Building Bulletproof Axles (2 Viewers)

[chap79]

Christo,
Please explain more as I am in this scenario (E-locked, 37's, & wheel hard). Is it a strength/durability issue?

Thanks,
Derrick

Derrick, want to trade rear axles?

-Harley

 

[OGBeno]

One disclaimer-I have seen Polys walk out of the axles they were in twice after shearing all the studs. Might have been a fluke, and the individual involved is not known for tightening things up and checking religiously. I have a suspicion that the poly cone washer taper may be slightly off, but I have nothing more than looking at several to back that up.

Cough, cough....I tighten things yo!



Or are we talking about Alvaro?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Cough, cough....I tighten things yo!



Or are we talking about Alvaro?

Dude-You are supposed to be at Hole in the Rock. And yeah, Alvaro does not believe in torque.

 

[Land Speeder]

I agree with Christo. And I've never wheeled e-locked because of my experience of seing others with them. There's no conversation of "toughest" and "e-locked". Can't happen.

The spartan lockers is what I'd go with because of dowel size in the locker, they're beef. I've broken countless pins/dowels in the aussie. It will not hold up to 37+ tire beatings and Aussie knows it because they've told me so. I've stripped way too many 8" rings.

My answer to broken 8" rings that was mentioned earlier:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/hardcore-c...eries-weak-link-all-toyota-hd-front-axle.html

If your arms are long and reach the bottoms of your pockets, then buy the RuffStuff housing and hellfire knuckles, because They're The doodoo! But my arms are short, can't reach the money stack.

 

[OGBeno]

Dude-You are supposed to be at Hole in the Rock. And yeah, Alvaro does not believe in torque.

tomorrow...

And see i have the rig on the hoist right doing some PM before tomorrow.

 

[scottryana]

Mine were well tightened, this was on dry pavement with sticky 39's, and a supercharged V8, but still sheered the stock pins and studs. I think it has to do with the wind-up a stock axle will do compared to a chromo axle.

Your cheapest and best option staying in the stock plus category, is to take Christo's advice. Get a regular non-locker rear axle and use an ARB. Keep the front e-locker, but when you gear it, have a solid spacer installed in place of the pinion crush sleeve. (Just Differentials sells a nice piece for this and it isn't expensive).

Then upgrade the shafts/birfs - Longfields up front, and Polys or stock in the rear.

Install the ARP hub studs front and rear, and do the dowel pin mod as described. Keep everything tight and check before every wheeling day.

That is about as strong as a sort of stock 80 axle is ever going to be.

I'll bet you never break anything, but you are going to spend a bunch of money.

Now the link to Dusty's truck is worth talking about. It's superbuilt with a D60 up front and a D70 in the rear, and I believe he broke the rear D70 if I remember. It's awesome as a wheeling truck, but it's also a massive project.


One disclaimer-I have seen Polys walk out of the axles they were in twice after shearing all the studs. Might have been a fluke, and the individual involved is not known for tightening things up and checking religiously. I have a suspicion that the poly cone washer taper may be slightly off, but I have nothing more than looking at several to back that up.

I think you are on the right track trying to stay stockish with improvements but not wholesale replacements. Once you do that, I'd be looking at a different platform.

Good luck.

 

[TheBigBoy]

I have complete welded my axles on in the past. 3x 1" stiches. Still snapped them and shot the axle out. Once a hub/flange is warped. Throw the whole lot away. That was with a detroit diff lock. Never had any problems with a airlocker. x2 for arp upgrade or 10mm cap screw upgrade.

 

[80seriesnut]

Wait am I to belief from what I am reading from this thread that my stock axles in my 96 are weak? Should I not go wheeling. What about all those wild wheeling pics? Do all those guys have different axles? I have e lockers. Or are we talking about extreme rock crawling. I'm confused.

 

[Land Speeder]

Wait am I to belief from what I am reading from this thread that my stock axles in my 96 are weak? Should I not go wheeling. What about all those wild wheeling pics? Do all those guys have different axles? I have e lockers. Or are we talking about extreme rock crawling. I'm confused.

Nope, you have awesome axles. Check them to make sure errythang is tight, and go beat them like it stoled your bike! They'll take the abuse. Unless your jumping and/or bouncing through a rock garden, and keeping your body panels in good shape... the axles will be OK.
That's always been my take, if you plan to keep the body good, then the stock axles will hold up plenty fine. It's when you get to a point where you don't care about sheet metal is about the same time your axles are not strong enough.

 

[scottryana]

I will caveat this with "If you have the stock motor" If you have a transplanted big power diesel or V8, all bets are off and you need to understand the limitations.

Nope, you have awesome axles. Check them to make sure errythang is tight, and go beat them like it stoled your bike! They'll take the abuse. Unless your jumping and/or bouncing through a rock garden, and keeping your body panels in good shape... the axles will be OK.
That's always been my take, if you plan to keep the body good, then the stock axles will hold up plenty fine. It's when you get to a point where you don't care about sheet metal is about the same time your axles are not strong enough.

 

[Delancy]

That's always been my take, if you plan to keep the body good, then the stock axles will hold up plenty fine.

Stock axles, or stock e-locked axles?

Yes, it's baited, but since the conversation has began.....

