Snarfed up dana conversion - in stupid way - advice?

[defiance]

Ok, I was just finishing up my Dana 60 truck-to-car conversion today, and it was all going so well. The housing was shortened, ends were aligned perfectly, welds were done and cleaned up beautifully, carrier setup was finished with perfect measurements and a beautiful wear pattern, I was just cleaning it all up and taking off the old brake lines in preparation for doing new ones....

As I was taking it off, though, I realized that the brake line T was actually also a breather... which made no sense, since it was mounted on the bottom...

At which point I came to the abrupt and unpleasant realization that trucks have their spring perches (which I used to identify top or bottom) on the *top* of the axle tube. ARGH!


I did it all upside down.

perfect.

Most of that is no biggie - perches and shock mounts can be redone, and I could deal with brakes if need be... but one thing I can't so easily fix is the 1-3/8" longer driver's side axle (which is actually the passenger side on my current setup)


The only thing I can think of to do would be to cut off the tubes very close to (and a precise, specific distance like 1" from) the housing, then swap sides.

Will this work? I can't think of any reason it wouldn't, but I don't want to mess it up worse.

Is there maybe an easier way to do it? Or a better way?

Thanks... I'm just so frustrated that I didn't catch that sooner. Man, I feel like a moron.

And it was all measuring so perfect... just perfectly BACKWARDS 

[bordin34]

Now you have 3 reverse speeds and one forward. 

[Bandit72]

Now you have 3 reverse speeds and one forward. 

hey we used to do that to our derby cars

[defiance]

So as it stands, I think I'll probably end up getting that strange housing, but since I can't afford it for a bit, I decided I'd go ahead and swap the housing ends and see how it works out...  It actually came out better than I expected.  Still measures to be dead on straight, lengths are perfect, and now it's right-side-up.  And the welds look perfect-   I'm still kinda on the fence about whether to drop the $700 for a strange housing or use this one.  I mean, it should really be no different than the weld that's used to shorten housings for drag racing every day, right?

[OttawaCharger]

If your welds got good penetration, this should be just as strong as a factory rear end.  I'd go with it if I were you.   
Will you be posting pics of your finished piece?  I've been following your thread and I'm quite interested to see how it turned out. 

[defiance]

Will do.  I should be finishing it up this weekend.  At this point the housing is done, I just need to bolt on the axles and brakes, install a breather, do a bit of pretty-ing up, then I'll get some good pictures.
I also plan to actually finish that document, but I've learned so much since then it'll probably be rewritten from the ground up. 
Incidentally, I ended up spending pretty much exactly what it would have cost to just buy one...  BUT - the time I spent was well invested; I now know more than I ever would have if I'd have just bought it. 
Still, some of what I did cost more than it had to; it's very possible to save some money if you make the right choices.  Hopefully I can give some good guidelines for that when I get it finished up.