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Fabricated 9" / 10" housings

RustyC

RustyC

Knucklehead
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
733
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413
Loc
Alabama
I am in the market for a couple of fabricated 9" housings. I have found several other manufacturers that offer fab housings.
Other than popularity, What make one better than the other? Machining the face after welding is standard procedure now.
Faceplate thinckness 3/8" - 1/2"
Tube O.D. and wall thickness 3",3.5",4.0"
Metal Type mild vs chromoly

Spidertrax 3/8" face / 3.5" x 1/4" dom , chromo tubes as an upgrade $1099
RuffStuff 3/8" face / 3.5" x 3/8" dom $1100
TrailGear 1/2" face / 3" & 3.5" x 3/8" dom $ 774
Camburg 3/8" face / 3.5" x 1/4" chromo tubes $895

3.5 in. Ultimate Housing
Ford 9" Axle Housing
www.summitracing.com

Trail Gear 144049-1-KIT Trail-Gear Rock Assault 9 Axle Housings | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Trail-Gear Rock Assault 9 Axle Housings with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Axle Housings at Summit Racing.
www.summitracing.com www.summitracing.com
https://camburg.com/shop/drivetrain...-3-50-mig-builder-series-9-rear-axle-housing/
 
I am in the southeast U.S. shipping from the west coast is a big factor. I can get a couple of TG housings shipped for less than the others.
TG has had a history with part quality. These are pieces of metal with no moving parts. With the machined face to true the fit, why would it not be a good choice?

I am needing a drivers drop front and a centered rear 3.5" tube.
 
I'm surprised spider Trax is only 250 wall.

There is also Currie, diamond and a bunch of others if you look enough.

Are you wanting even more budget? :laughing:

www.chassisengineering.com

C/E4210 -Mild Steel 9" Fabricated Housing Weld-Up Kit

C/E4210
www.chassisengineering.com www.chassisengineering.com

www.ebay.com

Ford 9'' Fabricated Housing Center Section for 3'' Axle tubes C23006 | eBay

These Fabricated Steel Housings are made from 1/8" thick cut mild steel made for use with 3" axle tubes. Housing is 17-1/2" wide.
www.ebay.com

I've been curious about these kits, but they aren't that much cheaper than TG to really make it worth it. Especially if you go price DOM.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Are you wanting even more budget? :laughing:

www.chassisengineering.com

C/E4210 -Mild Steel 9" Fabricated Housing Weld-Up Kit

C/E4210
www.chassisengineering.com www.chassisengineering.com

www.ebay.com

Ford 9'' Fabricated Housing Center Section for 3'' Axle tubes C23006 | eBay

These Fabricated Steel Housings are made from 1/8" thick cut mild steel made for use with 3" axle tubes. Housing is 17-1/2" wide.
www.ebay.com

I've been curious about these kits, but they aren't that much cheaper than TG to really make it worth it. Especially if you go price DOM.
Click to expand...

Those are aimed at drag racers, thinner face plate, thinner housing plate thickness. Don't think they'd like to bump rocks too hard. I was looking at these too, but decided it's not worth the work with how fragile they'll end up for our uses.
 
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Been looking at this too for a future build. I see no reason to not go TG especially for anything other than a high echelon build needing the best of best.
 
Russellmn said:
Those are aimed at drag racers, thinner face plate, thinner housing plate thickness. Don't think they'd like to bump rocks too hard. I was looking at these too, but decided it's not worth the work with how fragile they'll end up for our uses.
Click to expand...

I agree, but you can always add a little plate to it while you're welding it up. Bonus points for using ar plate.

1/8" is still about 4x's thicker than my samurai axles :laughing:

I think they would be cool for certain applications. For example, I have a 99-04 F550 2wd beam that I want to swap knuckles with my 97. It has plenty of tube to put the diff where ever I want, so instead of spending ~$1k on a housing with tubes, I could buy a kit for $300 and add a little bash plate to. It would most likely be used on something light wieght anyway.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I agree, but you can always add a little plate to it while you're welding it up. Bonus points for using ar plate.

1/8" is still about 4x's thicker than my samurai axles :laughing:

I think they would be cool for certain applications. For example, I have a 99-04 F550 2wd beam that I want to swap knuckles with my 97. It has plenty of tube to put the diff where ever I want, so instead of spending ~$1k on a housing with tubes, I could buy a kit for $300 and add a little bash plate to. It would most likely be used on something light wieght anyway.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, if you have the tube already then they could be a great deal for a lightweight buggy. Otherewise, 3"+ tube is pretty expensive and kinda kills the value to doing this.
 
Another thing to consider, that may or may not apply, is the ability to use 10" gears. Probably not an issue for most, but I think part of the appeal of the 9" is that it can "grow"

For me, no way I'm able to drop the coin on a GW hp10 now, but down the road, it's nice to have the option to drop one in without building or buying a new housing.

I'd bet all the offroad companies accept 10" 3rds, but not sure about the ones I linked.
 
I have held a lot of them.

