I bought this differential from a junkyard and got it welded and then noticed one of the tabs is bent where it bolts to the axle. Maybe it was dropped during shipping or something idk. Anyways, the welder recommended I just heat it up and try to bend it back. I haven't tried it yet but does that seem like it would work? I mean it is a rotational assembly so since it was bent and likely wont return back to EXACTLY where it was supposed to be originally, does that mean it'll cause imbalances/vibrations on that side? I'm only going to use this diff for a drift event then I'm going to swap my factory vlsd back in so as long as it holds together for the event and doesn't brake my axle or anything I'll be happy. I attached a picture of the bent tab. Any advice would be great, thanks!

 

bolt the axle to it. smash it with a sledge until it flushed with the axle flange. I don't see any issues.

Alternatively, bolt the other bolts in then heat up only that one side and get a smaller grade 8 bolt/nut and try to impact bend it

 

I'll try to smash or bent it back first and see if I can get it straight again. I did just find out I can buy the oem differential output shaft and just swap it out, it is $250 though so I wanna avoid that if I can but that is an option if I can't get it straight enough. Thanks for the reply