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Rock Jock vs Pro Rock

130K views 340 replies 74 participants last post by  dbla780 
#1 ·
If you had the bucks to buy a pair hp 60's which of the above would you choose? How would you build them? What would you base your choices on?

Im looking at selling my current axles which would pay for a rear 60. The front I'd be on my own.

Being up north, I've never even seen either one of these axle brands, so havent the slightest experience with either one.

I like the lower weight and slightly lower cost of the currie axles, but would that cause issues, or sacrifice durability?

I like that pro fronts seem to use more generic parts, rather then doing a currie one that requires their specially machined and redrilled F450 unit bearings.

Im not to concerned with steering. Hi, low, flat. Im doing my own full hydro on whatever I get, so generic would be fine.

Anyone know which brand has more clearence under the center section, or are they pretty much equal?

This build is on 37's, the biggest I see going would be maybe 39's.

Im thinking semi float in the rear to keep cost down, and it should be more then strong enough.

Wheeling application is mostly mud, cutline, some rock, and a few trips a year down south to play on rocks is in the near future.

So, what would you go with and how would you build them?

Thanks.
 
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#85 ·
I went through this driveline issue with a scout 44 in a CJ7. Jess told me that u-joints are designed to offset only in one direction at a time (up and down in the usual configuration, right?), but that they can offset about 1" in the other direction for each 20" of driveshaft length.

The CJ is running 1 1/4" of offset with a 26" driveshaft and has no problems that I can detect.
 
#89 · (Edited)
Probably superior for me.

You can save some dollars with Alloy if you want to go that route.

If you can build the right width, and offset, you dont need custom jobbies. Just d60 35 spline inners for the proper application.

Im hoping to go that route so I can use stock outers for all my mawk up, then throw them in the trailer box for spares if I ever need them.

d60 inners are a dime a dozen here at the truck pnp, only hard one will be if I need the shorty 78 ford inner. We'll see.
 
#90 · (Edited)
Seeings how this thread has alot of 609 talk in it, heres a link to a pair I bought for my wifes buggy.... I was planning on building them but found a set for sale and jumped on them...



Link to thread..

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=530114

Link to another 60 vs. 9" article..

http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrations/gears.html

Link to the buildup of the axles I bought..

http://www.geocities.com/bbuiltparts/Front_hybridAxle_Article.html?999474575816

Nice build so far Bnine.... Hows the winter up there right now?

Chris:cool2:
 
#92 ·
Nice, thanks for the links Chris. Some good reading there.

Parts to finish the rear should be here next week. Then I cut the housing, true them a few thou, turn the spindles down, measure shit a million times then put it together.

I'll take lots of shots and put them up here.
 
#95 ·
Slowest build in history continues :D

Got a few more parts in. Hoping to start assembling the rear axle over the next few weeks. I'll take shots and get into detail when I do.

Here's the Truhi 9 third member, loaded with 538's and a 35 spline detroit locker.







Here are the rear hubs I'll be using. These are aftermarket chev dana 60 front hubs built by Rockcrusher (now Solid). The hub kit comes with hubs, 35spline slugs with hardware, disk brake brackets, spindles, spindle nuts with retainers.

I need to by stock bearings, seals, and brack calipers to finish it off.







I had equal length superior 35spline shafts show up as well. I'll get some shots of those when I start mawking things up.
 
#96 ·
That drive flange is hell for stout. First RC stuff I've seen with the new Solid logo.

Keep posting please, I am starting a Spidertrax 609 build (just ordered parts) and am interested to learn from your build.
 
#98 ·
I layed everything for the rear out, and weighed each peice individually. Total weight for everything seen came in just under 245lbs. Im guessing another 80-110 lbs in brakes and bracketry by the time Im done. Cant beleive how light it all works out to be.

Couldnt resist, had to throw the 3rd member in .







You'll probably be done sooner then me if you already ordered parts Resg. I have a stupid amount of work ahead of my shit right now.
 
#102 ·
You'll probably be done sooner then me if you already ordered parts Resg. I have a stupid amount of work ahead of my shit right now.
Ordered everything at the same time. Spidertrax is supposedly two weeks away on the housing and will send it all once that is done, the rest of the parts are in stock.

