Lets Talk Full Floater

[ntsqd]

Dang, was hoping it was more like Klamath Falls. Hermiston is about as far north as you can go and still be in Oregon, and quite a ways East. Used to have to go up there from Central Oregon on occasion for farm equipment parts. If they're willing to part it out and ship the outer assemblies, the shipping to So-CA would be less than the fuel to go get the whole thing. Even if parting it out means torching the 'C' brackets off the housing and shipping the whole outer assemblies.

[AussieRod]

Dang, was hoping it was more like Klamath Falls. Hermiston is about as far north as you can go and still be in Oregon, and quite a ways East. Used to have to go up there from Central Oregon on occasion for farm equipment parts. If they're willing to part it out and ship the outer assemblies, the shipping to So-CA would be less than the fuel to go get the whole thing. Even if parting it out means torching the 'C' brackets off the housing and shipping the whole outer assemblies.

Yeah, hence the 'bugger it'. I'll keep looking, there will be one closer and maybe I can get just the backing plates or the whole ends and Ihave a shipper in CA who can get them across to here. I'm not in a hurry (yet).

[ntsqd]

I thought that I'd post here to mention a couple things about my rear D60 swap. I went D60 because buying a full-float was considerably less expensive than building one and based on my net research less the drums it didn't weigh a lot more than the complete (drum brakes included) 8.8 that it replaced. So the majority of any unsprung weight gain was going to be whatever rear brakes I adopted. Were I to do it again I would still choose the D60 over the 14bff for this application, which is NOT used as a pre-runner. What I would change is I'd cut off the D60 spindles and have 14bff spindles installed. In total doing this would add a couple thousand to the cost of the project, but having stronger spindles and not having to replace the drive-axles after 3 miles of driving (not to mention the bills from getting it home and then fixed) would make it worthwhile.

A 2000 vintage set of Expedition rear disc brakes is a very viable RDB with a P-brake option for a full-floater. The caliper bracket - backing plate bolts to the existing brake flange on a Ford D60 rear axle housing using the Expe's own bolts. Everything is the same; bolt hole size, bolt hole pattern, even the register pilot diameter. My set had one tiny area that wasn't machined which caused the plates to sit at an angle. 5 minutes with a die grinder fixed it. Adapting the rotor takes a little more work, but it too is feasible if you can machine parts or know someone who can. There is a spacer needed and I've posted a drawing for it in my thread on SoCA Broncos. PM me if you can't find it. After buying all of the non-wear parts out of a yonke I found that it is possible to buy every last part new from Rock Auto. At the time that I discovered this the whole parts pile ran about $500, which is just about what one of the Explorer RDB kits would cost (except that the Explorer brakes will not work with a FF!).
With a light load in the rear of the Bronco I can run a wilwood p-valve at max rear brake and only get rear lock-up at the most extreme panic stop testing. With the full complement of gear back on/in the truck I doubt that I will need to adjust it. When adjusted correctly the parking brake will hold against light throttle. You can likely guess how I know this.
Because the GM 3/4t front brakes that I converted to are 8 x 6.5 wheel bolt pattern I didn't replace the D60's hubs. The GM brakes use a 9/16" stud while the D60 rear hubs use a 1/2" stud. I used the front wheel studs at the rear so that all of the lug nuts are the same. The design of these studs lent itself well to holding the rear rotor spacer in place and it was simple to ream the D60 hub stud holes to accept the GM studs.

Lesson learned: That the drive-axle not make contact with the housing, AT ALL, should be obvious. When dealing with 1.500" 35 spline drive-axles and a D60 housing that has had it's spindles opened up to Ø1.563" there is not much margin for error and it is easy to be making contact in spite of careful checking. All it takes is a slightly eccentric drive-axle shaft and contact will be made. See roughly page 10 of my thread here if you doubt the seriousness of this. Be double extra cautious about this if you opt to go in this direction.

