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First Super 14 Bolt Housing rolls off the line...

21K views 94 replies 55 participants last post by  carwash 
#1 ·
This needed it's own thread.

The guys over at Portal Tek announced a few months ago that they had a new piece of bling coming to market. Based on the busy signal when you tried to call the shop, a bunch of people like myself were lining up to plunk down some coin.

It's taken a couple extra weeks, but it's worth it, the first production housing rolled off the welding table at renowned desert racing axle house TubeWorks.

This is an example of the Trophy Series which comes with a Chromoly housing and a bunch of other goodies.

The cool thing is it uses all of the shelf 14 Bolt parts.

I'll see if I can dig up some more tech in the next couple of days, but check out the pics.

I cannot wait to see this under the new car.
 

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#57 ·
maybe tubeworks can chine in here as their site is a bit confusing.

by reading the site I can't tell if they use heat treated tubes or they heat treat the entire housing.

no doubt tubeworks build a ultra legit housing, just not sure of the actual build details

from www.tubeworks.com

"WE START WITH 4" X .250WALL 4130 TUBE, WHICH HAVE GON A SPECIAL HEAT TREATMENT AND STRESS RELIEF PROCESS WHICH MAXIMIZES THE POTENTIAL SPRING PROPERTIES OF THE MATERIAL. THUS ALMOST DOUBLING THE IMPACT RESISTANCE, (DENT RESISTANCE) & THE PHICIAL TOUGHNESS. (COMPARED TO THE NORMALIZED CONDITION) IT IS VERY COMMON TO SEE POLISHED TYPE MARKS ON THE AXLE TUBES RATHER THAN DENTS FROM HARD HITS ACROSS ROCKS. "
 
#65 ·
maybe tubeworks can chine in here as their site is a bit confusing.

by reading the site I can't tell if they use heat treated tubes or they heat treat the entire housing....
My understanding is that they heat treat the tubes before welding. For some extra cash and wait time I'm sure he could heat treat it after welding.
 
#58 ·
That is a very nice axle. I fail to see whay this would be better than a hi-9 though. The pinion is still a low pinion and unless I am missing something it still uses the 14 bolt gear sets which limit its ratio. Am I mis-informed? :confused:
 
#63 ·
Just nitpicking, but the pinion shaft is actually 30 spline; it's the same size, count, and pitch, as the stock 14-bolt axleshafts. Which means it's actually bigger and stronger than a same-metallurgy 35 spline pinion shaft.

And I had to quote this because I think this might be the first instance in known history of Camo referring to anything as "indestructible". :laughing:
 
#66 ·
Can you say Eaton?

Is it just me, or does it just look like someone's making the Eaton again? I've got about $250 into a disc braked shaved Spooled Eaton with 4.56 gears. It's also got a load bolt, and 14 bolt shafts, and you can drop a 14 bolt Detroit in really easily. Seems to me that you could just have someone make a chromo Eaton housing with 14 bolt spindles on it and come out a 1/4 the price. Yeah, the third member isn't aluminum, but it also doesn't have problems with the main bearing bolts pulling out.
 
#67 · (Edited)
Is it just me, or does it just look like someone's making the Eaton again?
Yes...... It's just you!

There are no new gears available for the Eaton (HO72) so you’re stuck to junk yard hunting.

There is no new lockers available, although I think Scott at Rock stomper can make a 14 bolt Detroit work in one.

The pinion bearing is retarded expensive!

Not all came with a load bolt

They are getting hard to find

And using your logic Currie, Strange and Mark Williams should stop building after market 9”, and everyone should head out the their nearest junk yard and start hunting!:shaking:
 
#73 ·
So, basically someone took a 14 bolt (which was a redesigned eaton), redesigned it back into an eaton only using the current 14 bolt carrier, and somehow we're supposed to be blown away by their ingenuity and engineering prowess and want to reward them with obscene sums of money for their effort... Forgive me if I'm less than mezmerized. Tell you what, you buy all the "Super 14 bolts" that they'll make. That'll leave more of the completely undesirable eatons in the junkyards for those of us who don't know any better.
 
