Rockwells make your sac swell!

Elliott · Oct 18, 2013

Prob a lot of cushion in all the gears,if you think about all the backlash between every gear all added up, and cushioned by oil.That and not very much down ward angle on the u joints compared to ton joints.

Eddyj · Oct 18, 2013

So I spent my second night setting up my chassis and I've learned a lot being this is my first build.
1. Rockwells are heavy
2. All of your "plans" go to hell real quick
3. Don't buy other people's junk and try to make it work for you. They get rid of it for a reason.
4. When building a "low" rockwell buggies you can either have seats and a motor or driveshafts, but not both. No room
5. Rockwells are heavy.

Actually I had a great time worked until 5am ( yawwwwn). I've become a Jedi master at moving my motor foward and up 2 inches at a time. It's going to be a little high just because of drive shafts. Ill lower later and do two piece shafts.

Keith bailey at offroad connection in fultondale is awesome to deal with.

Think I might start a bud thread. I know I'm half assing it and really do t won't to hear everyone telling me do it right the first time. The problem is I am only home 3 month and want to drive it. Not build it for 3years. That and I'm poor. Maybe I will if anyone is interested in a dirt cheap rockwell build.

Nuts · Oct 18, 2013

Dem shits is heavy and making plans is a waste of time! I ran into the same seating vs drivetrain problem on mine. My solution was to run a divorced transfer case and mount it behind the seats. This frees up some space in the passenger compartment and for driveshaft placement.

Eddyj · Oct 18, 2013

Patooyee is this one of your older kits?

patooyee · Oct 19, 2013

Re:

No. don't know whose that is.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

kyrel69 · Oct 22, 2013

YOUNG said:
Just buy the stock drive shafts from the 2.5 ton truck the rocks came out of. They cost $20 bucks a piece and have 1410 joints and flanges on both ends or take the flange off of the t-case end and just use the 1410 with a yoke set-up on the t-case.

Where are you getting stock rockwell drive shafts for $20

Eddyj · Oct 25, 2013

For those of you that started off on a budget whats the first thing that lets go on a stock rockwell?

Elliott · Oct 26, 2013

I would get you some high steer arms and put the steering rod sandwiched in between it and the stock location using spacers, and plate the side of the knuckles.Then I would go beat the **** out of it till something broke. These things are pretty stout in stock form, You could buy up a couple of used shafts for spares to carry with you if you had the extra coin or upgrade to good shafts once they break( this is what I'm doing, but my stock ones are surprising me what they are taking) The only thing I want to go back and do is make some stud girdles for mine. So Knuckles, Axles, Stud girdles is about all you need for a trail rig IMO

Neal3000 · Oct 26, 2013

Eddyj said:
Think I might start a bud thread. I know I'm half assing it and really do t won't to hear everyone telling me do it right the first time. The problem is I am only home 3 month and want to drive it. Not build it for 3years. That and I'm poor. Maybe I will if anyone is interested in a dirt cheap rockwell build.

I'd like to follow a build thread on it :dblthumb:

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

I've had all sorts of hi-steer setups on mine in the past and have reverted back to just putting the steering on top of the stock knuckles using taper delete bushings on both axles. The stock knuckles are strong as hell in stock form, only the guys with tractor tires, 7000+ lbs, and 1000 hp are ripping the stock arms off and it saves weight and complexity to use the stock arms. Same goes for the stud girdle. I've known one or two to screw up gears without them, but a lot can go into that other than just abuse. I think a lot of people run loose pinion bearings and don't even realize it. And when gears do go its most often the pinion gear. Even with loose pinion bearings it takes a hell of a lot of abuse, IMO.

In my experience shafts are the main things that break, and only rarely. Randy's 16-spline chromo replacements are the best bang for the buck. The Violators are nice, I have them in the rear, but they just move the weak link.

payne97 · Oct 26, 2013

I thought the only thing rockwells was good for using the knuckles on 14 boat and 80
LMAO :drinkers:

patooyee · Oct 26, 2013

payne97 said:
I thought the only thing rockwells was good for using the knuckles on 14 boat and 80
LMAO

I thought all 14-bolts and d80's were good for was making rockwells weaker by putting the centers on rockwell knuckles. :flipoff1:

payne97 · Oct 26, 2013

You're always right my bad
:flipgotcha:

Eddyj · Oct 27, 2013

Well just got done with a DOT audit and working the magic city classic in the same week. ( insert Gomer Pyle smiley )
Gonna get back to work on buggy, so I found me a 20% off coupon and headed to where anybody that is going to build a totally revolutionary trail bouncer would go, harbor freight. The newer one I irondale. I haven't been in a couple of years to any HF all I can say is dayum, they got a lot of cool junk. You know it's all worthless but you just can't help yourself. Anyway seen the little poly cover for the jack stands and thought about all the pretty powder coated super buggy guys. And thought ill never need those!
Anyways on with the ? At hand. Is there an incorrect way to run the rear axle?

Elliott · Oct 27, 2013

Steering behind the axle is the way it's designed to go just like the front axle, Then just rotate the chunk.You could put the steering on the front side but it's not going to turn as sharp.

Nuts · Oct 27, 2013

Does anyone have specs on how much can be machined off the hubs to lighten them, or is it even worth messing with?

patooyee · Oct 27, 2013

Nuts said:
Does anyone have specs on how much can be machined off the hubs to lighten them, or is it even worth messing with?

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/12027810-post313.html

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/12057702-post319.html

Just depends on how much time you have and how desperate you are to loose weight. I took off about 10 lbs. with a bunch of lathe and drill press time.

Edit: Those hubs got sold and I went back to stock hubs. I did not turn the stock hubs on the lathe, just drilled the holes between each lug nut. That will tell you how important that 8 lbs. was to me.

Nuts · Oct 27, 2013

Whats the equation for rotating weight? 1 pound of RW= 10 pounds of cargo weight? Then does that equation change with diameter? Either way 10 pounds per hub is a good amount.