Is it possible to have a bent housing and the car still drive ok under normal circumstances? I have recently changed the tires because they were really old, and under acceleration, the car felt as if it was swaying back and forth. The tires were also wearing unevenly, almost bald on the inside, and not so bald on the outside. When i put the new wheels and tires on it, looking at it from the back, it kind of looked like the tires were leaning in at the top....It made me wonder about the housing
It is very possible. I just had one last month and doing another housing swap this weekend with another bent one.
Well - I guess you can drive anything....lol. The crap I use to drive when I was first driving would not even be legal today....LOL. Tires would fall off bumpers trim pieces flying off on the freeway!! Terrible. But those were 200.00 -300.00 dollar cars. We played demo derby on the street after hours 2-3 in the morning...lol. So back to it. I have straighten housings for people. I do not do it much anymore as most just end up spending money on new stuff these days. Your going to wear axle bearings / axle shafts/ Wheel / tires The suspension will likely take some toll trying to over come this problem too. THEN there is just safety factors of if the axle over heats and literally snaps while driving...AT WHAT speed? That could end you and someone you take out when you loos control of the vehicle after this happens tire blow out from heating one area of the tire too much ...UNDER inflation makes this happen too. Guess it is really the person who owns the cars decision...if you do not have anything else and can not afford anything else you do what you have to do. BUT sounds like this is not that type so you need to find out where the trouble lies in the tire wear. Guys use to tear a complete rear down and take a old 8 foot florescent bulb through the housing to see if it was bent. Jim
I'm curious as to why i havent heard and bearing noise yet. Like i said, under normal driving conditions, it drives fine, just under heavy acceleration is when its gets a little weird. Bushings are all good, it has a nice big sway bar, and new UMI lowers. It has seen its share of track time, but no derbies
If the tubes are bent, the axles and bearings are relative to the tubes, so they " see themselves" as normal. The tires reletive to the road, are not happy. Think of independent rear grossly overloaded. Tweaked tubes act similarly.
When I do any welding or install new housing ends,everything is in a jig. Very rarely is anything perfectly straight to start with. A lot of times,you will have a new housing end(s) that are offset from the tube,and appear to be crooked. Now they are straight.
I have seen C-clip axle worn down 1/ 16" all the way around...NO NOISE...I drove the car before disassembling the rear...lol. It is what it is. If your super worried tear it down and check it. If you just like dealing with tire wear leave it alone til lsomething bigger comes along in the wear department. ?
Just check the rear alignment. There used to be specs for alignment purposes. I believe that 0 camber and toe is what you should have on an axle. Axle housings can bend.
