I filled in the gap between the two housing brace halves and ground it smooth.

Armed with all the components, you first install the carrier pucks into the carrier and torque the caps to the required amount. They will never need to be removed. Next, install the housing gasket on the housing. Then, install the center section in the housing and tighten all of the nuts to secure it as it will be run. Next, carefully slide the 2-inch bar into the housing and through the pucks until you have an equal amount of the bar protruding out of each end of the housing. Then, insert both of the housing end pucks into the new ends and clamp the pucks to the ends with small ‘C’ clamps to keep them secure.

Now slide the new ends/puck assemblies onto the bar and up against the old housing tubes and notice how much misalignment is probably showing. Honestly, I don’t remember ever having a used housing that wasn’t bent to begin with. If the amount of misalignment is more than a quarter inch you should try to straighten the housing a little by using heat and a press.

My housing showed to be bent about 3/16” on both ends. Not a problem. You see, we don’t really care that the new ends don’t line up flush (on center) with the housing tubes. We know that the new ends will be on center with the carrier bearings and that is all that matters.

What I did next was tack weld the new ends onto the housing again, this time with the fixture locating them. Only tack weld at this point! Now we have a means of holding the housing tubes in position while we finish welding all the four-link brackets, housing brace, and gussets.