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Super 14 - the official thread

17K views 62 replies 26 participants last post by  fourplyn 
#1 ·
The Super 14 is back on the market!




As many of you have heard or seen, the Super 14 is back and back in a big way, Torq Axle, the company behind the manufacturing and re-release of the Super 14 has units on the shelf, you can order one and actually get one this time.

They are offering the Super 14 in many different variations to fit your build needs and progress.

The Builder Kit: comes with a Super 14 3rd member, pinion support, Torq axle housing, adj. nuts, shims & ARB tab. Price: $2,645.00





The Fabricator Kit: comes with the 3rd member and all the hardware parts needed, but instead of a housing, this kit comes with a 1/4" housing faceplate template. This kit is for the fabricator who wants to build their own housing. $1,985.00




Yes, you read that right, if you think you are the ace fabricator and want to try your hand at building your own housing, this is the kit for you. If you wanted to go ultra lightweight you could even use the 1/4" faceplate template as the faceplate for your custom housing. Torq recommends a 3/8" faceplate for an axle designed to take this much load.


Of course what about buying just a 3rd member? Torq Axle has you covered there too.

Super 14 3rd member: comes with a Super 14 3rd member, pinion support, adj. nuts, shims & ARB tab. Price: $1,950.00




You guys all know I follow the new axle trends very closely and always try to help push companies to develop cool new products and when I heard the rumor that the Super 14 tooling had been picked up by a newly formed company, I started doing a little checking on them and even paid them a visit in SLC a couple months ago to see exactly what they had going on.

When I visited them they had bare castings on the shelf and a couple housings built, but not finalized, over the last couple months they got the machine shop up to speed and are now on their second run of 3rds and housings.

In talking with the guys at Torq, their big push is make sure the product is on the shelf and rolling out the door as fast as possible. My first Super-14 left yesterday via UPS Ground and is supposed to here tomorrow. I'll update this post with pics when it gets here.... :cool2:

The other thing that I though was pretty cool was their openness on housings; there isn't one favored housing builder you have to buy a housing from. You can buy their housing, you can buy a housing from Roughstuff or you can even buy the fabricator kit and get a faceplate template so you can build your own housing.


Super 14 Features and Benefits:

● Made in the USA
● Third Member cast using permanent mold tooling
● A-356 Aluminum with T6 heat treatment
● Bearing Caps are cut from 6061 T6 billet Aluminum
● Pinion Support is cut from 6061 T6 billet Aluminum
● Pinion Support is available in Raw Machined Aluminum or Bright Anodized in Torq Orange
● Uses standard Corporate 14-bolt carrier and bearings
● Gear ratios range from 3.21 to 5.38
● 14 bolt pinion features 1.75” shaft
● 14 bolt pinion has 3 bearings
● Drop-out Advantage
● Streamline Housing Design
● Uniform bolt pattern to allow for rear engine installation
● Corporate 14 bolt components – less expensive
● Lighter than corporate 14 bolt axle



The bare Super-14 and pinion support weigh 35lbs - Not a great pic, but the scale read-out shows 35lbs.




Massive 4 bolt main bearing caps made from 6061-T6 aluminum:




Load bolt option - Does not come stock, but the boss is there and it can be machined as an option if needed.




SO let's just say you want one of these bad boys and you want it right away.... jump on the web, go to www.torqaxle.com and order one up.

BUT before you close out the order, make sure you add in this special discount code: Pirate 4x4.

That's right, add Pirate 4x4 into the discount code box and Torq will give you an extra 5% off your order! :beer:


You can also buy them from me and you'll get the same PBB 5% discount. I don't have a discount code section you can type into on my web site so you'll need to give me a ring. But that's a good thing, we can then talk about all the other things to help build your Super-14 into a real kick-ass axle:

40 Spline Air Lockers or spools
40 spline spindles & hubs
4340 or 300m axle shafts
Front axle build
Rear axle build
 
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#39 ·
Took a few measurements on the Super-14 last night to show how beefy this 3rd member is.


Bottom Flange:
This is the mounting flange on the bottom of the diff. At 1.5"s, it has some serious beef to it. Which of course is important when we are dealing with aluminum.






Side Flange: The mounting flange up the sides measure in at .619, so almost 5/8" thick. Net effect is a burly flange designed to keep flex to a minimum.





Bearing caps: Built from 6061-T6 and secured with 4 cap bolts, the Bearing caps are just plain burly. 2"s wide at the narrowest point, 2.100" at the cap bolt section and just over an inch thick gives the Super-14 some awesome torque loading capabilities.







I've done a few aluminum 9" 3rd members in years past for a few competitors and the bearing caps take a huge beating. The stouter the bearing caps, the longer the diff will hold together.
 
