How to check if axle case is bent?

TIGGER · Dec 13, 2020

I have an 8.8 out of a SN GT. Car was in an accident. Drivers axle was bent from what I assume was from hitting a curb and the wheel took the impact. I want to be sure nothing his wrong with the case before I put an axle and bearings in. Is there an easy way and I check the case to know if it is straight?

JD1964 · Dec 13, 2020

Id check the cast portion of the center section for cracks, especially right where the steel axle tube connects to the cast center portion. The steel tubes dont bend easy. Way more likely to crack the cast case. If there are no cracks on the cast portion and the rest is visually ok, I's say you are ok and consider the drive axle took the brunt of impact, and probably because the side impact on the wheel edge served as a lever

TIGGER · Dec 27, 2020

Well I worked on it last weekend. Took a good look at the case. Had to take the carrier out to get the spider gears back in as they came out as I was wrestling the bent axle shaft. I see no cracks in the case but I do see oil residue on both tubes. More on the drivers side which had the bent axle than the passenger. Still am on the fence with this case. Pictures are from the drivers side. The side that the wheel took the impact.

CarMichael Angelo · Dec 28, 2020

All 8.8 axle housings are bent if they’ve lived behind a manual transmission, and had a heavy footed driver in their history. The axles tubes tweak forward. Upper, and Lower control arm mount points rip out, and the floors crack and tear. It’s all normal sht in the life of a fox mustang.

A housing jig is the only true way to tell if the housing bearing ends are no longer inline with the carrier bearings. I’ve had rear ends bent so bad that after shortening they had to re-weld the ends back on 1/4” off center with the tube.

General karthief · Dec 28, 2020

There has got to be a ton of these axles lay'n around so why mess with one that is probably bent?
Actually I would guess it IS bent.

7991LXnSHO · Dec 28, 2020

CarMichael Angelo said:
All 8.8 axle housings are bent if they’ve lived behind a manual transmission, and had a heavy footed driver in their history. The axles tubes tweak forward. Upper, and Lower control arm mount points rip out, and the floors crack and tear. It’s all normal sht in the life of a fox mustang.

A housing jig is the only true way to tell if the housing bearing ends are no longer inline with the carrier bearings. I’ve had rear ends bent so bad that after shortening they had to re-weld the ends back on 1/4” off center with the tube.

I wonder how bent a not IRS axle has to be to show up on a 4 wheel alinement?

Thanks, Mike. Now I have something else to be paranoid about. My car’s torque boxes are not messed up yet, but I know it saw regular strip time, and the racing clutch, plate and flywheel were quite cooked when I got it.

TIGGER · Dec 28, 2020

General karthief said:
There has got to be a ton of these axles lay'n around so why mess with one that is probably bent?
Actually I would guess it IS bent.

I have a spare. I am trying to avoid having to setup the gears again. Current case has 3.73's in it with about 35K on them, had all new bearings installed when the gears were done. Car only had 82K on the clock when it was stolen and destroyed

Other issue I do not have a good luck setting up used gears. They always tend to want to go back to their old wear pattern on me. I put used gears 65k mile in my Saleen and struggled with them. Got it as best as I could and ran with it. Its quiet for the most part but at highway speeds, it whines a bit when I let off the throttle.

Not sure what I am going to do... Thanks for the input.

TIGGER · Dec 28, 2020

CarMichael Angelo said:
All 8.8 axle housings are bent if they’ve lived behind a manual transmission, and had a heavy footed driver in their history. The axles tubes tweak forward. Upper, and Lower control arm mount points rip out, and the floors crack and tear. It’s all normal sht in the life of a fox mustang.

A housing jig is the only true way to tell if the housing bearing ends are no longer inline with the carrier bearings. I’ve had rear ends bent so bad that after shortening they had to re-weld the ends back on 1/4” off center with the tube.

So what you are saying it was already bent before the car was wrecked

CarMichael Angelo · Dec 28, 2020

TIGGER said:
So what you are saying it was already bent before the car was wrecked

Yes,..along with just about every other one out there.

General karthief · Dec 28, 2020

It shows signs of being bent, do yourself a favor and bite the bullet and use the other one, you'll thank me later. Or not.

TIGGER · Dec 28, 2020

I think you guys are right. For piece of mind it is the best solution. Plus my spare axle is from an auto car so it should be straight

For now though I think I’m going to put a straight axle shaft back in it and make it roll. The car has a long way to go before it is road worthy. I have all new control arms for the rear so when I install those I will swap the case.

How to check if axle case is bent?

TIGGER

JD1964

there is enough sticking out to grab on to

TIGGER

Attachments

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

7991LXnSHO

wanna catch the space herp

TIGGER

TIGGER

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

TIGGER

Similar threads

How to check if axle case is bent?

there is enough sticking out to grab on to

Attachments

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

wanna catch the space herp

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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