[Wrightracing.net]

So I was wondering if a dually rear axle with normal srw rims would work to get a wider full floater rear end. Does anyone know the width of a dually axle wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface

David

[ntsqd]

In GM's the dually rear axle WMS to WMS dimension is actually narrower for the Cab & Chassis trucks than it is for the dually pick-up trucks. The reason being that the pick-ups use the same inner bed & fender wells as the SRW trucks. The C&C trucks aren't expected to fit a sheet of plywood between the fender wells like the pick-up bed trucks are. I would assume that this is also true for Ford & Dodge, but I don't know that for fact.

I am not clear on how it all maps out, but I am under the impression that there are several different wheel hubs used on the GM Corp axles, and possibly on the Dana axles too. Different in that where the WMS is relative to the wheel bearings depends on the application. In researching my D60 rear axle conversion I kept finding myself over on the POR page as there is still considerable FF tech there and I suspect that the knowledge needed to fill in the details about all of this are already posted there.

[Wrightracing.net]

Thanks

David

[xjgiles_]

I actually just got done doing this. I cut up a stock 14 bolt and turned it down to fit my axle tubes and turned down the hubs and redrilled them








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[ntsqd]

What housing did you put those spindles on?

I've been noodling how I want to do a FF for the my Wagon(eer) project. Very tempted to keep the rear D44 since I don't see the need for anything stronger in a Family Truckster.

[xjgiles_]

What housing did you put those spindles on?

I've been noodling how I want to do a FF for the my Wagon(eer) project. Very tempted to keep the rear D44 since I don't see the need for anything stronger in a Family Truckster.

I have a custom fab housing I built


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[ntsqd]

9" based, I'd assume? Maybe 10"

I don't know what GM made those 14bff axle tubes out of, but I never found a speed/feed/depth of cut for it that gave me a decent surface finish with cemented carbide tooling. Acceptable was the best that I could do.

[xjgiles_]

[emoji[emoji[emoj0]]] I wasn’t going for a perfect finish as I figured rough will help hold it in.


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[Wrightracing.net]

I was considering a Silverado 3500 14 bolt rear axle, I found a guy in Anaheim that has ones with full floater, factory e-locker, 4.10 gears and factory disc breaks and a parking drum brake for $800.

That is everything I wanted, but it is not a third member setup like my Currie 9" that is easy to swap out. Also, I would be limited to a 68" wheel mounting surface to wms rear, where my front width is Plus 4.5" per side. I will be running a four link also.

I am still torn on a fabricated 9' housing with a 71" width and 3.5" tubes. I know the 9" housing alone will run $1k, but then the Dana 60 spindles and hubs and so on.
.what's your thought.

I can sell my 65" width Currie 31 spline 3' tubes, and a back brace 9" housing with stock drum brakes. It has a Detroit and 4.10 gears. What do you think it's worth. That could fund the new axle

David

[ntsqd]

If you build an axle housing with common FF spindles you want to use the 14bff spindles, not the D60 spindles. Getting 35 spline shafts to fit thru D60 is sketchy, BT, DT where the 14bff spindles need little to no mods for them to fit. I think at least one of the aftermarket 14bff spindles will allow 40 spline shafts thru it.

How often do you plan to need to R&R the diff assembly?

[Wrightracing.net]

If you build an axle housing with common FF spindles you want to use the 14bff spindles, not the D60 spindles. Getting 35 spline shafts to fit thru D60 is sketchy, BT, DT where the 14bff spindles need little to no mods for them to fit. I think at least one of the aftermarket 14bff spindles will allow 40 spline shafts thru it.

How often do you plan to need to R&R the diff assembly?

I am looking at the Dana 60 snouts from Solid Industries. They are designed for 35 spline axles. I will probably get the kit with bearings and disc brakes.

David

[ntsqd]

I would not do that. The D60 spindles are thin all of the way thru. The 14bff spindles get thicker near the end at the tube. Far better, stronger design. Had I been building from scratch I would have used the 14bff spindles.

Also, look at the hubs offered for each spindle. Far better selection for the 14bff spindles, options are limited for the D60 spindle. I would NOT use the RoughStuff 14bff spindles, go with the Torq Motorsports or the Crane spindles.