609 Axle Buildup

[BroncoMarc]

There's not enough talk of 609 axles on here. I'm starting a buildup and have lots of Q's.

My goals are: Use kingpins, cheby/dodge kunckles, aftermarket housing, a lot of stock parts to keep it cheap and replaceable, 5 x 5.5, 15" wheels without grinding calipers. I just bought a 92 Dodge kingpin Dana 60, so I've got a lot of the stock parts now.


What options do I have for housings? So far I have found:
Spidertrax http://www.spidertrax.com/
Diamond axles http://www.diamondaxle.com/
Who else makes them?

I planned on using stock inner C's to keep it cheap, but I've found that most of the aftermarket housings use 3" tubes and the stock inner C's are for 3.125" tubes. Is there a way to mate these or am I better just to spend the extra money and buy something like dedenbear that's made for 3" tubes? Anyone sell housings set up with C's to my specs? Yea, I know Chuck sells them, but I'm looking for more beef to the housing and cheaper.

I'm going to redrill my stock hubs to 5 x 5.5". I'm still looking for some caliper brackets to use 1/2 ton brake parts to stuff it in a 15" wheel. The only thing I've found so far is ebay auction 120210377285. Looks like what I need. Are there other sources for these brackets? Would this use the same caliper and rotor as the normal D44 cheby disc brake conversion that we do?

That's all I can think of now. I'll post more Q's as I think of them!

 

[ctowery]

These guys should be on your list..http://www.westerndiff.com/cust9.html

Cary

 

[Gummi Bear]

Look at Tube Works as well (*super bling*), and of course Currie.

You may call Sunray, I'm not sure what their status is anymore on building axles. They're under new management, the previous owner wanted to retire.

The Dodge stuff is OK, but you may find some challenges in finding a few parts to go along with them from what I've seen.

I'm a big fan of the Dedenbear stuff, it's hella stout, and they're super nice folks (talk to Geoff @ Reid Racing, Dedenbear's distributor)

The fella that runs Crane is also very nice, I've talked to him a few times, and their stuff is top notch as well.

About setting up your axle, I think that Spidertrax will, Diamond probably will too. I've no idea about the others.

 

[BroncoMarc]

I'm sticking with the Spidertrax style housing. I want something that would hold up to stuff like tough truck jumps. Looks like Sunray has their own version, so I'll add them to my list. Tubeworks looks good, but not much info on their web site.

I'm probably going to go with Dedenbear ends to make it easy. Probably cost just as much to have the machining done to get the stock C's to mate up.

What about the brake setup? What are my options? Should be the same for Dana 60's.

From everything I've read the dodge parts are the same as cheby. They're the more desired parts.

Is this not a common setup? I thought there would have been lots of people out there that have done this.

 

[Gummi Bear]

Discussion on how to fit 15" wheels from Billavista's Dana 60 Bible:

http://pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/60_front/index2.html

About halfway down the page.

Now whether the Dodge and Chevy stuff mix, I don't know. I've never torn down a Dodge, or held one next to a Chevy to compare it. Mostly I've fiddled with the Ford.

Let me know, that'd be a nice little tidbit of info to have.

As far as bang-for-the-buck goes, I think the Spidertrax is definitely the way to go.

Get in touch with NeverSatisfied here, and ask him about his, he even managed to put the steering ram behind the axle, so it's out of the way. Very slick setup.

 

[XT700]

Not a lot of discussion here but over at Pirate 4X4 there has been quite a few threads.

 

[Tito]

These guys should be on your list..http://www.westerndiff.com/cust9.html

Cary

Looks like some decent prices. Thanks for the links!

 

[mr.n]

Are there other sources for these brackets?

I've a set, but only using them to copy as they are due back...
I'll see what my machinist wants for a set.

 

[bludorbronc]

I used A Dana 70 out of a trencher, it had 3.55 tube size ,no brakes and used chevy or dodge knuckles on out.I ground the c's off the tubes and cut them to the thickness of a Dana 44 c for correct spacing of radius arm mounts. I had to turn down the outside diameter of the hub to fit into the 5 on 5.5 wheel. I had the 8 wheel bolt holes welded shut and redrilled the 5 bolt holes,you must be careful because a few of the bolt holes interact with some of the 8. To make the brakes I used f150 rotors ,gm calipers and for caliper mounts I had rings made that fit the spindle and drilled holes that lined up with the spindle bolt holes and then I cut the center out of a stock chevy dana44 caliper mount, then I layed the 44 caliper mount on the knuckle and then I bolted the spindle to the ring to the knuckle, mounted the hub and rotor onto the spindle, With everything bolted together I mounted the gm caliper over the rotor and onto the caliper mount and applied air to tighten caliper on rotor that way aligning both ring and caliper mount and tacked them together and then disassembled everything and welded the brake bracket together. And I had to get the radius arm bushing mounts turned out to fit the tube diameter. So with Dana70 ARB,35 spline axles,5.13 gears, disc brakes and Warn lock outs I'm all set to have fun. I would think you could have your c's bored to the correct diameter cheaper the buying new ones by leaving the tube welded in and bore out using the remaining tube for the shim and weld it all together.