Rear End Full Floater Hubs? Options and Opinions

counterpart7 said:
Seems like some good options in here! I priced a lot of options out(DIY 9”, 14 bolt, Schreiner) and they all seemed like they would wind up in the $5k+ range(complete w/ 3rd and all that jazz).

It made more sense in my opinion to just get a complete Camburg. 40 spline, 3rd, 2.5 hub, Wilwood brake package, and axles(basically complete less plumbing) ran me right around $9k. Not cheap, but I know everything is right and it should last a long time.

GTS Customs(Weston - he’s a member here), just came out with his fab9 housing. I believe he’s doing complete rear ends for even less than Camburg.
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So I added everything up last night using a trail gear housing (3.5"x3/8" wall tubes), solid axle 14bolt floater kit, 35 spline flanged floater axles, wilwood 4 piston calipers and tabs, Strange complete 3rd from quick performace. Everything all in was $4155. The Schreiner 40 spline fab housing all in with same 3rd member is $5604.

These are my 2 front runner Options
 
triple_fcked said:
A note on the Solid 14 Bolt hubs, you can’t fit a 5.5” bolt circle wheel on and off without removing the axle flange bolts, not a huge deal but is kind of a PITA.
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You mean you have to pull the axle shaft completely out to pull the wheel off the hub? Wonder if the axle flange could be turned down to be the same diameter as the hub?
 
Even
Brett_408 said:
You mean you have to pull the axle shaft completely out to pull the wheel off the hub? Wonder if the axle flange could be turned down to be the same diameter as the hub?
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Even with the hub flange turned down so you don't have to pull the shaft with the wheel, you still have the hex head of the bolts right on the edge of the flange, and can hang off so you have to remove the axle shaft bolts to slide the wheels on and off. At least that's my experience working on a couple toyotas that had 6 lug 14 bolts and had come through the shop. I suppose you can use allen head bolts instead but I wanna say the OEM flange bolts are stronger than grade 8.
 
My vote would be Spidertrax unit bearings, you can 35 or 40 spline, they have a built in drive slug so you would just need double sided shafts. Coming from Ultra4 and the Rock Crawling world, I admittedly don't have much firsthand with preunner style full float hubs. A lot of friends are using the super duty based unit bearings on their cars and rock bouncers with no issues whatsoever.
 
I've seen the newer f250 dana 60 rear axles with factory selectable lockers go for 1.5k, then you woulds just need gears and a Solid bolt pattern conversion? not sure if that's any better than the other options,


I'm going to be in the same boat as you as I'm currently running a 8.8 and am fearing breaking an axle on the trail and not being able to drive it off due to c clips... I'm in the denial stage though. I'm thinking I can do a 8.8 35 spline conversion locker and floater hubs, I know that's dumb I just hate starting over.
 
triple_fcked said:
Even

Even with the hub flange turned down so you don't have to pull the shaft with the wheel, you still have the hex head of the bolts right on the edge of the flange, and can hang off so you have to remove the axle shaft bolts to slide the wheels on and off. At least that's my experience working on a couple toyotas that had 6 lug 14 bolts and had come through the shop. I suppose you can use allen head bolts instead but I wanna say the OEM flange bolts are stronger than grade 8.
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Great info I did not know that. Possibly running a 12 point with a smaller head would solve that problem. Thanks for the insight
 
Doubleggregg said:
@RMC

the Full floater flanged axle stuff youre talking about. does the wheel fly off if i break an axle? Does anyone make 6 x 5.5 " lug pattern stuff?

I cant believe how much a complete axle is costing these days. i remember when a set of hubs was i think $2000 a housing plus truss was less than $1000 and the labor wasnt a zillion dollars to put it together.

I have a 65.5" wms to wms camburg full floater with 2.25" 35 spline hubs, and a 4:88 3rd member in crates / hanging on wall for probably 5 or 6 years waiting to be put together that i have less than $5k into by a long shot.

Gregg
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No it can’t. Axle is bolted to hub via the small bolt circle on the flange. The hub is secured to the snout via dual locking spanner nuts on the snout thread. Even with a broken axle truck will still roll. The axle shafts are free floating with no cir-clips in the diff and weight is on the housing not the shaft via the snouts. Only 3 ways to break a flanged axle, wipe out the splines, shear all 8 bolts off the flange, or twist fracture breaking the actual shaft itself. Look at every 3/4 ton or above truck on the road. That’s what they are running. Ford is actually the outlier, they are using sterling rear housings ( wider bearing spread) than the d60 and they use d60 up front.
I’m 99% sure the 14 bolt rear hub and d60 snout are compatible as Solid axle industries only sells one type of weld on snout. I assembled one recently and it’s all worked out fine. Customer broke his leg on his dirt scooter so we rolled it out while he heals. He had not yet decided on brakes, so it’s slapped together to roll in the pictures.
 

