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Old 10-21-2018, 09:54 PM
Mike4x4 Mike4x4 is offline
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Default Retubing axles

I was wondering if anyone has any experience retubing the stock axles. I noticed some real bad rot and I got a feeling this is gonna be their last winter. I am going to retube them in the summer and I've been looking for as much information on this type of work as I can get.
Thanks

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Old 10-21-2018, 10:24 PM
Dirtman Dirtman is offline
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Default Re: Retubing axles

I have built several axles over the years with custom tubes, shafts, perches etc etc. Its not overly difficult with the proper equipment, a good welder (a harbor freight special is not appropriate here), jigs, accurate measuring and angle devices (a tape measurer and a carpenter's square don't count) etc. But... The long and veiny of it is, it's a completely pointless waste of time and effort to do this type of work simply to restore the rear to oem condition.

You're talking about a extremely common, still in production rear end that can be bought from any junkyard for usually less than a couple hundred bucks. And in many cases you can even upgrade to say a rear disc axle, different ratio, with a limited slip etc.

So really, unless your building a trophy truck or rock crawler and need to build a custom rear, your not saving any money or doing yourself any favors in taking on this type of endeavour. The chances for mistakes are high and mistakes on this type of work often land in the catastrophic category on a daily driver. Cost savings are nothing since new tubes, mounts, and perches will end up the same as a good complete used rear so the wallet isn't a factor. Again, availability is not a problem since there are millions upon millions of ford 7.5" and 8 .8" rears all over the world.

If you have some reason for wanting to do this I missed I can definitely give you better, more in depth info though. However my advice, start searching for a 8.8" rear from an explorer with rear disc and a limited slip. Set it up in your garage or wherever and clean it up over the winter. Fresh paint, new seals, new brakes, etc. Then in the spring you can swap rears and be back on the road in a couple hours.

Last edited by Dirtman; 10-21-2018 at 10:34 PM.
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Old 10-22-2018, 09:43 PM
Mike4x4 Mike4x4 is offline
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Default Re: Retubing axles

Thanks for the reply. And the reason I wanted to retube the axles is because I was planning on turning my other ranger into a prerunner during the summer and I wanted experience welding and machining the tubes. That way I'd have experience and perhaps a couple tips and tricks. But if it is absurdly expensive as you mentioned then I will probably not retube this axle.
Do you run a mig welder when you retube axles? My first thought was to tig weld it, but I guess the process doesn't matter that much at the end of the day, at least for this application.

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Old 10-22-2018, 10:40 PM
Dirtman Dirtman is offline
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Default Re: Retubing axles

Stick or Tig for welding tube to housing, personally I dont feel Mig is appropriate here or anytime your working with cast material. But you can use mig or whatever you want for perches, flanges, and mounts. The most important thing is using the proper filler, Ni99 for cast iron housings or regular 7018/70s6(2) for cast steel. You should also do a pre-heat and anneal cycle, especially if you're welding the entire tube and not just relying on plug welds. If you're going to be building one for a pre-runner your definitely not gonna wanna rely on just plug welds...
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