Question For Those of You w/Strange Engineering's C-Clip Eliminators

Question For Those w/Strange Engineering's C-Clip Eliminators

I have the complete 8.8" axle housing out from under the vehicle and stripped down to the bare housing in preparation for the following mods:

• Detroit True Trac w/ARP Ring Gear Mounting Bolts (Already have FRPP 4.10s), including new differential carrier bearings
• Pinion Flange (installing an Axle Exchange 4" One Piece Aluminum Drive Shaft) using the latest style pinion flange nut and collapsible spacer
• Strange Engineering Safety Hubs (C-Clip Eliminators) includes modifying axle housing
• Moser Engineering Main Cap Studs
• Welding the Axle Tubes
• Welding the BMR LCA Relocation Brackets
• Welding the BMR Sway Bar Relocation Brackets
• Modify Coil Spring Mounting Pads (more on that later...)
• Install BMR Dual Durometer Axle Housing Bushing
• Painting or Powdercoating the axle housing

and some suspension mods to compliment my existing suspension mods:

• BMR UCA Mount
• QA1 Single adjustable rear shocks

and finally new rear tires:

• M/T ET Street Radials - P295/55R15 or P325/50R15

After the housing was completely stripped and cleaned, I carefully inspected the housing, paying particular attention to the outer tube/flange areas that will be modified for the Strange Engineering Safety Hubs as they can be prone to leak. For those of you that have already installed these safety hubs, you know the outer ends of the tubes have to be cut off leaving a maximum of .0625" protruding past the backing plate register. Take a look at this attached picture of the area I'm referring to


Notice the rolled material. Isn't that burr that's protruding about .020" going to prevent the new caliper mount supplied by Strange Engineering from seating properly and ultimately causing a leak? Looks like the housing has been that way since new. It has never posed a problem up until now because nothing seals on either of those registers. I'm probably going to carefully machine that burr off while the housing is up in the lathe getting the outer ends removed just to make sure I don't have any leaks.

Has anyone else run into this?

I spoke to Strange Engineering yesterday and they confirmed the issue in the picture in my previous post would most likely cause a leak. To be more specific, they stated anything protruding more than 1/64" (.0156") would require some type of (PCA) permanent corrective action.

I also discussed with them my concern about the flanges on the ends of the housing not having a continuous weld securing it to the axle housing. Not because of a lack of strength, but a potential leak path. To test this theory, I carefully sprayed brake clean on the outer stub of the housing and the liquid seeped under the flange. Strange stated that the axle housing they used for their test iron had a continuous weld unlike my axle housing. I assume the earlier axle housings weren't welded in this location due to the ABS sensor location. The axle housing in these pictures is from an 05. I checked my wife's 06 GT and that axle housing does not have a continuous weld either. I plan on tig welding a small bead of weld on this portion of the axle housing so this is a continuous weld, hence preventing any future leaks. Here's a picture of the issue I'm referring to


more to follow...

Can't wait to see the rest, I may be doing this to my car this winter.

Good info, I need to check that weld on mine . Thanks.

All welding has been completed

Stock coil spring mount

Modified coil spring mount




Axle tubes welded


Outer axle flanges welded


LCA & sway bar relocation brackets welded







Tomorrow the entire housing goes into the Sigma lathe to have the burr removed and ends machined off for the Strange Engineering Safety Hubs (C-Clip Eliminators)

Looks like you are making quite a bit of progress, I wish I had some of the tooling you have access to. It kind of makes me wish I worked in a shop environment again. Did you use any kind of fixture when you welded the axle tubes or just stand the housing up on end?

No the axle housing was not put in a jig. I probably need to add that all the welding that was done on the axle tubes themselves was tig welding, not mig welding. Tig welding does not generate as much localized heat as mig welding and contribute to or promote the axle tubes to become misaligned. The axle tubes were welded in increments of about 3/4" passes alternating between sides, leaving about a 3/4" portion unwelded until the entire circumference of the tube was welded continuous. I will confirm the tubes are not misaligned tomorrow when the axle housing is indicated in the lathe. All welding performed on the sway bar & LCA relocation brackets as well as the modified spring mounts were mig welded.

tmcolegr said:

No the axle housing was not put in a jig. I probably need to add that all the welding that was done on the axle tubes themselves was tig welding, not mig welding. Tig welding does not generate as much localized heat as mig welding and contribute to or promote the axle tubes to become misaligned. The axle tubes were welded in increments of about 3/4" passes alternating between sides, leaving about a 3/4" portion unwelded until the entire circumference of the tube was welded continuous. I will confirm the tubes are not misaligned tomorrow when the axle housing is indicated in the lathe. All welding performed on the sway bar & LCA relocation brackets as well as the modified spring mounts were mig welded.

Click to expand...

Why modify the spring mounts ?

05stroker said:

Why modify the spring mounts ?

Click to expand...

I've been wondering who would be the first and how long it would take for someone to ask that question.

Let me explain. I have BMR's lowering springs (1.25" front/1.50" rear). The spring rate and ride are perfect for my application. However the vehicle sits perfectly level and that's not what I want. I would like the vehicle to have a rake similar to stock. I've looked at every spring on the market and I can't find a spring with the same spring rate as the BMR spring that only drops the rear 1". Hence the .500" modification to the spring mount. Since I have both an adjustable UCA and panhard bar, both the pinion angle and axle housing location can be centered once the axle housing is back under the vehicle.

tmcolegr said:

I've been wondering who would be the first and how long it would take for someone to ask that question.

