Welding 10B Axle Tubes?
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From: Lake Anna, VA/ Fairmont, WV
Welding 10B Axle Tubes? While I was having my new muffler added today I had the guy weld up the axle tubes going into the differential. It was free and I figured it could not hurt as it might help keep the axle from flexing. Does it help at all or not?
Either way I won't have to worry about gear oil seeping from there anymore.
Either way I won't have to worry about gear oil seeping from there anymore.
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From: Las Vegas
Originally Posted by Ryan02SS
While I was having my new muffler added today I had the guy weld up the axle tubes going into the differential. It was free and I figured it could not hurt as it might help keep the axle from flexing. Does it help at all or not?
Either way I won't have to worry about gear oil seeping from there anymore.
Either way I won't have to worry about gear oil seeping from there anymore.
Im not so sure on it being free though...... I can however, almost guarantee you 100% that the housing is no longer straight. I guess you'll find out here in a couple of hundred miles and find out what parts you might be replacing.
A bent housing will kill axles, axle bearings and differentials them selves. Most likely the side gears first.
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Chicane is right. When you weld something like an axle tube, it shrinks when it cools and pulls the tube out of alignment with the housing. When you weld something like that, the rearend should be fixtured to hold it straight so that when it cools it can't shrink and pull out of alignment. Unless the guy welded small beads and didn't put a lot of heat into the tubes, it's probably not straight anymore
A small fillet weld will not comprimise the integruity of a thick housing and thick schedule tubing. Many of the 12 bolts come with welded tubes, or atleast the ones I saw. If you put a light weld on there it will meerly keep the unit from leaking there is no stress on those points in the axle. The stress comes from latiral movement when the car corners and the lower control arms are bolted to the tubes before they meet the housing and the other stress would obvoiusly be torque, which is absorbed by the axles within the tubes and the torque arm off the housing. Hense there is little stress at the point where the tube meets the axle, thats why theu just pin them into place once they get press fit. There also is a small green beed of silicone the factory applies on the inside of the housing where it meets the tubes to keep oil from seeping out, Ive seen this green beed crack though and some oil seep out, which a weld would cure.
