Mustang 8.8 Axle Tube Welding

[coldblue012]

Just wonder at what speed or whatever that it is either good practice or totally necessary to weld the axle tubes on a ford 8.8" rear end.

I would assume especially if you use an anti-roll bar that welds to the tubes that it would be important to weld the center section.

I want to get this done, but my main issue is that my rear end is all together and setup which means that I'd have to tear it all apart.

Would the tolerances change so I'd need someone how really knows what's up to set it all up again or could I put it back together myself with the correct bushings/shims/spacers in place?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[igotaneed4speed]

Just wonder at what speed or whatever that it is either good practice or totally necessary to weld the axle tubes on a ford 8.8" rear end.

I would assume especially if you use an anti-roll bar that welds to the tubes that it would be important to weld the center section.

I want to get this done, but my main issue is that my rear end is all together and setup which means that I'd have to tear it all apart.

Would the tolerances change so I'd need someone how really knows what's up to set it all up again or could I put it back together myself with the correct bushings/shims/spacers in place?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Unless you have a big " motor making gobbs of TQ or a nasty stick car possible something making good power with a trans brake i don't know u "have" to do that.


I've gone 1.40 with a stick car spraying it and never twisted a tube... if the rear is fresh i woudnt bother but if it could use to be rebuilt then have at it its only like 40 more on top of a re-build at DTS to have them straightend and welded...


Btw whats the engine/trans combo and weight of the car

[coldblue012]

I'm not too sure on the weight of the car. It's a 92LX. I'm swapping in a QA1/HAL k-member+coil over front suspension right now and I've pretty much stripped the interior.

I'm actually going to but the interior back together a bit because it was so damn loud in the car without any carpet or whatnot.

I've added in through floor subframe connectors and a 10pt cage so that adds some weight.

As for the motor, it's in the building progress now. I have a 9.2:1 347, Total Engine Airflow 205CNC TFS twisted wedge heads, and a Vortech YSi.

I'll be shoving that through a reverse manual C4 w/ transbreak.

Do you know how much a DTS rebuild costs? My diff + gears and whatnot are all in good shape. Actually the gears are brand new. I had someone set them up last summer but didn't finish the car.

[igotaneed4speed]

225 is the gear set-up cost
prob in the ballpark of 100 for a bearing kit
and 20 and hour for labor on the welding adn straighting.


This is the Ionia location not warren.

[SVT32VDOHC]

DTS on Groesbeck. They welded my tubes on two of my fox bodies. Neither are big tire cars, but it gave me a peice of mind, and the rear end was already out, so why not?

[Superstocker]

I think its a good idea to do it as soon as possible. Ive read where stock motord stick cars have twisted them and ate up the quarter.

[Team Z Motorsports]

Get them welded, it does not take allot of power to twist on also take it to someone who can check and see if it is straight, before it's welded, have it straight is as important as welding the tubes!

[QuickLX]

DTS on Groesbeck.

Those guys are a bunch of dumba$$es. The only thing they should be doing over there is gear swaps on stock or near stock cars.


coldblue012, If you are going to get the axle done up, do it right the first time and take it to the Ionia DTS shop.

[SVT32VDOHC]

Those guys are a bunch of dumba$. The only thing they should be doing over there is gear swaps on stock or near stock cars.


coldblue012, If you are going to get the axle done up, do it right the first time and take it to the Ionia DTS shop.

I haven't had a problem with them. They have set up multiple rear ends of mine. They have also solved problems that some of my customers have had with their SUV's and 4x4 trucks.

[QuickLX]

I haven't had a problem with them. They have set up multiple rear ends of mine. They have also solved problems that some of my customers have had with their SUV's and 4x4 trucks.

That may be the case, but when a customer tells them EXACTLY what they are going to do with the car, the power levels, the current or expected 60 fts, and what transmission they are using...They should get it right the first time. Not put street junk in it and charge them for the "race" quality parts they asked for. Hell they even went so far as to use the brand of gears they were explicitly told NOT to use. Then when I have it taken apart by their own employees and they tell me that it was the poor choice of parts that cause the rear end to grenade, on top of the fact that they used a crush washer in a "race" application that obviously called for a solid spacer. One would think that telling them "I will be leaving the line off a 2-step at 72-7500 RPM with a 5 speed manual trans" would be enough information to keep them from doing something so stupid. Oh, and after hearing "you're lucky the rearend didn't lockup and throw you into the wall" about a hundred times, yeah I was a little pissed.

Here's and example of how well their crap held up after about 25 passes. Per DTS this was caused by excessive back-lash due to launching the car and the rear-end being built with a crush washer instead of a spacer. This excessive lash caused the ring-gear and spool to shift rearword in the housing resulting in axle tubes that were bent forward by nearly an inch and a bunch of broken teeth.



The boys on Groesbeck are completely lacking the necessary racing background to be working on anything other than a stocker, bottom line.




The IONIA guys however definately know their shit, and they build your stuff so you can thrash on it again and again.