axle retubing ?

[rupert]

ok i thought of this and wondering if it would work. I have the 78 -79 style hp 44 with the 1/4 wall tubes. My idea was instead of trying to burn out or drill out the plug welds and trying to press out the tube wouldnt be easier to buy a lenght of three inch dom with 1/2 wall and turn down the end to press that into the existing tube. It would still go into the housing and then plug weld again and butt weld the tubes together where they meet.AM I missing something or could this work.

[cjovertj]

yes it can be done
there is a write-up on some other site where a guy did this to turn a hp ford d44 into a pass side drop for a cj

[rupert]

thats what i am trying to do , but would it be as strong as just replacing thE tube all together.

[Lincoln]

I don't think it would be as strong and you would/should still use an alignment bar to keep everything in check.

If you have access to a lathe to turn the tube then you should have access to a mill. The mill will cut right through the plug welds and you can use a bottle jack to press the tubes out.

There are axle people all over that will retube a housing for a decent price if you don't want to mess with it. Locally to me it's about $250.

[rupert]

ya locally here is 800 to do one side. so about 6 something in u.s funds thats why i am asking.

[mackamitsu]

rupert where are you up here? I'm in Ontario near Thunder Bay, and there are a few shops here that will do the job for around 400 altogether.

[Lincoln]

Sorry, I haven't gotten back to this.

Check around at places like www.mad4wd.com even Currie Enterprises. I believe they are right around $200 U.S. and with the exchange rate right now ( my latest check is .8499 CAD to 1 U.S.) you only end up with about $235 Canadian. If you cut the housing down and just leave them enough to work with on the knuckles and housing shipping wouldn't be that bad.

[rupert]

i am about an hour east of toronto. and only found one shop that does it so far still looking though. i thinking shipping the complete axle back into canada would be costly.

[Lincoln]

I bet Larry at Mad can give you a good estimate on how much it would be. The $400 is pretty steep but it may still be a better deal after bouncing it across the border a few times.

[rupert]

lol i think 400 is a steal compared to the 800 quote i got, and i have removed both inner cs and cut down my short side to lenght already. All i need someone to do is remove the orginal short side and and retube with long side and reweld it all back together. I tried to drill pilot holes in plug welds . to remove the tube myself but didnt get to far.