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The one downside of attempting to use 14 bolt rear hubs as rears is using 5/8 or larger studs. Studs are pretty tight to the hub at 5 on 5.5 stud circle so lug nut choices get interesting. Impact socket will not fit. As you can see in the pic relieving hub with an endmill would take the meat away from the flange bolt circle. So the drive slug version might be a better choice of running 5/8 or larger wheel studs.
 
triple_fcked said:
My vote would be Spidertrax unit bearings, you can 35 or 40 spline, they have a built in drive slug so you would just need double sided shafts. Coming from Ultra4 and the Rock Crawling world, I admittedly don't have much firsthand with preunner style full float hubs. A lot of friends are using the super duty based unit bearings on their cars and rock bouncers with no issues whatsoever.
Click to expand...
for the spiderrax unit bearing hubs you need to have a flange welded to the axle housing correct to bolt the unit bearing to? @ $800 each minus brakes that seems like a more affordable option than hubs are these days for 35 spline units atleast.

RMC said:
The one downside of attempting to use 14 bolt rear hubs as rears is using 5/8 or larger studs. Studs are pretty tight to the hub at 5 on 5.5 stud circle so lug nut choices get interesting. Impact socket will not fit. As you can see in the pic relieving hub with an endmill would take the meat away from the flange bolt circle. So the drive slug version might be a better choice of running 5/8 or larger wheel studs.
Click to expand...
do any of these issues go away when doing a 6 x 5.5 pattern? i assume not probably gets worse because one more whole on the same bolt circle.
 
Doubleggregg said:
for the spiderrax unit bearing hubs you need to have a flange welded to the axle housing correct to bolt the unit bearing to? @ $800 each minus brakes that seems like a more affordable option than hubs are these days for 35 spline units atleast.
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yes, the most affordable cups are trail gear, but a ton of companies make them, the “ultimate” series is based on a 99-04 Ford Dana 60 hub.

They’re nice to diy install too because the bearing cups slide on over the ends of the housing and then get welded, making measuring and alignment really easy.
 
I did a GM 14 bolt full floater into my brother 01 Silverado. Welded up the wheel stud holes, had a new 6x5.5 pattern drilled into it, center bore on hub machined down to 4.25" as well as the end of the axle down to 4.25" and replaced axle bolts with 12pt bolts that I machined down the OD of them to be smaller than the OD of the axle shaft, Then machined center hole on factory brake rotor to 4.25", then welded caliper mounts to use stock brakes. I also found wheel studs with the same 14x1.5mm thread so it matches his front end.

We since got another set of stock 14" axle tubes with spindles, cut and sleeved his axle to make it a custom width, running Yukon Cut to length axles, that we cut to length to make the rear axle 88" Wide tire/tire that he wanted to better match the front end.

I machined aluminum pucks for center carrier bearings with the 1.25" center hole for my line up bar, as well as pucks that fit into the spindle ends so everything was nice and straight once extended and welded up. Leaf sprung truck so heavy bevel and tig welded the tubes and no problem's yet, but a truss would be nice if beating on it harder than he does.
 
RMC said:
No it can’t. Axle is bolted to hub via the small bolt circle on the flange. The hub is secured to the snout via dual locking spanner nuts on the snout thread. Even with a broken axle truck will still roll. The axle shafts are free floating with no cir-clips in the diff and weight is on the housing not the shaft via the snouts. Only 3 ways to break a flanged axle, wipe out the splines, shear all 8 bolts off the flange, or twist fracture breaking the actual shaft itself. Look at every 3/4 ton or above truck on the road. That’s what they are running. Ford is actually the outlier, they are using sterling rear housings ( wider bearing spread) than the d60 and they use d60 up front.
I’m 99% sure the 14 bolt rear hub and d60 snout are compatible as Solid axle industries only sells one type of weld on snout. I assembled one recently and it’s all worked out fine. Customer broke his leg on his dirt scooter so we rolled it out while he heals. He had not yet decided on brakes, so it’s slapped together to roll in the pictures.
Click to expand...
Whose rear housing is that? Im pretty sold on the 14 bolt hub idea!
 
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