Step 2
We left it last time with the everything apart and needing to cut the tube to length. We also had a request for a picture of the differential cover.
First: The cover picture.
We used a chop saw to cut the desired length off of the long tube. We setup up some shims under the differential to level the tube on the saw. We insured it was level with a level. I know, that is kind of obvious.
Cutting:
Second view:
Leftover section:
Next using a angle grinder and level we cleaned up the cut. If you look closely, there is a 45 degree relief on the very edge of the tube. We cleaned off the paint with a wire wheel on a grinder:
We also cleaned off the paint from the tube/differential area to allow us to weld these together. No real good reasoning behind doing this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time:
Next, with the differential level, we checked the angle with a prtractor on the short side. The picture will show the long side back together, but I edited the picture to show were the protractor was placed. To re-assemble the long side we heated up the end piece with a torch. When heating, move the torch constantly at a slow pace. If you have a bearing oven, you can use that instead, but we didn't so we had to use the torch. We grabed the end piece with a pair of vice grips and slide it on. It went on easy, but the cold tube sucked the heat right out of it and it wasn't going to move easy after that. You really want to get it close to the right angle on the first try:
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We didn't get it right on and had to heat it up with a torch and beat it with a 10lbs hammer to get it to the right angle. All that was left after that was to weld the tube to the end piece and weld the tubes to the differential. It is all welded together and now the long shaft is off to the machine shop to get shortened and re-splined! We used a 7018 rod and it seemed to work well. I will post some more when we do some more. Thanks for checking out the post.