Nothing comes close to the quality of Spidertrax, short of maybe Sandy Cone stuff.

The welds, how everything is machined, the fact you can get chromo tubes etc.



Maybe Camburg or Tubeworks but never seen them in person.

That said, I know plenty of people happy with TG housings. RustyC TG housings are actually made in USA.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I'm surprised spider Trax is only 250 wall.

There is also Currie, diamond and a bunch of others if you look enough.

Are you wanting even more budget? :laughing:

www.chassisengineering.com

C/E4210 -Mild Steel 9" Fabricated Housing Weld-Up Kit

C/E4210
www.chassisengineering.com www.chassisengineering.com

www.ebay.com

Ford 9'' Fabricated Housing Center Section for 3'' Axle tubes C23006 | eBay

These Fabricated Steel Housings are made from 1/8" thick cut mild steel made for use with 3" axle tubes. Housing is 17-1/2" wide.
www.ebay.com

I've been curious about these kits, but they aren't that much cheaper than TG to really make it worth it. Especially if you go price DOM.
Click to expand...
I actually built a 9" from scratch literally plate and tube. The double hump 9" :lmao: It was a lot of work. I told myself I would never do that again.
I then used a Rhodes kit very similar to the Chassis Engineering kit. It was complete with tube so it was easy to built.
I have to be honest though, I don't think the C/E or Rhodes kits look good at all. Similar to a Diamond housing. There is a step where the end plate meet the tube that just looks bad. Spidertrax tapers smoothly to the tube and is why they look so nice.

I hope to make these 2 housings my last.
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This is the front I made after wanting 1550 shafts. 05 outers Rhodes housing kit. Superduty tubes over the kit tubing. She thick..but it actually helps the buggy climb better.

20200605_174407.jpg
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20200607_172403.jpg
 
I have a couple of the TG housings. Lots of bang for the buck especially for a trail rig.
 
RustyC said:
I actually built a 9" from scratch literally plate and tube. The double hump 9" :lmao: It was a lot of work. I told myself I would never do that again.
I then used a Rhodes kit very similar to the Chassis Engineering kit. It was complete with tube so it was easy to built.
I have to be honest though, I don't think the C/E or Rhodes kits look good at all. Similar to a Diamond housing. There is a step where the end plate meet the tube that just looks bad. Spidertrax tapers smoothly to the tube and is why they look so nice.

I hope to make these 2 housings my last.
Click to expand...

I noticed that on the c/e kit. However the welded center on ebay I linked is not that way, and neither is the diamond.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I'm surprised spider Trax is only 250 wall.
Click to expand...

.250 wall is plenty thick.

I had a long chat with Thom at Spidertrax years ago about wall thickness vs. tube diameter. You pick up very little bending strength with an increase of wall thickness, but with a big weight penalty. An increase in tube diameter adds way more bending resistance with little weight penalty.

Wall thickness = impact resistance.
Tube diameter = bending resistance.


Bebop said:
I have held a lot of them.

Nothing comes close to the quality of Spidertrax, short of maybe Sandy Cone stuff.

The welds, how everything is machined, the fact you can get chromo tubes etc.
Click to expand...

This right here ^^^
 
TrailTamer said:
Chromo tubes… stronger and more dent-resist than non-chromo 1/4” wall.
Click to expand...

I looked last night and did not see chromo tubes as standard, unless I missed it. If so, they may be worth the cost for some.

Tech Tim said:
.250 wall is plenty thick.

I had a long chat with Thom at Spidertrax years ago about wall thickness vs. tube diameter. You pick up very little bending strength with an increase of wall thickness, but with a big weight penalty. An increase in tube diameter adds way more bending resistance with little weight penalty.

Wall thickness = impact resistance.
Tube diameter = bending resistance.




This right here ^^^
Click to expand...

I get all that, I guess I just assumed 3 1/2 x 3/8 was standard for non chromo housings.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I looked last night and did not see chromo tubes as standard, unless I missed it. If so, they may be worth the cost for some.



I get all that, I guess I just assumed 3 1/2 x 3/8 was standard for non chromo housings.
Click to expand...

The Pro Housing does call out 4130 and Heat Treated

at $2000
 
arse_sidewards said:
Any reason for the symmetry or just because you already had all the beer boxes cut up to make link brackets for it that way?
Click to expand...
That is the result of a couple of different drivers upper link mounts styles that looked totally out of place and just to make people go WFT?
 
The Spidertrax 3.5" entry level housing is not chromo on their website. They only list the 4" housings as chromo.
 
Is the width an issue with the TG housings? Some local dudes were trying to do TG housings and went another way because of the length of the tubes. Also, aren't the TG unit bearing cups ONLY for the 99-04 ford unit bearings?
 
ZSAVAGE81 said:
Is the width an issue with the TG housings? Some local dudes were trying to do TG housings and went another way because of the length of the tubes. Also, aren't the TG unit bearing cups ONLY for the 99-04 ford unit bearings?
Click to expand...
the blank centered one i got was like 72" wide, and yes the cups are for 99-04.
 
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