Most desirable 14 bolt center for front build

sleepsontoilet · May 28, 2016

I built an AAM 10.5 on my YJ, and the diff cover bolts aren't the same as the original 14 bolt. I ordered countersunk from RuffStuff and they were unaware of the difference. Just a heads up in case you go that route. I bought a box of M8-1.25x20 from fastenal, not sure where I put them but can look if you need them.

tommy450r · May 29, 2016

Yall are making me nervous about using a older model center now.. I figured with a good truss and retube any of them would be fine. I did get lucky enough to use the 14 bolt center with a odd ball noise bearing that you can't get anymore and I didn't figure it out until I was 99% done with the build so I'm using a brass bushing in its place.

TBItoy · May 29, 2016

Re:

Just truss it up real good.

There is always something better out there. Hell think of 15 years ago when a low pinion Chevy 60 was considered bomb proof and if you were really a badass you ran 35 spline stubs and tacked the caps on your "forged Spicer life" u joints.

Now when you hear people talk you'd think a lp60 is a samurai axle...

EddieHall · May 30, 2016

Retube it with 3.500 x.500 wall DOM and full truss and never let up

tbacon38 · Jun 1, 2016

The non ribbed housings do crack (ask me how I know). I ran a ribbed one for years in my old buggy and swapped it into my new buggy. Ended up bending a tube and breaking the inner c off, instead of fighting with getting the old C off I just built another housing using the non ribbed center section. Made it 2 trips and cracked it where the tubes enter the center section. The ribbed center sections are thicker where the tube enters, but the problem is we use .75 and .5 wall Dom and still putting it in a cast housing. Yeah the tubes are tough but the cast will never hold to the abuse the tubes will take. The ribbed one I ran never cracked but I was never beating on it like I am now.

Just come off some of diddys money and buy a fabbed housing.

redneckengineered · Jun 1, 2016

tbacon38 said:
The non ribbed housings do crack (ask me how I know). I ran a ribbed one for years in my old buggy and swapped it into my new buggy. Ended up bending a tube and breaking the inner c off, instead of fighting with getting the old C off I just built another housing using the non ribbed center section. Made it 2 trips and cracked it where the tubes enter the center section. The ribbed center sections are thicker where the tube enters, but the problem is we use .75 and .5 wall Dom and still putting it in a cast housing. Yeah the tubes are tough but the cast will never hold to the abuse the tubes will take. The ribbed one I ran never cracked but I was never beating on it like I am now.

Just come off some of diddys money and buy a fabbed housing.

That's good feedback. Most know I'm running an uber bling 40 spline Super 14 in the rear of my buggy and my OCD had me wanting to build a front to match. I'm really pushing the limits of my HP60 right now as is. I'm hard on my **** but the reality is I don't do anything near as gnarly as what you do. The cost difference between a junkyard front and the Super 14 w/fabricated housing is pretty huge. A late model ribbed center w/40 spline, big knuckles and all the goodies will likely be the last front I'd need to mess with.

tbacon38 · Jun 1, 2016

Getting ready to build one myself, but you know all my stuff is JUNKYARD I just make it work the best I can. I have a ribbed center section at the machine shop now getting new tubes and the other night I purchased some big knuckles and Cs. If I had the Fabricated rear I couldn't handle a junkyard 14 bolt front that didn't match.

Dookey · Jun 1, 2016

redneckengineered said:
That's good feedback. Most know I'm running an uber bling 40 spline Super 14 in the rear of my buggy and my OCD had me wanting to build a front to match. I'm really pushing the limits of my HP60 right now as is. I'm hard on my **** but the reality is I don't do anything near as gnarly as what you do. The cost difference between a junkyard front and the Super 14 w/fabricated housing is pretty huge. A late model ribbed center w/40 spline, big knuckles and all the goodies will likely be the last front I'd need to mess with.

I heard HP was cool. :smoke:

redneckengineered · Jun 1, 2016

tbacon38 said:
Getting ready to build one myself, but you know all my stuff is JUNKYARD I just make it work the best I can. I have a ribbed center section at the machine shop now getting new tubes and the other night I purchased some big knuckles and Cs. If I had the Fabricated rear I couldn't handle a junkyard 14 bolt front that didn't match.

My **** is the Trailer Park Panty Dropper though so maybe that is fitting. My home equity loan on my single wide was only enough to cover one super 14 and my meth habit so I'm stuck building a junkyard housing for the front :****:

flatland · Jun 1, 2016

redneckengineered said:
That's good feedback. Most know I'm running an uber bling 40 spline Super 14 in the rear of my buggy and my OCD had me wanting to build a front to match. I'm really pushing the limits of my HP60 right now as is. I'm hard on my **** but the reality is I don't do anything near as gnarly as what you do. The cost difference between a junkyard front and the Super 14 w/fabricated housing is pretty huge. A late model ribbed center w/40 spline, big knuckles and all the goodies will likely be the last front I'd need to mess with.

