Today's phone conversation with Mr. Coleman was about flex and irregularities in parts. To all of you who race tell me how many of you have purchased hubs, wheels, even brake calipers, and just bolted them on?
I used to buy my wheels a pallet at a time. Most unboxed. I had a fixture in the shop where I could bolt the wheel on and had multiple dial indicators around the fixture. I'd get 32 wheels per pallet. Out of 32 the most I kept were 20 that ran true, the rest I sold at half price then ordered another pallet and keep going till I had 32 that ran true. And our fixture was constantly checked that it was accurate!!
I've had hubs from multiple known suppliers. I'd buy a pallet of those and many times I had only less than half that were useable, the rest I'd sell or if time allowed I fix because the inner and outer races were not installed correctly. Had brake calipers for the front that were stagger bores. I can't tell you how many times I had calipers boxed incorrectly and had undersized pistons.
Rear ends are no different. I've had rears from big names and all were fixture made and yet there was flex in the axle tubes so I'd have to yank their tubes out. And make my own on my lathe that were thicker walled tubing. The bad ones I used for scrap to make rear end brackets and other things.
There's a lot that must be done when you build your own and when you get hired to fix others. Tell me how many of you get a sheet from your builder showing they stress tested your chassis?? I've had every major cookie cutter on my table throughout the past 50 years and nearly all were flexing. Most were diamonds without ever hitting the track.