what rod or wire to weld axle tubes on 8.8

[onewyr]

I am getting ready to swap my 7.5 in my broncoII with an 8.8. I have heard that under load the 8.8 has a tendency to shear the pins that hold the tubes in the housing of the axle and that you should weld the tubes in. what rod or wire should I use to do this. I have both an arc welder and a lincoln 180 mig machine

 

[ZMan]

.030 on the mig will work just fine. Look inside the door of the machine also, theres a chart that tells you what heat and speed settings you'll need for certain thicknesses of metal and wire.

 

[onewyr]

my machine is set up for 0.35 that is fine right

 

[tnab1970]

the ideal rod would be 3/32 dia. 7018. this is the best rod for stress type areas.However the .035 wire will do fine if you are most comfortable with that. My sugestion would be to use what you are most comfortable with, the quality of the weld would out way the type of material used.

 

[Todd]

Wouldn’t you want to use a high nickel content rod as the center section is cast?

 

[AllanD]

Pins?

The tubes are held in by mechanical force... IOW they are pressed in

There are also two puddle welds at the center housing and they are for positive retention.

As for them comming out under load? in What?

I've seen the tubes bent to an amazing degree from a collision, hell I bent one myself.
I've even seen a tube broken off, but the truck it was in was only barely recogizable
(it looked like it lost an arguement with a railroad locomotive)

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[rickcdewitt]

the james duff literature says that the tubes can rotate in the center section but they also want you to buy their axle truss.either way its got to be stronger than a 7.5 housing.

 

[AllanD]

The Tubes are exactly the same in both the 7.5 and 8.8

And it takes a LOT to bend them, usually a collision is involved, even if only a collision with the ground when "jumping" and if someone is idiot enough to jump their truck THEN COMPLAIN about breaking or bending stuff someone should wach them upside the head with a canoe paddle (with the Edge, not the flat)

As for the duff axle truss, I believe they've discontinued it.

Honestly I wanted to buy one myself, but mostly because it looked good, but I decided I could make my own for less AND do something they didn't bother doing.... leaving jacking points accessable or CREATING jacking points.

Much as I've "heard stories" (rumors and never first hand tellings) of axle tubes bent in the vertical plane ever bent ranger axle housing I've ever seen was bent fore aft
and the truck was generally "munched" in the process of bending the axle.

My own bent axle tube involved getting t-boned by a Dodge van and that impact nearly removed the drivers side bed skirt, wrecked the drivers side leaf spring, bent the wheel flange on the axle shaft (! ! !) as well as knocking the tube an inch and a half out of true
(purely to the rear) and it did neat things inside the axle, or atleast limping the 30miles home from the accident site did neat things...

Basically you can worry about bending the housing, but to actually bend one will invariable DESTROY some combination of other parts attached to the axle in the
process, frankly I'd rather break something that's bolted on than bugger the frame

an axle is easily replaced by disconnecting the shocks, swaybar (if equipped)
four u-bolts and the driveshaft, bu t what do you do if you bend the
frame instead? Oops!

My thought is let the bugger bend, I have a spare and if I bend that
one as well it only means a trip to the junkyard to get another.

But as someone is sure to tell you I also have a spare FRAME for my truck...
(really! no shit!) as well as a spare CAB, but I don't currently have a spare bed.
People ain't joking when they say I could build another truck out of
my spare parts...

That all being said, swapping to an Explorer axle involves welding to mount ranger spring and shock monts to it. an expy axle is wider than even a gen3-up axle assembly and uses
the larger diameter axle tubes larger bearings and 31-spline shafts, they are significantly harder to bend, but I've seen them bent as well... anything can be bent if you hit it hard enough... my brother bent a 10.25" stirling axle in an F-250 and the axle tubes in that are (literally) 1/2" wall thickness 4" diameter tubes.

worring about the tubes pulling out of the chunk? please! they will bend
enough to ruin the axle assembly LONG before that happens

BTW, what engine are you running to be worried about turning the chunk
on the tubes?
And what makes you think the leaf springs or U-bolts wouldn't break first?


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