Rockwell Tech Thread

[Mad Max]

...alright - it's been covered in depth on Pirate and I'm not gonna rehash it all nor am I an expert (far from it), but thought it'd be helpful to have a general rockwell tech tech available, so here is one of the bigger threads for reference. I also haven't found a similar thread already in here, but if it is please delete this one. Meanwhile, I'll continue the love by adding some nuggets of info as I feel relevant, below -

Link's to rockwell question's and info...

Post something here and there and when you find new post put them here and we will keep the rockwell info alive and going... Shaving my rockwell today... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Experinced people on rockwell's needed...

www.pirate4x4.com

Rockwell Axle General Specifications:
Ring Gear Diameter: 10.25"
Ring Gear Bolts: 8
Axle Spline Count: 16
Axle Shaft Diameter: 1.56" / 1.62"
Axle Shaft Style: Full Float
Axle Shaft U-Joint: CP750N / 750N - "1750 u-joint"
Hubs: Greased (not oil bath), flipable in or out
Pinion Support: Yes
Pinion Adjustments: Shims
Pinion Flange: 1480 U-Joint
Gear Ratio: 6.72:1
Dropout Carrier: Top Loading
Bolt Pattern: 6 x 8.75"
A 1410 should be 4.187" cap to cap with a 1.188" cap diameter. Precision 330
part number. The 1480 should be 4.187" cap to cap with a 1.375" cap diameter
and is a Precision 351.

Rockwell Axle Dimensions and Weights:
Front WMS to WMS: 69.5" or 79.5"
Rear WMS to WMS: 69.5" or 79.5" flipped out
Front Axle Weight: 690 lbs. w/o brakes
Rear Axle Weight: 690 lbs. w/o brakes
Center Chunk Weight: 215 lbs. loaded
Center Chunk Height: 9.5" above axle tube

Rockwell Axle Shaft Styles:
U-Joint Axle Shafts: 3,600 lb. Static Load (Est.), 1750 series u-joint
Convel Joint Shafts: 4,300 lb. Static Load (Est.)
Rezepa Joint Shafts: 3,200 lb. Static Load (Est.)

Rockwell Axle Applications:
1951+ M35A2 2.5-Ton Trucks (Front and Rear)

General pics:

Typical front and rear axles from a '67 Kaiser M35 deuce n a half -

Cutaway pics of the internals -

****************

That said, I have rocks under my rig and I'm discovering good things for maintaining them, etc., and I wanted to help any others thinking of using (or already have) rockwells and 'keep the tech going' by adding a nice nugget of info for installing the inner hub/spindle seal without distorting/destroying them.

Rockwells aren't the newest nor most technologically advanced axles out there (...mine are 55 yrs old...), so any help getting things to 'seal up' is more than welcome. Neil at WCR makes these seal drivers, and I just used mine and I have to say there is likely no better way to install these tight bitches on the planet -

WCR 2.5-ton inner hub seal driver - 2.5 TON INNER HUB SEAL DRIVER

video -

Couple install pics on my axle -

...more to follow as I'm able, and feel free to add any other tasty bits of goodness.

Cheers,
- Sam

 

[chaplinfj60]

i love that cut away,

 

[Mad Max]

me too - I'm trying to get a high-quality file from Four Wheeler to make into a wall poster for the shop 👍

 

[Mad Max]

upgraded my bump stops, and found what appear to be a perfect TRE boot.

Found bump stops much better suited for this truck. The first try were simply 'big' Jeep bumps that really just checked the box but did not really work that great. Plus the rust has eroded the 'capture' between the rubber and steel base. I found these big 4-bolt uber bump stops from Energy Suspension, pn 90.6006G, for a medium duty truck (IOW - not listed for a 2.5-ton rockwell); the 'bolt pattern' for these is nearly if not actually identical to the rockwell u-bolt pattern up through the plates. To make things as simple as possible I ditched the 3/8" u-bolt plates and made my own from 1/2" plate with 'specific' 11/16 holes (vs the elongated 'fits all' holes in most u-bolt plates). I also wanted these to sit directly onto the u-bolt plate (not needing a separate landing pad) so I fabbed up 16 thick spacers from 11/16 id x 1-1/8 od DOM, and after hogging out the polyurethane everything bolted up nice and clean, and these will actually 'work' and won't 'kick out' the side and break off.

