These are for Nolen(wngrg) and Jesse(onetoncv) I'll gladly answer any questions to the best of my knowledge if anyone else is interested in going Rockwells.http://www.baylor.edu/~Wes_Hanson/2.5cruiser1.jpghttp://www.baylor.edu/~Wes_Hanson/2.5cruiser2.jpg http://www.baylor.edu/~Wes_Hanson/2.5cruiser3.jpg

all right, this worked a minute ago, let me try again...
http://www.baylor.edu/~Wes_Hanson/2.5cruiser1.jpg

Wow thats wide!
What is the wms to wms distance on them :question:
rich

The WMS-WMS is 79.5" 12" wheels with 7" BS makes for 92" outer tire edge to outer tire edge.

And, yes the weenie boggers are going to be swapped for 44's as soon as i can get some $$ and hydro assist.

can i just butt in here and ask one question?
WHY?
i had a 74 chevy shortbed with 2.5 rockwells and 44's on it. yes, the axles are geared super low (6.17 or 6.72) and they do weigh a ton(literally for both put together) so they keep your CG nice and low and you can get them for a good deal. however, they are definetly not as strong as you might think. a good set of one ton axles with beefy shafts are much lighter and will give you way better ground clearance. also, ever tried to find a set of hubs, disc brakes and lockers for these? get ready to empty your wallet, just in case you do find them. i'm not talking driveline disc brake here either. and then you have to beef up your steering, drivelines, brake system,....... the list goes on. i managed to brake an axle shaft without even "trying" and will never run 2.5's again. actually, i should have left the rig the way it was. at least with less than 2.5's you can drive it on the street and actually get there doing more than 50mph.
but that's just my $.02 worth.;)

Why?

to each his own, man...
this is going to be a trailer quenn, i don't care about going 50mph, i picked these up for so cheap that the extra cost of lockers and hubs is no worse than buying D60's from a junkyard and beefing them up, and i like the width, i like the fact that i can choose btwn 3 different widths depending on where i want to go, i like the fact that my driveshafts are level with the framerails, I LOVE the pinion brake, and these have about the same clearance as a D60, after I shave them, there will be even more. This is going to be a competition truck in a couple of years, not a grocery-getter. I wouldn't trade these for 1tons EVER...

3 diff widths?..elaborate please. this is new to me. newbie to rockwells...just never heard of this be4.

i do have to agree with you. to each hi own. but don't compare apples to oranges. yes, you can shave some off the 2.5's to get a little more clearance, but then you'll have to weld in a new plate and relocate the drain plug (which currently resides on the bottom of your housing). if you shave a 60 you will definetly have more clearance.
does your rig stpo worth a beans when the drums are wet? i did'nt think so. what master/booster are you running?
good luck with the project!

who said anything about brake drums... See the pinion brake?? I didn't think so...

As for the width, the hubs on these suckers are reversible, which means you can flip the WMS towards the diff, or away. So both out=79.5", both in=67.5", and 1 in-1 out=73.5" But, with hubs in on a steering version, you can only run 4" BS on your wheels. Hopefully i will be getting new wheels soon... but that's another story entirely.

GOOD GOD MAN!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
how much articulation are you getting with that much leverage??

I'm speechless....

:eek:

Matt:skull:

Daniel - I would be honored. You may want to wait until i can get it out on the trail, and get some more interesting pics. Should be another month or so. Thanks-

flex it for us?

and what do rockwells come from?
man WIDE and BIG i was thinking if i ever went HUGE
id go for unimogs or something, watercooled discs, factory lockers
just go twin steer..hydro

got $15k each :eek:

that thing looks awsome man. i pm'd yah with some questions.

I like. Looks very cool.

Can't believe you're only 92" outer to outer. I'm 97" in the front and 94" in the rear on dually 60 and that's with 7.5" backspace! Now that's wide! Luckily, we don't have narrow trails where I wheel.

Good thing you mentioned that you were getting 44's soon, those Boggers look downright little with those 2.5's.

Nice truck.

Tim.

:eek: got width? nice jerry can mount! :rasta: jiMMy

Hey man!

FINALLY!

Looks great! Good job on the Rockwells. Definatly raises the coolness factor way high.

Totally cool. Tell me what th suspension plans are? Can you slap 44's on it the way it is?

You may want to make an intermediate stop with 39.5's before you trounce all the way up to 44's! Damn that thing is going to be FUN in Clayton.

I am planning a trip up on 3/23...lets GET IT AWN!

:smokin:

i sold my one ton stuff and got rockwells, so i am with elf cruiser. they are kick ass great gearing, getting a detroit for 350 bucks is cheap enough. not haveing to mess with high dollar drive shafts is great. to me there is no comparision cost wise at all, i can build up a set of rockwells way cheaper than 1 ton stuff. and if you could only go 50 down the road, you need bigger tires. disk brakes on the pinion are dirt cheap and not in the mud all the time. i just can't figure why everyone doesn't have them.
and elf cruiser glad to see it all coming together. looks like its going to be a monster when you get the 44s.

Originally posted by orangefj45
can i just butt in here and ask one question?
WHY?
i had a 74 chevy shortbed with 2.5 rockwells and 44's on it. yes, the axles are geared super low (6.17 or 6.72) and they do weigh a ton(literally for both put together) so they keep your CG nice and low and you can get them for a good deal. however, they are definetly not as strong as you might think. a good set of one ton axles with beefy shafts are much lighter and will give you way better ground clearance. also, ever tried to find a set of hubs, disc brakes and lockers for these? get ready to empty your wallet, just in case you do find them. i'm not talking driveline disc brake here either. and then you have to beef up your steering, drivelines, brake system,....... the list goes on. i managed to brake an axle shaft without even "trying" and will never run 2.5's again. actually, i should have left the rig the way it was. at least with less than 2.5's you can drive it on the street and actually get there doing more than 50mph.
but that's just my $.02 worth.;)

My previous experience also tells me I'd never do 2.5ton's again, but to each his own. I ran 39's on mine and broke a shaft without trying... Good luck!:D

what did you break on your rockwells? were they u joint axles? you all have me wondering

axle at the carrier. 39's and a no spin

Wow, talk about hard to roll! Does it fit on the trails that you run? I can see how that bad boy would kick ASS in Arizona, but here in the Northeast, my FJ62 barely fits on a lot of trails, I doubt you could squeeze that thing through without wheeling over the trees!...wait, there's an idea!

