LUVTruck.com

Who has a source for getting 9" parts? I think i have a bad wheel bearing flange on mine and it's ruining the bearing. I've develpoed a steady growl as i drive and i know it's in the drivetrain. It doesn't go away when i let off the gas and it gets louder as i get faster. I suspected for a while that the drivers side bearing was going to give me trouble when i had the leaf spring pads welded. Towing the truck on a tow dolly from Savannah to Texas couldn't have helped any either. The axle guy had tough time getting his alignment bushing out. Whether the axle flange is out of round or not square doesn't really matter. Either way, it's bad. I hope i dont have to replace the axle tube but i should find a source for replacement parts just in case.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

You can contact http://www.coastdriveline.com they will have anything you need in stock.

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Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.

you talking about housing ends?
like this? http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s ... ryId=13575

where is the bearing wearing out? do you see physical damage to the housing? ur entire housing may be out of whack. if the shop that narrowed it didnt put it on a jig to weld it back together during the narrowing process... well.... then they should have.

start with the cheapest parts first. replace the axle bearing and when ur installing the axle splines should slide into the carrier and then the bearing should slip right into the housing end with no trouble or beating at all. if you have any trouble doing that part then I'd suspect the axle tube or housing end might not be welded on true

OR

the housing warped during the welding process when u had your leaf spring perches installed

Do you by chance have a axle brace welded to the back of it? if you're not carefull while welding that on then that will warp the housing too.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

I can't remember if it was tough to install the axle or not, but i do remember that it was a bitch to get that particular axle out when i had the 3rd member rebuilt.
I got the rear end from a guy who's hobby was to build S-10s with small blocks. He was the MAC tool man in my area and when he finally saw my truck, that's when we connected on a gearhead level. He offered me the 9" axle assy (3rd member, housing, backing plates and 28 spline axles) for 120 dollars. I jumped on it because of the 2.75 ratio and the cost. It was built to fit an S-10 and he said it will work on a LUV. I had to get complete brake assy's, drums and e-brake cables to fit it to the truck. Once i got it installed, i could see that it wasn't quite right. It had a bad vibration at steady cruising and the rear leaf springs squeaked because i had to spread the leafs apart to fit it on the pins. The pinion angle was off at least 8 degrees. So i took it all apart and had the 3rd member reworked, new perches installed at the correct width and to correct the pinion angle. The axle man mentioned to me that the alignment bearing was tough to remove from the housing end. This cleared up all the problems that i could see at the time and it worked great. But now after driving the truck for a few years, the bearing is failing and i have a good idea that the housing end is the culprit. When i get it to the axle guy, he'll be able to tell if the tube is warped somehow.
In hindsight, the MAC man knew of the problems and made me a deal that was what the assy was worth. How often whould you find a narrowed Ford 9" assy for 120 bucks. Even with this repair, im still under 1000 dollars for a stronger than stock axle.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

yeah thats a pretty smokin deal for a narrowed Ford 9.
its common for there to be resistance when removing the axle from the housing. the bearing does sometimes hang up in the housing end but it shouldnt be much problem for an axle puller/slide hammer tool to remove. the fact that the "axle man" stated it was a problem removing means to me that alignment is off somewhere.

The S10 perches should be dead nuts perfect when the rear is bolted onto a LUV the MAC tools guy either had his measurements wrong or the shop he used didnt weld them on correctly.

Pinion angle can differ for a couple reasons: Drag cars need at least 5-6 negative (pointing down) degrees in the pinion to compensate for axle wrap caused by the pinion gear climbing upward on the ring gear. Offroad trucks need positive pinion (pointing up)angle to minimize u-joint bind when they have a big lift.

You can take it to the Axle guy to find out of something is out of whack but the best and most surefire thing to do is remove it, strip it down and have a place put the housing on a jig to pinpoint where it is untrue.

Good luck with everything. as you can see, the link i gave you the parts are not expensive but its just the time involved in troubleshooting and then the labor to have stuff rewelded. I hope it all works out.

