Ok, want to bounce an idea off everyone. I already have a 9” axle housing … so my idea is to pick up a 14 bolt axle, cut the axle tubes off the 14 and weld them onto the 9” center section, and get custom axle shafts made for it. That will give me the clearance of a 9” with the advantages of full floating axle shafts, and what I think will be a strong axle and fairly inexpensive build.

What do you guys think … good or bad idea … have I overlooked something important?

are you refering to a full floating axle?

Yeah, my bad ... been a long day

i kind of did the same thing only i did mine with a 35 spline dana 60 center with 14 bolt ends on it. call up moser the axle shafts are $300. not to $$ i can get pics if you want to see it.

Pic would be great!

I was thinking the same ... 35 spline axles, and stuff it will a detroit and 4.88 gears, shave the bottom and truss it ...

sounds good would have to have some way to make sure spindels are aligend properly , when you weld them to the axle tubs , they make a set of pucks and aligment dowl for a dana axle . but i dont see why it would not work .:D

I've been wanting to do this for a while with D70 tubes. They come with 35 spline 1.5" shafts that will spline into a 35 spline 9" Detroit, spool or ARB. Use the truck 9" housing with the wider center housing, the factory tubes are butt-welded to it so they can be removed easily with a grinder. You would have to make some sort of jig to hold the tubes straight but with the right tools, you could probably assemble a rolling, stopping fullfloat 35 spl rear minus 3rd member for less than a bare Spidertrax housing costs (nothing against Spidertrax). With trussing, an aftermarket aluminum 3rd and 1/2 or 3/4 ton disks, it would probably come in around 300 lbs ready to rock.

Somebody with the tools who has more time and $ than I currently do, please do this.

I've been wanting to do this for a while with D70 tubes. They come with 35 spline 1.5" shafts that will spline into a 35 spline 9" Detroit, spool or ARB. Use the truck 9" housing with the wider center housing, the factory tubes are butt-welded to it so they can be removed easily with a grinder. You would have to make some sort of jig to hold the tubes straight but with the right tools, you could probably assemble a rolling, stopping fullfloat 35 spl rear minus 3rd member for less than a bare Spidertrax housing costs (nothing against Spidertrax). With trussing, an aftermarket aluminum 3rd and 1/2 or 3/4 ton disks, it would probably come in around 300 lbs ready to rock.

Somebody with the tools who has more time and $ than I currently do, please do this.

This is exactly what I'm tentatively planning on doing, provided I can find a d70 to cut up for a reasonable price. I'm having a bit of a hard time finding one.

It would be an easy project but you MUST have an alignment bar to put in the housing. It's basically the exact same thing that all the street rod and race car guys do except they are generally narrowing the axle instead. I've helped narrow a couple 9" housings in the past so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Are we talking about stock 9" 3rd members? I always thought they would break long before a 35 spline shaft in a SF application.

Ford E350 vans had D70's with fullfloat 35 spl shafts.

My idea was to take a solid peice of 1 3/4 bar and lathe down the ends to the ID of the spindle, then make delrin or aluminum carrier bearing pucks to hold the bar in the housing.

I've never narrowed a housing so you probably have better alignment ideas than I do.

Ford E350 vans had D70's with fullfloat 35 spl shafts.

My idea was to take a solid peice of 1 3/7 bar and lathe down the ends to the ID of the spindle, then make delrin or aluminum carrier bearing pucks to hold the bar in the housing.

I've never narrowed a housing so you probably have better alignment ideas than I do.

What you're describing is pretty much what they use to do it. I need to check the diameter of the alignment bar that I have access to one of these days to see if it will even fit through a full float spindle.

Can you use the stock 9" tubes with a truss added to it along w/the full float ends?

just some messurment i found out this past week when i cut a 9'' open for a rear steer and a 14 bolt for another prodject. the OD of the of the 9'' tube from a 78 bronco is 3.25 and a 1/4 wall, so the ID was 2.75. now just with some quick mesurments with the tape the ID of the 14 bolt is very close to the ID of 9''. heres a few pictures of the giant hiems im using as line pucks for the inner axles seals. theres a picture of the seal plates i used, there just standard dana 60 seals, jason.

