Editing Straightening a rear end housing

Here's how to make a fixture and rack for straightening a rear end housing.

The cart pictured below is an old gas cylinder cart, bought at a garage sale. An I-beam is welded to the gas cylinder cart.
[[pic of cart]]

To prevent any mishaps involving slippage and gravity, common jackstands are cut up to wrap the leg of the I-beam.
[[pic of jackstand wrappage]]

A straight bar is necessary. This hardened and chrome plated bar is about five feet long, and 1.5" in diameter. It's available from McMaster-Carr for about $115.00.
[[pic of bar]]

Then, make some inserts. These are about 2" long, as to provide some load bearing area to lessen wear caused by repeated use. For this application (10-bolt Chevrolet), the ID is 1.504", and the OD is 2.894".
[[pic of inserts and drill]]

Another insert was made with the same 1.504" ID, and dimensioned to slip-fit into the housing end. This same set of inserts and matching bar can be used as an alignment aid when narrowing rear end housings.

The inserts are then clamped in the bearing saddles, and the bar slides through them. The fit should be nice -- the bar should slide through easily, but with no noticeable play.
[[pic of inside of pumpkin with bar and inserts]]

The housing end insert slides over the bar, and indicates how much the end of the housing is bent out of alignment.
[[pic of bar hanging out of end]]