#75 ·
I've seen several with that gearing. You can get 40 spline side gears and shafts for a 14 bolt, no reason you can't run them in an eaton. No ARB, but most are using them in the back of a trail rig so no need. For much less than that kind of money there are lots of places that will make you a chromo housing. According to the "official" thread on these, they really don't even exist yet anyway, and the prototypes haven't made it through a full race either, for one reason or another.
 
#76 ·
No ARB, but most are using them in the back of a trail rig so no need.
I couldn't possibly disagree more. But something tells me, you wouldn't understand.


According to the "official" thread on these, they really don't even exist yet anyway, and the prototypes haven't made it through a full race either, for one reason or another.
I'm amazed we even made it off the trailer considering my rear housing doesn't exist according to you.

The prototype has already survived more beating than most will ever see. And the reason we didn't finish the race had nothing to do with the rear end. The car burnt. But, by all means, keep talking out your ass.
 
#77 ·
Yeah, somehow you managed to claim that I'm badmouthing your junk and claiming it doesn't exist, all in the same sentence, nicely done.

How often during a race do you disengage the ARB? Considering the problems with it and the fact that the answer to that is hardly ever if ever, I'd say a Detroit or spool might be a sturdier more robust solution.

You've said now several times that you didn't finish the race, and somehow I'm a moron for saying you didn't finish the race? Your axle has not even been through a complete race. I didn't say the diff grenaded, I said that it hasn't even completed race. And you yourself said that the ARB quit during that race, not that the car burnt. I'm assuming that happened after the ARB quit.

Mainly I'm giving you guys shit for the fact that you can't even admit that this isn't some sort of mind boglingly new idea, just recycling a more than 60 year old idea and updating it. If I needed the strongest diff I could get for a desert racer and money was no object, yeah I'd probably look at these. Seems like you spent as much on yours as a 10" though, which isn't the point of a 14 bolt to begin with as others have stated before.
 
#78 ·
How often during a race do you disengage the ARB? Considering the problems with it and the fact that the answer to that is hardly ever if ever, I'd say a Detroit or spool might be a sturdier more robust solution.
Rear ARB unlocked 95% of the time on my old car. With the heavier weight, most likely 60%-70% of the time in this one.

I would NEVER run a Detroit in a go fast car. You want the car to be stable, the last thing you want is the locker deciding for you when it's going to engage and disengage.

I can't run a spool in a 118" rock racer with 30 degrees of steering. ARB off and grab a cutting brake and it will turn like it has 50 degrees.


Those are the facts.

I could care less about you jabbing at me around an Eaton. I talked to Scott@Rockstomper probably close to 4 years ago about running one. Because he WAS running one. No ARB is a game breaker for me.
 
#82 · (Edited)
"Just run an Eaton" and "take it apart and change the bearings every race" don't go together real well. Not as bad as "take it apart and replace the gears every race or two", but Eaton bearings are expensive and hard to find; Eaton gears are flat unavailable aftermarket.

Personally, I don't see this as any kind of new idea; the only thing new about this is that somebody finally threw the money at doing it. But if that drives further innovation to where somebody else finally comes up with deeper five-something ring-n-pinions for a 14-bolt, or a high pinion 14-bolt, or 40 spline 14-bolt axleshafts, or better disc brakes, or whatever else (and some of that already is reality) then it's just that much more win for all of us.
 
#94 ·
I had the pleasure of listening to some good ol'boy stories from a prominent aftermarket player. NASCAR is hardly using 'stock' Detroits. There is alot of tweaking/tuning/cheating happening inside their differentials.

I bought one of the NASCAR detroits on ebay for a ford 9" and we put it in Dan's Cherokee. It only works on the gas. Any bit of braking or just get off the gas a little and it unlocks. It's a little weird. No Detroit pop whatsoever and it becomes dicey when you let off in a turn getting it in a wash.
 
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