i had big bearing ford ends that accept gm drum brakes welded onto a 12 bolt housing. when i went to put the wilwood disc brakes on it i noticed the calipers weren't parallel to the rotors. i found one of the axle flanges had .010" of runout (discussed in another thread) but even worse is the ends don't seem to correct. i put a straight edge (which was checked on a surface plate for accuracy) across the edge of the housing end and then measured out to the axle flange to check the offset. i marked the axle flange so i used the same spot on it each time and measured from all four corners of the flange. the two front corners measured 2.754" and the rear corners measured 2.805", thats a .050" difference which seems to me the housing end wasn't installed correctly. it was done using the propper jig by chassis guy who has done it a multiple times. the axle slides perfectly right in by hand up to the oring then a few gentle taps from a rubber mallet and it's in, so that tells me the bearing register in the housing end is true to the carrier bearing bores. i measured the depth of the bearing registers in the housing ends and they were the same all around but when i used a straigh edge across the outer bearing race with the axle installed and used a feeler gauge to see how much the race stuck up above the housing end there was about a .020" difference front to back in the same manner the housing end was off to the axle flange. now i'm not sure if there is some play between the bearing and the outer race because i'm sure the factory rears weren't perfect neither but being almost 1/16" off on one side seems excessive. now the other side the bearing register is egg shaped by .015". i had my machist friend make me a mandrel that is 5/8" thick, is tapered from 3.140 to 3.160 and flat on two sides so i can drive that into the housin end and hopefully strech it into shape. the ends didn't appear to have been over heated during the welding either. i am just concerned that i might have excessive wheel bearing wear or the car might track funny. sorry for the long post but ANY info would be appreciated. they are moser ends. thanks in advance, paul c.