The TrueHi9 was on my doorstep 3 days after I ordered it :eek:

I'm gonna have to fit mine in too, timewise. Ordered an outboard kit from BTF at the same time, so I gotta work on that first.
 
#103 ·
Lookin' good! :D
 
#107 ·
Pounded all the races into the rear hubs last night, and took a shitload of measurements.

Hit 1 road block in that the outer wheel bearing wont slide over the spindle. My shitty caliper says the inner race is 2 thou smaller then the spindle.

Might end up turning the spindle down a few thou to make things fit right.

The plan is to run greased full float in the rear, so cooking the bearing on is not really an option, and I dont want to turn the bearing race out, then have to have bearings turned everytime I re do them. grrrr

I'll snap progress shots tonight.
 
#109 ·
Thanks Hi9. Thats actually exactly what we ended up doing and it worked perfect.

Having a machinist for a freind comes in pretty handy. Things are coming together, I'll get some pictures up soon.

I think you shipped my front 3rd out last week :D:D
 
#114 · (Edited)
Ok, so I've made a bit of progress.

Pounded the races in sunday night. Solids tolerances are ultra tight, and I spent nearly an hour pounding in 4 races. At least no fear of spinning them.

Normal d60 front hub, 1 race in the rear, 1 in the front.





Monday took every thing up to my friends pump shop where we measured for an hour and a half and then finally cut the housing down. Kind of a measure 10 times cut once method :D

I still have more pictures to get into photobucket regarding the measuring process. I’ll get those up as soon as I can.



Basically, we assembled the fullfloat hub, spindle, and drive slug.





Knowing we are going to run 2.5 inches of interference between the housing and spindle, we measured total depth of to the inside of the slug cap, and subtracted 2.5 inches, and added 1/16 for some clearance.

For the carrier, we measured from the inside of the splines, to the face of the spanners. One side is around 3”, the other is around 4.5.

Knowing those 2 measurements, and total shaft length (35”), we installed the carrier and measured from the face of the spanners to the end of the tube.

(I’ll fill in with more pics later)



Subracted carrier depth, and hub depth from total shaft. Subtract that measurement from the spanner face/tube end measurement and you are left with how much tube to cut.

We used a band saw to get perfectly square cuts within 1/32 of an inch.







I’ll leave out exact measurements, since anyone that does this will need to do their own anyways.

Tonight we are turning down the spindles and prepping the welding. Luckily another friend of mine that is a pressure welder volunteered to weld these in his booth at work using a rotary table, putting in a tig root, and a stick cap.

Most likely we are going a bit overboard with the amount of detail and precision we are putting into this, but we have the equipment and knowledge available so why not?

After tonight I will post up more pictures of the measurements, spindles, and welding prep.

Im sure you can do all this at home with a chopsaw and welder. The only thing you would need to send out would be the spindle turning.

Also starting to really learn where the cost savings is in these axles. Paying a shop to build these would run into a lot of money Im thinking. We took our time, but still, it was almost 4 hours to clean up spindle threads, pound races, assemble a hub, take measurements, and bandsaw the housing.
 
#116 ·
Ok, minor update.

First, I screwed up my measurement by 1.5", but it worked out ok. Im going to cut the driverside shaft down and run a centered pinion now. I could pull both spindles and get to original width, but Im liking the idea of a better driveline angle.

Got the spindles turned down and beveled. We turned until we had 1 thou of interence (bigger) then the smallest diameter in the axle tube.







Original comparison



Beveled the axle tubes by hand with a grinder.

Heated the axle tube to 250 using a rose bud and a heat pencil (wax pen that melts at 250) and dropped the spindles in.





Assembled a hub and drive slug







Shot of my final width with the spindles in and hubs on. You can see the shaft I need to trim sticking out of the driverside hub.

Total weight right now is right around 200lbs

 
#119 · (Edited)
Ok, minor update.

First, I screwed up my measurement by 1.5", but it worked out ok. Im going to cut the driverside shaft down and run a centered pinion now. I could pull both spindles and get to original width, but Im liking the idea of a better driveline angle.

Got the spindles turned down and beveled. We turned until we had 1 thou of interence (bigger) then the smallest diameter in the axle tube.
What was the O.D. on the spindle before you turned it down?
 
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