Topic: installing a longfield in a slightly bent axle housing?

[NCK4L]

i was wondering if anyone has any helpful tips for installing a longfield in a slighty bent  housing (short side).  its keeps pointing the shaft to low and its not getting up into the splines of the carrier like it should . i probably worked on this thing for like three hours today and could not get it. thanks for any help

[mudmaster]

All I can say is patience

[Volcom]

New housing?

[zippo]

Longs can take alot of time to fit into a good housing, with grinding and what not. This seems to be a horrible idea.

[Volcom]

Longs can take alot of time to fit into a good housing, with grinding and what not. This seems to be a horrible idea.

Mine slide in like butter.  I had to do some minor grinding (like 1 minutes work) inside one of the knuckle balls.  Yup, horrible idea if he's already spent 3 hours trying to get the short side in. 

[zippo]

Yes but you have a good housing and still had to grind, which means tight tolerances. a bent housing will only make that much worse. Another factor is some knuckle balls require much more grinding then other.

Try and get another housing that is straight.

[NCK4L [OP]]

i ended up making a tool that i slid in through the longside and the third member and was able to use it to pull the shaft up and get it into the carrier it was tough but a new housing isnt really an option right now. I shouldnt have to remove my axle shafts much since they are longs unless my third breaks.

[H8PVMNT]

My housing was cambered out probably 1.5 to 2 degrees. It was causing some goofy tire wear and bad handling.  I was able to bend the housing back into shape with a piece of rail road iron, two log chains and a bottle jack.  Then I added the usual ball and over the top gussets and haven't had any problems since.  People will say it's going to crack, explode or fall apart if you bend it back but the material is fairly soft, which is why it bends in the first place, so it's pretty forgiving as far as straitening by bending back.  To my knowledge no one else had tried this, but I did it and it worked.

I didn't even have my knuckles apart when I bent it back.  Just eyeball it off the back tires and your good to go.  As long as you are on a flat surface and your tires are evenly inflated it's easy to see.  Axles come right out and go back in with no problems.

[NCK4L [OP]]

ya thats how i know mine is bent from eye balling it from the back tires. unfortunatley it already has knuckle gussets . its pretty much a trail only rig so i will run it till i come across a  new housing for a decent price.

[H8PVMNT]

I guess your hosed if you allready have the gussets on there...  Eyeballing worked perfect for me I guess results vary .  Maybe I got lucky.  Does yours handle all stupid like mine did cambered out?  It was really horrible on paved roads with ice on them.

[NCK4L [OP]]

our roads here never have ice on them but it drives really well on the road af far as i can tell. like i said this thing is very slightly bent not like a lot of toyota housings ive seen its nice that its not a daily driver so i dont have to worry about wearing out my expensive tires. maybe ill post pics of it sighting it with the rear tire and see what you guys think

[crazykooter]

One thing I would be careful with on a bent housing and longs is it may cause the birf to bind up in the ball.  If it cant move freely, it could brake the star inside the birf even if it is a longfield and even more so that its the short side.   Heck for 50 bucks you can find a used straight housing and not have to worry bout it.  Are you sure the short side is bent ?  Thats a ton of force to bend that side. 

[NCK4L [OP]]

im pretty positive it is bent but like i said it is really slight. ive already had the longs in  and have been wheelin it for about 5 months and when i recently pulled them to fix my third the shorts side looked fine the bell was not scraped up anywhere so it loooks like clearance is fine, its just a bear to put the shaft in buti shouldnt have to ever remove them and if i do i kept that tool i made to get the short side in

[OOPS]

One of the reasons they are hard to get in is you can not get as much leverage on the short side as you can on the long side. Another reason is most of us remove the oil baffle that is stuck in the axle housing on both sides. It is a round, stamped steel disc with a hole in the middle that is a bit bigger then the axle. It was put in at the factory for two reasons, 1. To keep the gear oil from sloshing as fast all the way to the axle seal 2. To help align the axle with the third member.

One of the reasons it is so easy to get the axles into a Diamond housing is it has two seals, the stock one in the ball and one by the diff.

[NCK4L [OP]]

ya i was wondering about that oil baffle thing cuz i could of swore i saw something like that in anouther housing i had torn apart.my axle does not have these though. what is the point of removing them? seems like it definity would have made installing the shaft easier.

[OOPS]

Most of them get knocked out when the axles are being installed and the next time the third is pulled the person wonders what it is and throws it away.

[Dooner]

Never bent a short side.. but, I warped my long side welding a truss on my 85  housing. I searched and found advise from a desert truck forum suggesting heat shrinking in the opposite direction of the bend. Worked like a charm, mine was bent upward so I welded along the bottom of the long tube and then immediately  quenched it with a wet rag. what this did was make the tube shink or bend down. I went slow and eventually got it zeroed out.. This works for a trail rig, may not be the ticket for a driver though..