_________________
1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

When i first installed the axle, the perches were a bit too wide to fit on the pins, the pinion angle was even close to being parallel with the motor/trans drive angle and the perches themselves were 2.5" wide so that made the u-bolts angle out at each leaf spring. I elected to replace the perches with 2" units and i could eliminate 3 of the problems.
One aspect of the Hooker mount kit is that they factored in pinion angle when they designed the mounts. Pinion angle will be within +/- 3 degrees to the stock axle. This narrowed axle was around 8 degrees off. This created too much vibration on such a small truck. I concidered using wedges to correct the pinion angle but the thought of angled u-bolts and constant squeaking of the leaf springs was enough to send me to the axle shop.
For the last year or so, i've considered changing the 3rd member out for a lower geared posi unit. It wouldn't seem to be worth it if i need to worry about an axle bearing.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

I asked around and found a local guy that builds Ford 9" setups for circle track cars. I went to his shop and talked to him about my situation. I found out that he doesn't have a jig. He uses straight edges and a tape measure to square up axle housings. This is too much of a "barnyard" approach in my opinion to getting things corrected. I could do that on my own.
I cant get ahold of the Pro Gear guy i had work done with before. He has a jig and alignment bars.
Im starting to think about ordering a new axle assy that has a little lower gearing, a posi unit and a new housing. And in the meantime, just replace the bearing.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Yeah I agree, a jig is the way to go. I'm not sure why the guy uses a straight edge. its actually not hard to make a jig if narrowing rear ends is your business so I'm not sure why that guy uses such an archaic method.

If you're talking about Pro Gear that advertises in the back of National Dragster and all the offroad magazines, they are right up the road from me. They do good work but they are $$$$$. I believe the shop managers name is Mark

Try a place (also here in SD) called MIT (Mechanically Inclined Techncians) ask for Jeff Sugg. I've had MIT narrow three 9's for me and 2 of them are still running with the same bearings that they installed 10-15 years ago.

_________________
1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Well... I replaced the bearing and it lasted 2 days before it showed signs of failing. The bearing is leaking lubricant. It's not gear oil because it's too clean. I thought i could go far longer than 2 days.
I guess its official, i got to strip it down and get it fixed right.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Damn. sorry man. at least you will have a little piece of mind knowing that its been addressed though.

_________________
1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Yea, im only out 16.00 for parts but geez, 2 days? I'm now searching the internet to find any info if Pro Gear in Waco Tx is still doing business. I did find a couple of places in Austin that do this kind of work. There's a local shop here in town that builds custom cars so i'll go visit them and see if they can do this repair using a jig.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

might be a dumb question, but have you checked to see if there are any shops in Killeen or Temple that can do it?

_________________
Resident lurker

I finally thought clearly and i remembered that there's a custom car shop in Cove. I called them up and they refered me to a shop in Temple. I had to go to Bryan TX so i decided to stop in Temple and ask a few questions. As soon as i mentioned that i wanted it worked on a jig, the shop man stopped me and wrote a name and phone# down for me. This other guy works out of Killeen Tx from his garage. The local O'Reily's parts store knows of him and they say his work is "dead nuts on". I called him up and he said he could do it. Right now im on hold for some parts i ordered from Moser Engineering. I should be tearing down the axle this weekend and getting the axle to Killeen sometime monday.
And no... It's not a dumb question. But it is dumb of me not to figure this out sooner.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

I just received my axle housings today. Man, talk about some stout parts! These things weigh a ton. I think the axle tubes will need to be cut down a bit to fit them corectly. If i can, i'll compare the old ones to the new ones. I'll post some pics to show the difference.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

not sure if you guys know this but Currie sually cuts the stock tubes off and then puts some heavy duty tubes on but they dont just butt them together and weld, they spread the housing open, jam the tube in and weld on the inside and outside. thats the way to go. so the tube is double thickness in some spots. wouldnt hurt to put a back brace to it if you're going to put some hp to it with hard launches. just an FYI

_________________
1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Im just looking to get what i have working correctly. It can hold up to the mild motor build up i have now and i really dont see any performance upgrades in the near future. I am thinking of going to a posi with lower gearing but that will be the extent of it.
If the day ever comes when the truck isn't street legal anymore, it will most likely become strip only and the axle will be pulled for a stronger unit. I can always sell the 9 i have now to another LUV owner needing a replacement upgrade.
I seen on Currie's website that they shut down the rebuild line. Im not sure if they will still work on customer assy's. They're focusing on their 9+ product line.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Here's the small bearing Ford housings i got.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Well, i've hit on a problem. The new axle bearing housings are bigger than the axle tube diameter. My axle has tapered tubes. It looks like i'll have to change out the tubes to be able to use the new housings. Bummer.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

dude, I gotta tell ya you have a lot more patience than I do!
Good luck man

_________________
Resident lurker

I still haven't shown the parts to the axle guy in Killeen yet. He may have a way to fix it up. But at this point, im determined to get a Ford 9" assy that works flawless! If i have to order a new housing from Moser, then i guess i'll order a new housing from Moser.

_________________
Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.