#40 ·
Came by the shop and got to touch and drool all over this thing. All I can say is :eek: it is amazing!!! Beefy does not even begin to describe this diff. It is massive in all the right places. I cannot wait to see some more of these out in the world getting beat on, I don't think anyone is going to have ANY issues with strength on this diff.
 
#43 ·
I'm swamped in the shop right trying to finish up a project that has been sitting here waaay too long. Once that is done and out of here I'll do a full inspection on the housing with measurements.

5.38 gears and bearings just showed up from Superior Axle & Gear and an Air Locker is on the way, sometime next week we'll show a full on how to build a Super 14.
 
#44 ·
How about a clearance on the housing compared to a OE 14 Bolt? Is there a big difference in a 14bolt with a flat bottom kit like TMR Customs 15bolt kit?
 
#48 ·
To add to the info above. Here is the torq 14 housing next to a spider trax 9". It's bigger but not by much...






Does anyone have a write up on gear setup on the super 14's?
 
#50 ·
Thanks Justin
 
#52 ·
Quick question on the bearing caps, since the do see so much load and need to be inherently stiff why is aluminum used? Seems like steel or even HT steel would be the material of choice due to the added stiffness?

Cool axle and yeah jack bolts rock. Great idea.
 
#54 ·
I ran them front and rear with zero issues and i beat the crap out of them all week prerunning and the quilifer and 21 miles of the main race untill i hit a boulder at 60mph and sheared the lower kingpin clean off and ended my race
I pulled the front and rear center chunks out today to inspect them looked as great as the day i set them up nothing loosened up at all it was perfect defintely really impressed with them glad we put them in the buggy :D
Joey
 
#56 ·
The bearing caps do not have bridge, the units ran at KOH are identical to the pictures shown in this thread.

In a differential with spiral bevel gears, the bearing caps will try to spread apart under load, so a bridge will help combat the forces trying to spread the caps. Would it be good to have one? Sure. Is one needed in this diff for racing applications? Probably not unless you were going to run one in a Trophy Truck.

Mooneyham has one in his rig and I believe that the other TTF car of Scott Morris also has one.
Alex Hardaway ran with one in the rear and I heard he might have one in the front(?).
JT Stephens has one in Dave Cole's 4454, which probably has more abusive miles on it than any other unit.
Joey Archuleta has them front and rear.
Casey Beach has one in the rear.
Eric Morales (9 Toe Bandito) has them front and rear.
 
#57 ·
These were the racers / teams that we know raced KOH on the Super-14.
The feedback that we received from racers after the race was extremely positive. We have not seen any Super-14 failures.

Joey Archuleta | #127
Greg Adler | #210
Kevin Yoder | #4434
Alex Hardaway | #4481
Robb Kaufman | #22
Matt Peterson | #212
Rick Mooneyham | #554
Jeff Russell | #4427
JT Stephens | #4454
Casey Beach | #4484

Matt Peterson, JT Stephens (Cole's car), and Hardaway have been literally beating on their axles for multiple races and seen great success.
 
#58 · (Edited)
Yep the super 14 rocks we beat the hell out of them last weekend at the we-rock endurance / mud race in Altus Oklahoma and I'm never nice to that buggy at all and the super 14,s took all the abuse we pulled the chunks again on the front and rear to ck them out and they were in perfect condition
AWESOME work from the TORQ guys
Thanks for the support
Joey
 
#59 ·
What are you guys doing to keep your seals in place on the Torq housing? (to keep the seal housing from spinning)


A Spidertrax housing is threaded and they send it out with a set screw to hold the seals in place. I'm guessing RTV isn't going to cut it.

Axle seals I got from TrailGear.


We had to do a little work to them on the lathe to get them to fit the od of the shafts.




We got it in there with some stuff I had laying around but I need the correct hardware to finish up.


I am very happy with the product. There is only 1 area that might need a little attention. I think it would be nice if the housings were sent out with the set screw that holds the seals, so they don't spin.
 
#60 ·
There is nothing more fun that picking up the phone and calling a company that cares. Torq is that company. I called with a few things that we were needing and he is sending them out today. Very good guy and great support for a person that is looking to buy product. Hats off to Torq and the direction they are taking their company :smokin:
 
#63 · (Edited)
May I ask?
Just to satisfy everyones curiousity and wonder. Is it possible to do a true side by side comparison with an OE Stock 14 bolt SRW axle with or without a typical shave kit & this new rear Super 14 axle & Rough Stuff Specialties axle?

The difference in weight between the Super 14 & R.S.S. isn't as crucial I would think..but might answer some future quesions as well.

Key factors:

-weight of each
-housing clearance of each measured to the axle tube


I think we can all believe/undestand the strength differences. We can also understand the extra clearance that one would gain by tilting the axle for driveline alignment.

I do believe I've seen the Super 14 & the R.S.S. housing in a picture side by side.. And it looks to me that the R.S.S housing is smaller than the Super 14.

Would any of this be possible?
 
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