Ruckstell Housing Bent???

[rnwilliams]

I am in the process of building a Ruckstell axle for my 1926 pickup. Going by the book I am down to checking the axle housings for being straight. My Ford side (passenger side) looks great, but on the Ruckstell side, the axle is 5/8" out of center at the outside end. I don't see any bend in the Ruckstell housing (P156) tube itself.

Reading an old post from a few years ago, on the subject of bent axle housings, Stan Howell commented that most of the time he had seen a Ruckstell housing (P156) bent it was the cast housing not the tube. I really don't see how the cast part of the housing would bend before the tube but mine is or perhaps it was made that way.

I straightened two 1912 axle housings earlier this year by heat shrinking the tube where it was bent without much trouble. I tried heat shrinking the Ruckstell Cast housing with no luck.

Has anyone else had experience with a bent Ruckstell Housing. Do I throw it on the scrap pile and get another one or is there a way of straightening this thing without having to build some big fixture that would cost more than a new axle housing.

[Henry K. Lee]

Use a plane and depth check to see if the housing is bent. If it not, race the outer sections of the housing tube with a straight edge, mark, heat and bend back. Never seen a Ruxstell casting bend that much the radius rods could not take up.

All the Best,

Hank