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Originally Posted by DBSHELTON
I have a leak between the Right Axle Housing and the Center Section. Is there any way to fix this without completely disassembling the rearend? Tightened the bolts and that didn't help. They weren't loose.
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Typically what we find is the housing flange is warped/bent which requires installing in a lathe to true the flange for a better seal. Unfortunately, you cannot do this operation without disassembly. Also, we find many housings are bent requiring straightening. I suspect this happened over the years as people threw chains around the housing to pull things, -or to be pulled out of places. How this affects things is the two rear hubs do not rotate parallel with each other causing the rear axle shaft to bend ever so slightly on each rotation. Not only is this tough on axle shaft longevity, this can also affect braking and tire wear because of the hub not in alignment.
I have placed a few pictures below showing how the housing flange is trued on a lathe. Notice how the area cleans up on one side of the flange yet not the opposite side. This is because some housings are tough to get 100% straightened. The housing tube is straightened using torch to heat and water to cool the area to shrink it back into alignment. The axle housing is held between centers and indicated off of bearing races on each end and in the tapered area of the tube. In the case of when a housing is within a few thousandths of being true, it does not hurt if the housing retains a slight bend as long as a new race is installed for the hub bearing as it will be machined where the centerline is corrected. I hope this makes sense.
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