Not to belittle your idea, but why would you go to this expense just for a full float axle. Sure they have some conveniences, but that is offset by the increased stress on the housing.

Why not just go 35 spline, or even 40 spline semi-float and call it good?

Just questioning.

why not just make a 609?

I like the idea of trying something new. But I think it's not worth it. I would just shave the 14Bolt and never break anything. Saves a lot of money and is a lot stronger.

This is exactly what I'm tentatively planning on doing, provided I can find a d70 to cut up for a reasonable price. I'm having a bit of a hard time finding one.

It would be an easy project but you MUST have an alignment bar to put in the housing. It's basically the exact same thing that all the street rod and race car guys do except they are generally narrowing the axle instead. I've helped narrow a couple 9" housings in the past so it shouldn't be a big deal.

What your looking for is every where if you look within that circle in your avitar. I think all ford D70's are 35 spline from 79 up till when ever they quit using them. I got one out of an 84 F250 2wd for 100 bucks with 4.10 gears and a spicer power lock from the factory. My dad has a throw away currie 9 inch housing that I intend to do this with and it will be very cheap and stronger than a stock 14 bolt with my true-high-9 center section.

What your looking for is every where if you look within that circle in your avitar. I think all ford D70's are 35 spline from 79 up till when ever they quit using them. I got one out of an 84 F250 2wd for 100 bucks with 4.10 gears and a spicer power lock from the factory. My dad has a throw away currie 9 inch housing that I intend to do this with and it will be very cheap and stronger than a stock 14 bolt with my true-high-9 center section.

I know this. Reread my statement. I can't seem to find one for a reasonable price. Every d70 that I have come across around here they want at least 500 dollars for and I'd have to drive 100+ miles one way to get it on top of that. IMHO, that's a waste of money for something that you're going to cut up.

I've got one more place to look that I know has a bunch of d60 axles, but I'd bet that the guy will still want top dollar for even a worthless 30 spline d60 that I would have to bore the spindles on and throw away the axles.

Junkyards in the Midwest all seem to suck in my experience.

Seems to me you are reinventing the wheel NASCAR has been running 9 inch full floaters for years.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/4895,91_Big-Bearing-9andquot;-Ford-Rear-End.html?itemNo=ford%209%20inch

Seems to me you are reinventing the wheel NASCAR has been running 9 inch full floaters for years.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/4895,91_Big-Bearing-9andquot;-Ford-Rear-End.html?itemNo=ford%209%20inch


Interesting...this is a nice one with 4 link brackets already welded on.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/4856,91_Winters-Grand-National-Rear-Ends-With-GM-Metric-Brackets.html

I built a 9"/14bFF about 5-6 years ago. CJ66Dean (Performance Cryogenics) helped a lot. I found the housing laying in the mud in his dad's backyard with the ends cut off (used for another D60 project). After hosing it off and getting the frogs out of it, I had a nice starting point. I got a 14B for $100 and cut the ends off of it, leaving around 3" of tube. The 9" tube and the 14B tube were same size. Dean had an alignment bar and we made some 3.25" pucks that fit my Strange big bearing 3rd member. We butt welded the 14B ends on, welded some disk brake brackets, welded on a rear truss from Summit (about $75 IIRC). I have been very please with this axle in terms of strength, weight and clearance. I got cromo axles made for the custom width. I wish that the TruHi9 3rd members were shipping at the time because I would love to have one of those, but the low pinion has been fine. I my mind, when running 38-40" tires, having a rear axle that is FF and is only turning the axle shafts and not supporting the weight of the vehicle on those shafts is a huge plus.

I gotta say, those links above with a FF 9" from the factory for $800 or $1K look compelling. I doubt they are strong enought to stand up to some serious rock crawling, tho.

Seems to me you are reinventing the wheel NASCAR has been running 9 inch full floaters for years.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/4895,91_Big-Bearing-9andquot;-Ford-Rear-End.html?itemNo=ford%209%20inch

I only see 28 or 31 spline flavors available and nothing in a "normal" truck wheel bolt pattern. I've looked at the stuff in the past and come up to the same conclusion as well.

I don't know if they offer any other options such as 35 or 40 spline axles and/or different wheel bolt patterns, but for now I think the hybrid axles using junkyard parts are more appealing to me and probably will be for most folks here.