Let me explain. I have BMR's lowering springs (1.25" front/1.50" rear). The spring rate and ride are perfect for my application. However the vehicle sits perfectly level and that's not what I want. I would like the vehicle to have a rake similar to stock. I've looked at every spring on the market and I can't find a spring with the same spring rate as the BMR spring that only drops the rear 1". Hence the .500" modification to the spring mount. Since I have both an adjustable UCA and panhard bar, both the pinion angle and axle housing location can be centered once the axle housing is back under the vehicle.

Click to expand...

Im just curious but why not just go with a bigger tire? I know you know the pros and cons of a bigger tire. But then you would have to regear and what not, but you are kinda building a rearend. Also technically you just put a lift kit on ur mustang, I found it comical.

iwaxmyjimmy said:

I'm just curious but why not just go with a bigger tire? I know you know the pros and cons of a bigger tire. But then you would have to regear and what not, but you are kinda building a rearend. Also technically you just put a lift kit on ur mustang, I found it comical.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you found it comical - you made my morning. You call it a lift kit, I call it a lowering spring that only lowers the vehicle 1" in the rear. What difference does it make? The end result is the exactly same.

I have already chosen the exact tire/gear combination I want. 28.0" tall tire with a 4.10 gear.

I really was just curious. But that's definitely cheaper than having a custom set of coil springs made. I figured you already had the car dialed in for the size tire/gear, but I was just curious.

tmcolegr said:

I've been wondering who would be the first and how long it would take for someone to ask that question.

Let me explain. I have BMR's lowering springs (1.25" front/1.50" rear). The spring rate and ride are perfect for my application. However the vehicle sits perfectly level and that's not what I want. I would like the vehicle to have a rake similar to stock. I've looked at every spring on the market and I can't find a spring with the same spring rate as the BMR spring that only drops the rear 1". Hence the .500" modification to the spring mount. Since I have both an adjustable UCA and panhard bar, both the pinion angle and axle housing location can be centered once the axle housing is back under the vehicle.

Click to expand...

Makes sense .

For those of you following this thread please pay close attention to this post.

I now know exactly what Blazing Saddles meant (see post#44) in his thread about Ford's inconsistencies in axle housing manufacturing. My axle housing has been fully modified, welded, and painted and I have run into an issue you need to check before proceeding with installing Strange Engineering's C-Clip Eliminators. Take a look at this first picture. What I am trying to demonstrate is the protrusion of the large register on the axle housing compared to the machined recess in the caliper bracket supplied by Strange. You'll notice an .018" interference. On the other end of the axle housing there is only a .002" interference, but none the less this dimension should be a clearance dimension, not in interference dimension. The result is the caliper bracket does not fit up flush with the axle housing flange. Rather the caliper bracket contacts the large register on the axle housing before the bracket contacts the mounting flange. If this were to be assembled in this condition, the shoulder of the caliper bracket would be damaged when the bolts are installed and tightened.

Notice the gap that the feeler gauge is measuring is exactly .018"

To remedy this, I am going to stick the axle housing up in a mill and machine the large register down to .100" on both ends (.005" clearance) as recommended by Demetri @ Strange Engineering. Then I will have to remachine the small register to make sure it is not protruding more than 1/16" (.0625").

Note this is not an defect in the Strange Engineering Safety hubs, rather it is a perfect example of what Blazing Saddles was referring to in the thread I referenced at the beginning of this post.

I encourage anyone installing these safety hubs to test fit all hardware so you don't damage parts during assembly.

I completely forgot to mention this prior to my last post as it slipped my mind.

Some of you may be concerned about the fact that I didn't use a jig during the axle tube welding procedure. To confirm the axle tubes were still in alignment with the differential carrier I did the following:

Prior to cutting the ends off of the axle housing I took a 6' long piece of 1 3/4"" round hydraulic cylinder rod and slipped it in one end of the axle housing and out the other, leaving the excess sticking equally out of both ends of the axle housing. I then machined 4 dough nuts - 2 that fit inside the differential bearing bores and 2 that fit inside the outer wheel bearing bores. These dough nuts had a total of .003" clearance - .0015" between the ID of the axle housing and OD of the dough nut and .0015" between the ID of the dough nut and the round rod. I then installed the main bearing caps and torqued them to spec. With this alignment tool fully assembled I was able to rotate the round rod by hand. This confirms all 4 bores are still in alignment even after welding the axle tubes without a jig.

That's what I did on the small register. Cut the ends to 1/16 of an inch as recommended by Strange. This kit contained a very Comprehensive set of directions that even a knuckle dragger like me could follow. I had no issues with fit.

I can believe that. I also believe that no 2 housings are manufactured the same. Some may have absolutely no issues as some others have already posted. However, the dimension I referred to should be checked in every case.

agreed. I test fitted everything. Measured twice and cut once if you will.

This latest hiccup should have been caught long before I got to this point. Blazing Saddles post clearly stated this was an issue on his rear axle. However, in a few posts later 05Stroker posted he purchased a kit and all fit perfectly. Therefore I assumed I shouldn't have any issues. I was wrong. Blazing Saddles post also mentioned the recess is the caliper bracket not allowing the 4 mounting bolts to pass through the axle housing flange. While my bolt holes don't line up perfectly, I won't have to grind the outside of the flange as he did.

If anyone else purchases this C-Clip Eliminator kit one of the very first things to check is the protrusion on the OD of the large register. If it is over .105", you will have to machine or file down that surface to be .105" or less as that is the depth of the counterbore in the caliper brackets supplied by Strange.

If the axle housing were assembled and still under the vehicle, I guess you could use a file to file down that register - just seems awfully crude to do it that way.

I think what frustrates me the most about the C-Clip Eliminator part of this project is this vehicle will probably never see the strip. However, I figured this would be the perfect time to install safety hubs as the axle housing was out of the vehicle and completely disassembled and at the welding/machine shop.

Since I'm still using stock axles and brakes I shouldn't have any axle ABS ring issues to deal with.