just don't get it.
Forgot to add, you do not need a lathe to make build a housing properly, it is just one one to do it. I trust a line up bar much more than a press fit. Circle trackers have been building them that way for MANY years.
Marc
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Marc Milner
"and people wonder why I think kids should have shunts(sp) installed in them at birth so they can not reproduce, until they prove themselves" James K
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Last edited by rckcrlr : Yesterday at 06:21 PM.
