When last we left off I had just added a temperature sender probe to the back of my Budget 9" and it was ready to be shipped off to the folks at Currie Enterprises to be straightened. That was about a month ago. Well it is back now and better than ever!
The process that Currie uses to straighten axle housings is fairly simple in nature, though won't give any of their trade secrets for obvious reasons I can still tell you the basics.
When an axle that has had a back brace added, such as this one, is brought in for a straightening the folks at Currie simply chop off the ends (where the bearings reside and shafts bolt to), run a straight rod through the housing and then weld the ends back on. Wala! Now you have an axle housing where the shafts will once again be true to the third member! The only downside to this method is if you have an extreemly warped housing the ends will be noticable offset. Still, not that big of a deal.
As you can see in the photos of my axle below while at Currie I had the housing straightened, Currie added fresh new housing ends to replace the 30 year old worn out ones, and they pressed in 10 shiney (not really) new studs. I also picked up a new gasket for it and a new set of nuts & copper washers for the new studs. It is always a good idea to replace the nuts and washers when ever you take them off, consider them 1 time use only.
That is all for now. Stay tuned as we tackle brakes, lubrication, and guts for the third member!