I went with ribbed housing, 40 splined spool, with 47 splined outers on WOD knuckles and spider trax big brakes, if I ever complete my build I'm certainly hoping the front axle will be my least worry

bbone · Jun 1, 2016

Whatever you build, the big C's/Knuckles/Shafts are the way to go.

tbacon38 · Jun 2, 2016

flatland said:
I went with ribbed housing, 40 splined spool, with 47 splined outers on WOD knuckles and spider trax big brakes, if I ever complete my build I'm certainly hoping the front axle will be my least worry

That's a good looking front axle, with those parts you shouldn't have anything to worry about, hell im still running 35 Spline Yukons and break one every now and then. That's the same axle im getting ready to build actually but with different knuckles and inner c

redneckengineered · Jun 2, 2016

tbacon38 said:
That's a good looking front axle, with those parts you shouldn't have anything to worry about, hell im still running 35 Spline Yukons and break one every now and then. That's the same axle im getting ready to build actually but with different knuckles and inner c

What knuckles and Cs are you going with? I'm eyeballing the new Super 60 Cs from Reid pretty hard and thinking about drinking the unit bearing kool-aid.

Dookey · Jun 2, 2016

redneckengineered said:
What knuckles and Cs are you going with? I'm eyeballing the new Super 60 Cs from Reid pretty hard and thinking about drinking the unit bearing kool-aid.

Please post updates on what you do. I'd love to follow along!

TBItoy · Jun 2, 2016

Re: Re: Most desirable 14 bolt center for front build

redneckengineered said:
What knuckles and Cs are you going with? I'm eyeballing the new Super 60 Cs from Reid pretty hard and thinking about drinking the unit bearing kool-aid.

Get Woodlee to make a set of big knuckles that use the SD unit bearings instead of a spindle....

tbacon38 · Jun 2, 2016

redneckengineered said:
What knuckles and Cs are you going with? I'm eyeballing the new Super 60 Cs from Reid pretty hard and thinking about drinking the unit bearing kool-aid.

I got a deal on some of the EOR Knuckles, Duncan ran them on the Attitude buggy and he really liked them.

redneckengineered · Jun 2, 2016

Re: Re: Most desirable 14 bolt center for front build

TBItoy said:
Get Woodlee to make a set of big knuckles that use the SD unit bearings instead of a spindle....

I don't want a fabricated knuckle with a bunch of custom **** and brackets. I like the idea of the Reids, then you can use all off the shelf brakes, unit bearings, tons of high steer arm options, even kingpin parts are standard 60/70 stuff. I was pretty much sold after this video. Kevin said he drove his **** back to the truck afterwards.

http://youtu.be/jgr3RZM7x3o?t=70

http://youtu.be/CZVKrv7cQwA?t=27

TBItoy · Jun 2, 2016

Re: Re: Most desirable 14 bolt center for front build

redneckengineered said:
I don't want a fabricated knuckle with a bunch of custom **** and brackets. I like the idea of the Reids, then you can use all off the shelf brakes, unit bearings, tons of high steer arm options, even kingpin parts are standard 60/70 stuff. I was pretty much sold after this video. Kevin said he drove his **** back to the truck afterwards.

http://youtu.be/jgr3RZM7x3o?t=70

http://youtu.be/CZVKrv7cQwA?t=27

That's cool, it's your $ so I figure you'll buy what you want (the reid knuckles are cool, and have that nice "OEM" look)

I hope you can see the irony of the "custom **** and brackets" statement on a tube chassis molaugh

You planning on running the big ol honking stock super duty brakes and calipers? Staying with 8x6.5? (if that's the case, they won't be off the shelf parts anyway as the lug patter will have to be converted)

redneckengineered · Jun 2, 2016

Re: Re: Most desirable 14 bolt center for front build

TBItoy said:
That's cool, it's your $ so I figure you'll buy what you want (the reid knuckles are cool, and have that nice "OEM" look)

I hope you can see the irony of the "custom **** and brackets" statement on a tube chassis

You planning on running the big ol honking stock super duty brakes and calipers? Staying with 8x6.5? (if that's the case, they won't be off the shelf parts anyway as the lug patter will have to be converted)

Meh, I figured the more **** you can get at the parts store the better and I really believe that unit bearings like these are the future vs live spindle setups. I haven't decided on what to do about brakes, I'm still in the R&D phase of this build. I'm definitely staying with 8x6.5. You can easily redrill the unit bearings and they are rebuildable so it only has to be done once.

Good thread on pirate
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/2134650-reid-super-kingpin-knuckle-3.html#post34170729

TBItoy · Jun 2, 2016

Re: Re: Most desirable 14 bolt center for front build

redneckengineered said:
Meh, I figured the more **** you can get at the parts store the better and I really believe that unit bearings like these are the future vs live spindle setups. I haven't decided on what to do about brakes, I'm still in the R&D phase of this build. I'm definitely staying with 8x6.5. You can easily redrill the unit bearings and they are rebuildable so it only has to be done once.

Good thread on pirate
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/2134650-reid-super-kingpin-knuckle-3.html#post34170729

Who has rebuildable unit bearings for the larger 05+ style ?

I know Spidertrax has 99-04 size "Ultimate Unit Bearing", but I haven't seen anything about a rebuildable larger 05+ size.

And yes, I believe the unit bearings are going to eventually become the standard... I also think that EVENTUALLY because of that, 8x170 will become much more prolific in the performance aftermarket than it is now.

Many/most offroaders are heavily invested (either monetarily or mentally) into the 14 bolt platform, so I think that's kind of kept the 8x6.5 as a standard for longer.