what r the pros and cons of welding the axle tubes of my solid axle assembly for my fox?? Any chances of damaging the internal parts??
Welding Axle tubes?? Pros & cons
- Thread starter Georgie
- Start date
EMW150
Founding Member
The biggest risk is warping the axle tubes. Many have successfully welded theirs by starting at 12 o'clock and welding about an inch. Then cool and weld an inch at 6 o'clock,cool, then to 9 o'clock, cool and then 3 o'clock, cool and then go back following the same pattern starting at 1:30, etc. Some use a jig to be sure they're 100 percent straight.
Woodrow
Founding Member
Dont do it your self, you need to put it on a jig and make sure the tubes have not already twisted. If you weld the tubes and they are indeed twisted then you will just create bind.
EMW150
Founding Member
Georgie said:
Like woodrow said, the proper way to have it done is in a jig. On the other hand there are alot of people that weld them up and never have a problem.
IMHO, welding your axle tubes is more trouble then its worth unless you have a buttload of horsepower and sticky tires. in otherwords you drag race. Now if your gonna weld your axle tubes, you also should have upgraded the axles and diff first. ive really never head of axles tubes going in most street performance 5.0s but then again im not immersed in high powered 5.0s all the time. all i can speak for personally is my own car.
rd
Founding Member
I put a 1 in bead on top and on bottom of my 8.8 housing.
I did this with the theory that doing opposite sides of the tube should minimize any bending. I was just too lazy to try to weld all around. I wanted just enough to help resist the tubes twisting in the center, and cracking the center casting or overwhelming the Ford plug welds. May go all around next time I work on it.
Axles will tolerate more misalignment than you think. Stock car guys set up rears with the tubes bent to get camber in the rear.
I did this with the theory that doing opposite sides of the tube should minimize any bending. I was just too lazy to try to weld all around. I wanted just enough to help resist the tubes twisting in the center, and cracking the center casting or overwhelming the Ford plug welds. May go all around next time I work on it.
Axles will tolerate more misalignment than you think. Stock car guys set up rears with the tubes bent to get camber in the rear.
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