Hubs on rear axle?

Dec 05, 2005 12 Replies

I spoke to a guy who said his son had a rockcrawler jeep (we're in florida tho) and said he had a spool in his rear end, but hubs so that he could unlock one wheel and be able to drive normally, he would switch every few days to keep wearing them somewhat the same.



Is this possible? I have a d44 rear end with a detroit locker, and although I'm used to driving it differently my girlfriend won't drive it at all. Just wondering



Troy


Didn't Summers Bros sell a full floater kit a few years back that you could add optional hubs to. I remember looking at something like that for my CJ. The kit was pretty spendy if I remember.

I know a guy with a 6cyl TJ with hubs on the back (dana 44) and he loves them. He has blown one hub but likes the versatility.

Carl

Let me understand, you want to put hubs onthe back so your GF can drive your Jeep?

To answer your question, yes you can put hubs on the back. This is called a Full Floating Rear End. The idea is more for flat towing and in case an axle breaks you can unlock that hub to preserve any other stuff, and the tire will remain connected to the axle housing so you can drive out.

The other nice thing is that if you do break an axle, the wheel stays put.

Chris

From what I understand if the d44 breaks an axle it will stay put cuz of some plate on the end of the axle? But now you have me wondering, if you have the hubs on a d35c would that make the axle/wheel stay on when you break a shaft instead of having to do the log wheel trick?

Troy

It does anyway on a Dana 44. :)

Jerry

c wrote:

True, but there are some axles that it won't. The floating rear end is quite common in oval track racing, and in some classes is required because of the safety factor of the wheel staying on the vehicle in the event of an axle failure. Many of the current designs used are based on the 3/4 ton truck floating axle design. You can see the basic design at

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This companyis in the town I live in. It's a pretty simple, but effective design. Chris

On my old Series 2A LandRover, it was all of about 6 bolts and a pull and out came the whole axle shaft. You could literally change it in 5 minutes.

Dave

For a good overview on adding hubs to a rear axle have a look here:

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This is by Doc Vern who writes the column in JP.

H.

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