Finding a full floater

[etbadger]

Originally Posted by saline

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm under a time crunch right now, and a bit worried since I have uneven tire wear on the inboard side of my rear tire.
Did you have to specify different seals/bearings due to the larger diameter shaft?

Nope, no seals involved unless you pull the hubs off which isn't necessary if the donor axle is in good shape. The bearings are on the carrier and in the hubs, so the shafts don't interface them at all. There is a metal gasket on the interface between the axle-shaft and the hub for each side, but if it is in poor shape I believe a re-coating with gasket spray, or thin RTV would work in place (I had a hard time finding anyone selling them, and ended up not needing it anyway).

The axle we purchased had the same 4.1 ratio, so I re-used the gear-set from that axle so that I would not have to mess with setting the pinion depth/pre-load and all of that.

For shimming the carrier I found http://broncograveyard.com to offer the best price with shipping for getting a selection of shims and some spare hub-bearings and seals that I didn't end up needing, but may be nice to have on hand. I have given up on local shops, with NAPA being 2-3x the price of anyone else, and the other chains being staffed by folks that only know how to run a database, not anything real about working on vehicles.

-e

[carringb]

I use RTV on the axle shaft flange on my axle. No leaks. Been that way for about 150,000.


What I the diameter on the stock axle shaft? My axle shaft OD is only ~1/8" smaller than the ID on the spindle (I happened to do a bearing/rotor/pads job today on mine). I don't think I could fit larger axle shaft in my Dana 70.

[etbadger]

Originally Posted by carringb

I use RTV on the axle shaft flange on my axle. No leaks. Been that way for about 150,000.


What I the diameter on the stock axle shaft? My axle shaft OD is only ~1/8" smaller than the ID on the spindle (I happened to do a bearing/rotor/pads job today on mine). I don't think I could fit larger axle shaft in my Dana 70.

I believe the stock 60.1ff shaft is a 1.31" 32 spline (measured at about 1.32" max). The Van 60.1ffaxles use the same axle tubes and spindles as a D70, so they are already bored out to about 1.58" or so, allowing clearance for a 1.5" 35 spline (measured ours at max 1.53").

We went with the D60ff instead of a D70ff as we don't tow or do anything that should really be stressing the gears, and outboard of the pumpkin the 60.1 and 70 are the same as far as I can tell.

-e

[saline]

So I decided to jack the van up to check for any play or outward sign that the rear end was on its way out.
HOLY CRAP!

By putting a long cheater bar in a hole in the wheel I'm able to get at least 1/2" of play in the axle! I have video of it but can't figure out how to post it. (I can e-mail it to someone who can)
I'm a bit scared by the fact that I just got back from the San Rafael Swell and 160 miles of off pavement travel. Let alone having to drive 12 miles back home in the morning tomorrow.

So, a notice to everyone out there with a heavier build and a semi float axle, check it soon!
We have 52k miles on ours with a good amount of off road use.

[Ford_6L_E350]

See this thread for posting pictures:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110

Mike

[daveb]

Or this one for a video
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7013

[saline]

I ended up working with Chris from UJoint Off Road to find a full floater. Chris has been very helpful and was able to locate an axle and will be shipping it later this week.

[pjpvi]

HOLY CRAP!

Funny, that was my expression as well when I discovered the same thing.

Are you going D60 or D70? Same width or one of the wider axles? Just curious.

Phil

[ANZAC]

Originally Posted by pjpvi

Funny, that was my expression as well when I discovered the same thing.

Are you going D60 or D70? Same width or one of the wider axles? Just curious.

Phil

What width are stock vs wider? Does it mean you don't need wheel spacers?

Are all of these 8 x 6.5" PCD hubs?

If I have a D60 SF 3.73 tracloc and want to go either D60FF or D70FF what exactly do I need? I would assume I wouldn't see a 3.73 in a FF (more 4.1s?) so I would need to swap my center? Would I also need the 1.5" axles?

[vandiesel]

I was just at van specialties and one of the guys said he saw a truck world episode that had a company that had a kit to convert the semi floater to full floater. Has anyone seen such a kit? Sounded pretty cool

Brad