Seriously, looks cool, I'd love to see some articulation shots.

Rockwells come on military deuce-and-a-half's, right? Aren't they common on civilian trucks (like dump trucks and garbage trucks) as well??

This is going to be a competition truck in a couple of years

I am curious what kind of competitions you have in mind. It seems to me like even with the hubs turned in this will be awfully wide and heavy to be effective in ARCA-type competitions. Tell us what you have planned, please.

I can see how that bad boy would kick ASS in Arizona


HAHAHAHA, I am moving to Pheonix at the end of the summer. I am not planning to run anything hard-core with it now, just a local trail for testing purposes. I will try to get some flex shots for ya'll, but i can tell you it's probably around 1200 on a ramp, until i can afford 1" heims with spacers for the steering to keep it from binding up. As for the comps, i want to wait and see. the rules and different circuits are changing every few months, and it's gonna take a couple more years of $$$ making to get this thing ready anyways, so i am sure everything will have changed by the time i am ready. Later Ya'll-

hey elf!
i'm not here to cap on your rig. actually, it's only the 3rd cruiser on 2.5's i've seen and it's definetly beefy.
i am however sharing my experience with you and others so you can avoid some of the possible problems you will encounter with these monster axles. once you go to bigger tires you'll figure it out. all i can tell you is to carry a spare set of axle shafts; cause they will brake. or you can have an aftermarket company make you a set. has anybody tried to find a set of hubs for these things lately? when i had mine i bought a set from boyce right when they were being discontinued. that was 5 years ago, and they were'nt cheap then. also, like i asked before; what are you using for the steering?
pinion brakes work ok but they do lead to a lot of axle "bind-up". this means that you do slow down the vehicle but with all the rotating weight of the tires, rims,hubs, axles and gears, carrier, it does put a lot of stress on the components that you would not encounter with real disc brakes at the wheel. i has a set of these and paid $2500 for just the outboard disc conversion (and that was a damn good deal).
so befor you guys think about doing the 2.5ton conversion make sure you take all these variables into account.
:smokin:
PS: how much did the wheels set you back? i had a set of 16.5x15 steel chromise on mine and they were well over $1200.

okay, orange i accept your apology. Thanks for sharing. I am using an AGR box and conventional drag-link with 3/4 heims. I need misalignment spacers to get the full articulation out of the front end, but that will have to wait. Mile-marker just started making hubs again, and the are $550 from boyce equip. as for the wheels, these are stockton's, but I don't know what's going on with that whole situation. They were supposed to bead-lock them, and they didn't, so i want to return them, and get some from allied racing. Laters-

i was thinking that i would just make a adapter to go from the rockwells to a sprint car wide 5 pattern. it would be cheap to build and the wheels are cheap also, even with bead locks. that was my idea when i was going to run boggers o 15 " rims. i have since decided to go to 20s and build my own rims. still it will be way less money than other [big] axles.

looking sweet- pics are going up soon- thanks man- got any on the rear shaft? Jess

Jesse- I'll take pics of the CV, and the front shaft after i get em back from you. Better to wait until it's done, but i'll get some pics then. It would be awesome if you put them up on your site. Even though my truck isn't that extreme yet. You would have some "before shots" for the anals.

- Later

I was just curious what you paid for both the front and rear. Someone asked why everyone wasn't running them, probably because they are fairly rare, at least here in the Northwest. Sure you could buy them from Boyce but they are damn expensive! I'm trying to find some for my toyota. Can you tell me how far that pinion brake is above the axel and how much room you should have in order to clear some of those bad boys? I may just get a set when I can find some and start from scratch but I would like to know if I could clear them on my toyota. Also wondering how in the hell someone could break them without even trying. They are monsters compared to the 60 shafts and u joints so why do people think they are weaker? Thanks.

from what i've seen the shafts fail because they are not hardened properly. i twisted one in half and you could see that the hardening was just barely below the surface. i'd say less than 1/8th of an inch.

elf!
a very good friend of mine is having some major problems with stockton wheels also. he had to wait more than 6 months and then they sent him the wrong wheels after taking his money up front. he then returned the wrong wheels and to ld them again what he wanted and to this day he has neither gotten any correct wheels or his money back. he had to start the paperwork to take them to small claims court 2 weeks ago. good luck on that whole deal.
i've used and know of a few other wheelers who have used MTR wheels as a source and they are great. (marsh racing technologies).

you guys should be able to pick these axles up at a militayr surpluss or wrecking yard for pretty cheap. let the fingers do the walking. i've seen full width pairs of front and rear go fo around $1000, normally a couple of hundred $s more for a pair of fronts.
thay are also fairly easy to narrow; just cut the longer side to match the shorter one if you don't need the ultra wide wheelbase.
enough for now.:rasta:

Coiled- the pinion brake setup comes about 2" offf the top of the carrier. i would say leave around 14-16" of clearance above the bottom of the leaf spring(assuming a SOA) to have enough room under the truck. I have seen custom brake setups that have more clearance, this is the one from Boyce Equip. And you all don't really want to know what i paid for them.

Okay maybe you do, $225 for both in crappy shape.
-Laters-