Baystate Jeepers

So, time's been marching on, and I'm still without an axle upgrade for my tj. But since I've had time to think, I'm now planning to go with ford 9's, front and back. These, I'm pretty sure , will be the only axle upgrade I'll ever need.

So I'm looking for a d60 for the front knuckles and outers. Any information when buying a d60 front for this application would be appreciated. I know I want a kingpin-style d60 because they're as strong as a bear, knuckles and all. And I want one with 35 spline inners and 30 spline outers... that sounds like a strong and stock set-up, good for repairing and replacing parts. But what else should I look for, or look to avoid?

I'm looking at an axle right now that came from an '85 dodge "w250" with a 440 and camper pkg, and would like to know if this has the shafts I'm looking for (35/30 splines), or do I need to take it apart to check?. What else? Does it matter if the knuckles are open vs closed? What is with the ones I see advertised with... I think the term was... "dually hubs" or "dually outers". Can I switch these, like I think I read somewhere, to a regular outer hub style? Or to a 5 or 6 on 5.5" lug pattern? I'd rather have 5 or 6 bolts to deal with than 8 at each wheel, and I heard that 5 or 6 is all I'll need, if I keep em tight. And I realize I'd need to invest extra ching ching for that swap...

Any advise on buying a d60 axle, for the sake of using it for the front outers, would be greatly appreciated! Thanks,

- Mark

ps: Carl: lurk lurk!

barkle wrote:So, time's been marching on, and I'm still without an axle upgrade for my tj. But since I've had time to think, I'm now planning to go with ford 9's, front and back. These, I'm pretty sure , will be the only axle upgrade I'll ever need.

So I'm looking for a d60 for the front knuckles and outers. Any information when buying a d60 front for this application would be appreciated. I know I want a kingpin-style d60 because they're as strong as a bear, knuckles and all. And I want one with 35 spline inners and 30 spline outers... that sounds like a strong and stock set-up, good for repairing and replacing parts. But what else should I look for, or look to avoid?

I'm looking at an axle right now that came from an '85 dodge "w250" with a 440 and camper pkg, and would like to know if this has the shafts I'm looking for (35/30 splines), or do I need to take it apart to check?. What else? Does it matter if the knuckles are open vs closed? What is with the ones I see advertised with... I think the term was... "dually hubs" or "dually outers". Can I switch these, like I think I read somewhere, to a regular outer hub style? Or to a 5 or 6 on 5.5" lug pattern? I'd rather have 5 or 6 bolts to deal with than 8 at each wheel, and I heard that 5 or 6 is all I'll need, if I keep em tight. And I realize I'd need to invest extra ching ching for that swap...

Any advise on buying a d60 axle, for the sake of using it for the front outers, would be greatly appreciated! Thanks,

- Mark

ps: Carl: lurk lurk!

Wow! That's a big jump going from D30/35 to Hybrid 9's. Pretty much any front 60 king pin axle with high steer would work. The only way to be sure on axle splines is to pull them. They do make a 5x5.5 or 6x5.5 hub and brakes for a 60 knuckle. Do some google searching for sources of these parts. It would also be MUCH easier to just buy knuckles from the aftermarket.

Here are some articles for your reading pleasure:

http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticl ... index.html

http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/axletech/1 ... index.html

http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles ... index.html



Collecting the components to assemble a hybrid 9 front is definitely going to run you some money. I know of two others over the years who have built this type of axle, and they were both fabricators by trade. There are about 50 thousand directions to go with this build. What size tires are you planning on running? Are you going to use the stock suspension locations, coil overs, or air shocks? Personally, for the time and money that will be thrown at a 9" front, you could have a killer Dana 60 high pinion that would be stronger and cheaper. The only two penalties would be weight (but only slightly) and ground clearance. Not trying to deter your vision of what you want, just trying to help you save some coin on an axle that would still have limitations.

Thanks for those links, Joe, they're great articles, with more good info for me to mull over. I had time to read the first 2 at lunch today, I'll read the third later. It looks like they have their own links to more related info, too.

Yep, I was going to go with hp d44's, but I'm sold on the 9's strength and design, from the driveshaft height and angle, to it's good oiling of the pinion at low and high speeds.

As for my plans for the tj: tires will be 37" diameter max, more likely 35 or 36, It will remain my daily driver, so I will find a way to have partially- high steering, but maintain at least the front sway with disconnects, and it'll have the stock-like short-arm system with adjustable uppers and lowers on stock suspension locations, with limited high-clearance tweaking for the lower ca's and shock mounts. My plan is to do this a piece at a time: empty front, empty back, probably one 3rd member at a time, steering and breaks in there somewhere, and then other, which is a list that includes rebuilt ax15, 4-1 tc, bars and skids, and there's more...) I'll drive it on road alot, but when I get it off road, I'll be sure be pounding on it some while having various kinds of obstacle-related fun!

Ill get a relatively cheap d60, get it to storage (oy, my back!), and go from there. Thanks again for the great start on info gathering!

- Mark

Anyone else?