 

[VCCruzr]

It's when you get to a point where you don't care about sheet metal is about the same time your axles are not strong enough.

Really, I DO care about my sheet metal!

I pulled an old pic from a trail I ran in Johnson Valley, "Crowbar" where I snapped my rear DS axle (as well as 3 others, same axle broken on the same obstacle). When I pulled the inner part of the axle out, I noticed the splines were slightly twisted.

 

[Land Speeder]

Stock axles, or stock e-locked axles?

Yes, it's baited, but since the conversation has began.....

e-locked will be fine with 35" or smaller, IMO. And others on this board will agree. I've only run up to 40" tires and have run 37's and 35's, but keep outta the skinny pedal, crawl and stay at 35" and them e-locked axles should be fine.

 

[Delancy]

e-locked will be fine with 35" or smaller......stay at 35" and them e-locked axles should be fine.

There's the first problem.

Going to see what results from Rick's spline grind thread and work on the front, for now.

The general consensus, regardless of elocked rear, PPs or OEs rear, is still Longs for the front, right?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

There's the first problem.

Going to see what results from Rick's spline grind thread and work on the front, for now.

The general consensus, regardless of elocked rear, PPs or OEs rear, is still Longs for the front, right?

Sure, it's still longs in the front. There isn't another option.

In the rear though, the broken axle/cut apart the housing thing is not acceptable. Get rid of the factory locker and use an airlocker. At least then you are not completely fubared in the event of a broken rear axle shaft.

Ask yourself seriously, how hard do you really plan to wheel this truck? 80's take abuse really well. Unless you are miles from nowhere, and on your own, none of these "problems" are an issue for you. Wheel until you break. Then upgrade. That works for most people.

 

[dagwood85]

Or, just run s*** u joints. It's axle insurance. I wheel a lot, but I am not reckless or too heavy on the skinny pedal. I run e lockers with 35s, stock motor. As mentioned previously, until something breaks, I will assume they are bulletproof the way they were engineered from the factory. Of course, they did not come stock with 35s. Torque and avoid hoping and I see no problems with that.

 

[Tools R Us]

Nope, you have awesome axles. Check them to make sure errythang is tight, and go beat them like it stoled your bike! They'll take the abuse. Unless your jumping and/or bouncing through a rock garden, and keeping your body panels in good shape... the axles will be OK.
That's always been my take, if you plan to keep the body good, then the stock axles will hold up plenty fine. It's when you get to a point where you don't care about sheet metal is about the same time your axles are not strong enough.

X2. Got my e-locked rig in 2004, put the 37" tires on it in 2006, so almost 100K on the 37"s. It sees ~40 trail days a year, some easy some "station wagon rock crawling". Has been to Utah/Moab a bunch of times, easily a couple of months of trail days, including 8x on Golden Spike.

Axle repair/maintenance has included brake pads (original rotors, calipers), wheel bearing repacks (original bearings), gear lube changes, moly pumped into the knuckles. About 6 yrs ago, had the right side knuckle nuts come loose, didn't catch it in time, broke a stud, so it came apart, studs replaced, new seals. The driver side is factory, has never been apart, but is showing signs of birf soup starting, so will be coming apart, getting new seals soon,,, ish.

In my experience, it is all about how you treat/maintain it. If you momentum drive, wheel in slop, hop tires under load, don't care, will break stuff, early and often. If you treat/drive it like a 3ton station wagon, they are very durable. For a station wagon they are amazingly capable, can make big obstacles look easy. In my experience, controlling wheel spin is key, in most cases, easily done by left foot braking.

Got new tires in Jan, this pic was shot in New Years day, yep, she gets wheeled a bit.

 

[TheBigBoy]

Yeah but their coopers. Could have bought them a week ago and they look like that.

 

[Tools R Us]

Yeah but their coopers. Could have bought them a week ago and they look like that.

Thanks, for your valuable input.

 

[landtank]

X2. Got my e-locked rig in 2004, put the 37" tires on it in 2006, so almost 100K on the 37"s. It sees ~40 trail days a year, some easy some "station wagon rock crawling". Has been to Utah/Moab a bunch of times, easily a couple of months of trail days, including 8x on Golden Spike.

Axle repair/maintenance has included brake pads (original rotors, calipers), wheel bearing repacks (original bearings), gear lube changes, moly pumped into the knuckles. About 6 yrs ago, had the right side knuckle nuts come loose, didn't catch it in time, broke a stud, so it came apart, studs replaced, new seals. The driver side is factory, has never been apart, but is showing signs of birf soup starting, so will be coming apart, getting new seals soon,,, ish.

In my experience, it is all about how you treat/maintain it. If you momentum drive, wheel in slop, hop tires under load, don't care, will break stuff, early and often. If you treat/drive it like a 3ton station wagon, they are very durable. For a station wagon they are amazingly capable, can make big obstacles look easy. In my experience, controlling wheel spin is key, in most cases, easily done by left foot braking.

Got new tires in Jan, this pic was shot in New Years day, yep, she gets wheeled a bit.

Absolutely!

I've got 247k on my truck and to date have had to replace the short side rear shaft for a twist and 1 front u-joint. Everything else is still the factory load.

I always love the guys who think because they break a lot of crap that they are some bad ass wheeler.