[El Campo]

My biggest pet peeve of anything is when something leaks. Since 12 bolts leak sometimes and there are quite a few horses in front of this one I decided to weld the axle tubes onto the center housing. I had welded some cast iron before but it had been a while so I did a TON of research on how to do it correctly. This is how I did it. Stripped the rearend totally down (was going to do this anyways to put the Posi in and replace all the bearings after I sandblast it). Rearend had previously been painted after some shoddy rust removal that was largely unsuccessful. Clean the inside of the housing out well. Ground the axle joints with a heavy hand. It is imperative to get all the way to virgin metal on both the axle tube as well as the cast iron housing. Wrapped up the center piece with 6 layers of radiant barrier insulation. With a torch started heating about an inch inboard of joint until reached temp of 600 degrees. I do not have a TIG so had to use arc welder with 3/32" 99% nickel rods ($$$$$$). Welded in short bursts while keeping area 600 degrees. Took numerous cycles of welding and then the torch to maintain it. Peened the welds (it hurts peening good looking welds but do what you have to do ). Then wrapped the entire rearend was an additional 6 layers of insulation in an attempt to slow the cooling process down to about 100 degrees per hour. After was cool hit it quick with a flap disc and here it is! Did not use a jig as some some that it is not absolutely necessary if you are careful and did not have one available. Checked it out afterwards and no warpage