bottle of my favorite beer for reference -

old slightly warped 3/8" plates and new home-brewed 1/2" plates -

a fresh wood rotary rasp does a fantastic job of 'shaping polyurethane -

DOM insert/spacer/inserts in place -

3/16 steel strap capture both the DOM spacers and bump stops nicely -

...and since I'm sharing, here's my front setup with ProComp 13511s -

...and rears with ProComp 13711s -

I also sleeved my OR rockwell tie rod to help prevent it from kinking again -

...and one of the reasons for this post, while not listed for 2.5-ton rockwells, these polyurethane 13015G tie rod boots from Energy Suspension work perfectly 👍 -

Fits perfect -

 

[arse_sidewards]

Is there metal inserts in the bump stop or are the nuts just tightening down on the rubber?

 

[F***roads]

Is there metal inserts in the bump stop or are the nuts just tightening down on the rubber?

he made DOM spacers that go through the poly, so it doesn't crush it. just scrolling pictures?

 

[72blazer]

:like:



Glad the axle can run without gear oil, I got tired of having to refill them.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Links to anything P4x4 related should come with a 30 day ban.....

 

[Mad Max]

Glad the axle can run without gear oil, I got tired of having to refill them.

you mean the tilting both frontward and rearward to account for pinion angles? - I wondered about the same thing, but after talking with Neil at WCR he assured me that because...well in my case...because the pinion gear is 'downhill' at both ends I'm as good to go as possible but not to go any steeper. Also, this truck routinely does 60 mph to/from the trails and I specifically run Lucas "sticky" oil (85/140), so I'm relying on the crown gear speed to sling oil 'everywhere' including the uphill bearing(s), which hopefully lubes the bearings well enough to make up for the super slow speed trail time.

One of the less desirable aspects to my particular setup - specifically having bolted up the front end backwards from OE, my front pinion powers the coast side of the ring gear. But I wanted the pinion gear on the downhill side, and with just 46" tires and moderate power my setup should be ok. I've wanted to pull the top cover to 'have a look' but haven't got that far, but no issues so far after almost 2000 miles 👍

 

[Mad Max]

Links to anything P4x4 related should come with a 30 day ban.....

...hey some of the info is still valid...

 

[arse_sidewards]

he made DOM spacers that go through the poly, so it doesn't crush it. just scrolling pictures?

I thought that was just where they molded the rubber to be the right height for some bolt or something.

 

[Mad Max]

I thought that was just where they molded the rubber to be the right height for some bolt or something.

yah I don't know what OE application is but the original sleeves were real thin - presumably intended to bolt the bump to a plate other than the main u-bolt plate and no way they would withstand the u-bolt pressure - no bueno. So yah I hogged out the poly to fit the big honkin' spacers. We're heading to a big event next week and I'll report back on how well these withstand the pounding they're about to get

These are the original bumps -

https://teamenergysuspension.com/product/energy-suspenion-90-6006g-bump-stop-4-bolt/

 

[Clastic]

Sam what did you end up doing for disk brakes on that Axle? Can't remember the OG thread from RCC

 

[Tech Tim]

Dang, people are still building these?




These going under the Dodge in your Avatar?

 

[06h3]

Dang, people are still building these?


I thought all the cool kids that wanted Rockwell’s went to axletech’s nowadays

And while still probably not as strong people in need of more then a Dana 60 do 14 bolt or 80 fronts with 40-47 spline

 

[Tech Tim]

Dang, people are still building these?




I thought all the cool kids that wanted Rockwell’s went to axletech’s nowadays

And while still probably not as strong people in need of more then a Dana 60 do 14 bolt or 80 fronts with 40-47 spline

 

[06h3]

Sorry, I didn’t mean to post in the quote, sometimes the quote feature does wonky things on my phone