Check my logic

[HeavyMetal]

Checking for a bent axle housing, with housing still installed on vehicle.

Take a bubble level, put it on driverside axle tube. Reference where the bubble is.

Take the same bubble level, put it on passenger side axle tube. the bubble should match the other bubble, if it does not, it means the tubes are bent upwards on one side.

Variables I am missing? in my head it makes sense

[customcreationsllc]

If you have pictures I cannot see them at work. But your logic makes sense.
I would think the axle would have to be pretty bent before it causes an issue but if it comes down to straightening the axle I can help you out.
I have an alignment bar, D44 and Set20 pucks I'm pretty sure Jeep used Set10 bearings.
I would have to make another puck doesn't take that long to make.

We can probably cut the end off and weld it back on straight in one night. You don't need to mess with the gear pattern on a D44.

Are the bearings surviving? And it is just leaking? leaking bad? is it leaking past the seal to the shaft or the seal to the housing?

Is your vent clogged?
I've seen people install the long axle on the short no saying you do but some time you over look the little things.

[Buffalo Phil]

I'd say try out the bubble level to see what it shows you. Just make sure you use a straight edge bubble level that's at least 6" long. Match 'em up and see how bad one side is compared to the other. Can't hurt to try it.

[Burton58]

what about a simple piece of string held tightly at both ends of the axle tube?

[Buffalo Phil]

what about a simple piece of string held tightly at both ends of the axle tube?

Because what if the tube itself is perfectly straight but is bent at the housing? The string will tell you nothing if the points where you connect the string from at the exact same, unless you want to run the string from disc to disc and even then you have too much bullshit in the way.

[HeavyMetal]

Can't hurt to try it.

surely but i wanted to make sure if i tried it there wasnt a variable i wasnt considering that was skewing whatever results i got

[Burton58]

Because what if the tube itself is perfectly straight but is bent at the housing? The string will tell you nothing if the points where you connect the string from at the exact same, unless you want to run the string from disc to disc and even then you have too much bullshit in the way.

good call on that

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

Can you just stop wrecking 44's please?

[Hydra]

'Mogs or bust.

[ct67_72]

dont forget, that if one end is bent "up" its not really going to be the end of the tube thats bent up, its going to sit the same height because of the spring, so actually one point will be lower, possibly the other side. so you wont be able to tell which side is bent without having a control.
IE if the drivers side tube looking at it the level, the bubble is to the left, and the pass tube its to the right, it doesnt mean the pass tube is bent.
But you could at least compare for trueness of the axle.

[HeavyMetal]

yeah i just want to see if its bent at all in any way before i dive head first into more complicated methods of determining

[Zullock Holmes]

60....


.... for real, don't you have a truss you need welded on??? I can check straightness too. let me know foolpiece.

[HeavyMetal]

60....


.... for real, don't you have a truss you need welded on??? I can check straightness too. let me know foolpiece.

for sure. i am hoping my housing isnt bent now though. but yeah, ill let you know. time is at a premium right now, which is annoying because i want to make sure the xj is ok before the wheeling season starts up

reason i think its bent is because i bent another axle shaft, seals leaked, obviously. swapped new unbent shaft in, all new seals, so on, and it still leaked instantly. nothing wrong with seal upon inspection.

gooped with RTV in JV to make it work, which stopped the leaking

[Zullock Holmes]

knew you'd be up this late.

The digital angle gauge i have is really precise, i can use it to not only check to see if the axle tubes are off, but if the bearing cups are still true. If they're not too bad, i can straighten them. If they're really bad, we can put new bearing cups on the axle, truss accordingly, and make it all good to go.

If the axle is unfixable, i can build you a semi-float 60 for probably less than a new 44 would cost. I already have 2 extra low pinion 60 housings and can get axle tubes, bearing cups, shafts, and gears for not bad. But we'll get to that, if we need to go that far. I think we can fix your axle/figure out the problem.

if everything is good, truss will take 20 minutes. At that point i'd say get some chromo's, good timken bearings and good seals, RTV 'em, get new retaining plates, and see how that works.

[Harry]

Assuming your wheel bearings and ball joints are good, can't you use a level/angle finder on the wms? Shouldn't they be perfectly parallel when the wheels are straight? This has worked for me in the past.