[sacalas]

Hey guys I've built a Spidertrax 9" for the rear of my TJ and I snaped some pic's along the way. I'm still uploading all the pic's but I will post them up in series so that you can see the progression. The build took me 4 very long weekends and countless time of taking one step foward and two steps back.

Here is a couple photo's of some of the parts mocked up

Here is the list of parts in my build

Spidertrax 9" Housing 3" tube 3/8" wall
Unit bearing end cups
F-450 unit bearing machined to 5X5.5
True Hi9 ARB 35 spline, forged 1350 Yoke, second thrust bolt, solid crush sleeve.
300M Spidertrax Axle Shafts
Dual inner axle seals
4340 drive slugs
Willwood caliper
Spidertrax rotor Hat
Custom machined Rotor
Cool but expensive blue break lines
Ballistics Fab Brackets

 

[sacalas]

Here is another pic after I cut the axle tubes down. I decided to go back to a stock width of 60.5" WMS. I was originally at 63" WMS with spacers because of the bolt pattern conversion off the original stock Dana 44(5x4.5 to 5X5.5). I knew doing this was going to give me hell later on in the build trying to modify my shocks.

 

[Jorge Meza]

keep the pix comming... what the final cost was to built this Axles from the ground up??

 

[gebraic]

keep the pix comming... what the final cost was to built this Axles from the ground up??

x2

 

[sacalas]

Here is some more pictures of the parts!

 

[sacalas]

Here are a couple of pictures after barrowing 4west's welder since mine was not rated for 3/8". Also here you can see me test fitting the rotors on Spridertrax's rotor hat. Spridertrax has provisions for 16" and 17" brake setups only. I'm already on my second set of Beadlocks switching from stock to 5x5.5 bolt pattern. I asked them about a brake setup for a 15" rim, they told me that some have done it in the past. So I did some calculations off the Spidertrax's rotor hat dimensions and wilwood Billet Dynalite calipers spec's. I came up with rotor dimensions that should be able to fit and have clearance inside the rim. This ended up being a $330 dollar gamble but after poring over my sketches and everything looked well, I faxed it off. I made several educated guesses as I did not have all the exact dimensions for the parts so the clearance was going to be very tight and I had my fingers crossed.

Here I'm test fitting the brake setup on a broken rim I had laying around. Note the broken rim is from a pre-run up SledgeHammer for the NTRA rock race. Actually it was after I ran it a few times, I was doing a 80% speed test run and a slammed into a boulder sheering my front tracbar bolt. Dam Currie and their 9/16 zerk bolt, I upgraded to F911 after that. Now my front was sloppy as a Tijuana working girl so I backed down the trail and proceeded to drive 30MPH in reverse back to camp. On the way you can imagine I was driving in a perfect strait line LOL, I had my spotter watching out for boulders to stray from. Then the jeep caught some air and I was like WFT that’s what I 'm trying to miss and my spotter said it didn't look that big!

It looked like I hit the nail of the first try with the rotor!

 

[jeepinTY]

Nice setup, looks pimp.

 

[zachv]

Real nice build! Did you use an alignment bar before welding the ends on? BTW, nice work on the rotor and making it work for you.

 

[cdc12372]

I was doing a 80% speed test run and a slammed into a boulder sheering my front tracbar bolt. Dam Currie and their 9/16 zerk bolt, I upgraded to F911 after that.

How is it Currie fault that you hit a boulder????? :shaking:
Maybe you should have started with a "Jeepspeed" track bar that comes with a 5/8" bolt!!!!

 

[sacalas]

It's not really Currie's fault! It does not help that a 9/16" bolt is weakened by a zerk grease valley. I did upgrade to the 5/8" size but swapped Curries bolt for a F911.

 

[sacalas]

Real nice build! Did you use an alignment bar before welding the ends on? BTW, nice work on the rotor and making it work for you.

Na I just did check it with an angle finder and level several times before tacking it in place. Sine my Jeep is 99% dirt I really didn't see a need to get crazy if I was off a bit. I did come within 1 maybe 2 degrees off of center on one side after welding.

 

[sacalas]

Here is some pictures before I mocked up the axle in place, also notice my twin forklift lift!

 

[sacalas]

Here is the axle hanging from ratchet straps mocking it up in place.

This is when I set the True Hi9 in the housing and realized that that pinion angle wasn’t going to work even with my 60 degree Bad Boy Jr.

 

[ne14jpn]

Build looks good, although I'm wonder why you did high clearance your LCA brackets on the axle?

 

[sacalas]

It was do to interference with the frame; the lowers are the old school Teraflex arms that are bent half way down to stuff inside the frame at full stuff. I have a picture I'll post later on that you'll see why of cycling the suspension.

 

[sacalas]

Also by the time I finalized the bracket locations I tacked and cut and re-tacked 4 times until I found the sweet spot.

 

[-sean-]

build cost?:smokin:

 

[the freeak]

FORKLIFTS???????

Do you have a death wish?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

and looks like there is no hard lock out on them either....priceless.

 

[sacalas]

FORKLIFTS???????

Do you have a death wish?

You really need to wheel with me out at the Hammers! Then you'll understand!