14 bolt front build thread and tech help

tallnate said:

Yeah good point. I didn't even think about the fact that the diff cover on the 10.5 is different than the 11.5. I need to start searching for one of the big block van axles myself.

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patooyee said:

Almost a shame to be making that a front instead of a rear. How much did you pay for it, BTW?

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Yea, I thought the same thing. Although they are so wide you'd want to cut them down to standard full width I would think. It would be pretty badass to slap on a set of the Weaver Fab floater cups and do a budget 40 spline rear with the unit bearings and just carry one bearing as a spare front or rear.

I gave $400 for it (updated my first post). Which was a steal compared to what I've seen them going for. I guess they are still so new, yards think they are gold. I got two more actually, I told a friend he had dibs but if he passes they will be for sale. $400 each. They are just the pumpkins. One has the R&P in it, the other does not.

Here's a picture of the cap from RCV and the seal that goes on the CV. The seal comes in the axle shaft kit, the cap does not. I had to go deep recon to get these.

That seal goes in the back of the knuckle. There's a special tool that you're supposed to use to pound it in. It is a vacuum seal for the factory vacuum hubs. I'm surprised that RCV sent it since most people I hear that are running drive flanges just go without it. If you ask RCV about it let us know the answer.

A stock axle shaft does not have that bolt in the end of it. I think your assumption about keeping the shaft snug against the cap is correct but don't know for a fact. You buy $4500 worth of RCV shafts that don't even come with caps? I think you need to call them back and get some clarity on that.

My UB's aren't on the trails yet but I was just going to get a short bolt to plug the ABS sensor holes.

patooyee said:

That seal goes in the back of the knuckle. There's a special tool that you're supposed to use to pound it in. It is a vacuum seal for the factory vacuum hubs. I'm surprised that RCV sent it since most people I hear that are running drive flanges just go without it. If you ask RCV about it let us know the answer.

A stock axle shaft does not have that bolt in the end of it. I think your assumption about keeping the shaft snug against the cap is correct but don't know for a fact. You buy $4500 worth of RCV shafts that don't even come with caps? I think you need to call them back and get some clarity on that.

My UB's aren't on the trails yet but I was just going to get a short bolt to plug the ABS sensor holes.

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So those last 3 pics are from a FB message between myself and Kraig at RCV. I don't actually have those parts in my hand yet. He said the seals are included but the caps are not. Retail on the CV/stub and inners is $3995 but I've been quoted well below that by a vendor on the board so it's not as bad as you might think. Although it would be nice to have the caps thrown in. I don't see how having that bolt hanging out in the open where it can grab a rock is a good idea but what do I know. How does it seal? Or does it matter if some crud gets past the cap or bolt. Never used UBs before so this is all new to me.

I've never held those RCV's in ym hand but I believe you will need to remove the snap ring and bearing in the UB in this pic:



There is a shoulder on the RCV stub shaft that takes its place. Since the stub no longer spins inside the bearing as it would in 2wd there is no longer a need for a bearing there, just something to keep the shaft from falling crooked in the bearing.

redneckengineered said:

So those last 3 pics are from a FB message between myself and Kraig at RCV. I don't actually have those parts in my hand yet. He said the seals are included but the caps are not. Retail on the CV/stub and inners is $3995 but I've been quoted well below that by a vendor on the board so it's not as bad as you might think. Although it would be nice to have the caps thrown in. I don't see how having that bolt hanging out in the open where it can grab a rock is a good idea but what do I know. How does it seal? Or does it matter if some crud gets past the cap or bolt. Never used UBs before so this is all new to me.

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After your remove that bearing in the UB, if dirt got in there it would only affect the shininess of the shaft and ultimately make it more difficult to get in and out. I guess if dirt got between the splines of the shaft and the UB it would prematurely wear them but I don't think it would be anything you would need to worry about for the next decade or so.

Ultimately, once you go drive flanges, you're just making a best effort to keep dirt out and accepting that some will eventually enter. There are no moving parts in that inner bore with the stub shaft.

redneckengineered said:

I don't see how having that bolt hanging out in the open where it can grab a rock is a good idea but what do I know. How does it seal?

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Valid point. But also you're used to having kingpin hubs. The UB's don't stick out quite as far as KP hubs do.

If you're really worried about it, replace that bolt with a button head cap screw.

Stock shafts have a snap ring further in on the stub shaft to hold it in place. That would be impossible with those RCV's because you couldn't get past the huge splines to get to the snap ring.

Great info! Thanks man.

I talked to Hudlow at Hudlow Axle and he said they redrill these UBs all the time so I'm going to swing by his shop this week and get that started. Reid says to use brakes from 2005-2012 Superduty. When looking at options is there any difference between the 250/350 stuff? I'm also guessing most are just redrilling the rotor at the same time they do the UB unless there's some crossover I don't know about for 8x6.5 rotors that are the same overall dimensions.

I'm also going to see if Steve is feeling creative and wants to try and adapt some smaller brakes to save weight but I'll probably end up just going with stock for simplicity unless we hit on something easy.

redneckengineered said:

Great info! Thanks man.

I talked to Hudlow at Hudlow Axle and he said they redrill these UBs all the time so I'm going to swing by his shop this week and get that started. Reid says to use brakes from 2005-2012 Superduty. When looking at options is there any difference between the 250/350 stuff? I'm also guessing most are just redrilling the rotor at the same time they do the UB unless there's some crossover I don't know about for 8x6.5 rotors that are the same overall dimensions.

I'm also going to see if Steve is feeling creative and wants to try and adapt some smaller brakes to save weight but I'll probably end up just going with stock for simplicity unless we hit on something easy.

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AFAIK there isn't a "standard" brake recipe yet. Everyone is kind of doing their own thing. Many want lighter brakes with smaller wheels so stock stuff is often scrapped.

I am not aware of any differences between 250 / 350 front brakes.

I'd go stock 250 brakes. Keep it cheap and simple. Great info and good looking start

bbone said:

I'd go stock 250 brakes. Keep it cheap and simple. Great info and good looking start

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I agree. Obviously weight isn't a concern with this build since you got the heaviest 14-bolt possible, heaviest knuckles, shafts, etc. ****, at this point you might as well just throw rockwells under it and be done!

The weaver fab covers have a nice big o-ring on them.

patooyee said:

I agree. Obviously weight isn't a concern with this build since you got the heaviest 14-bolt possible, heaviest knuckles, shafts, etc. ****, at this point you might as well just throw rockwells under it and be done!

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Boom!

I would be very interested in the weight of this axle when completed.

patooyee said:

I agree. Obviously weight isn't a concern with this build since you got the heaviest 14-bolt possible, heaviest knuckles, shafts, etc. ****, at this point you might as well just throw rockwells under it and be done!

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I just want to do hoodrat stuff with my friends

Beerj said:

The weaver fab covers have a nice big o-ring on them.

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Nice! I'm going to have to call on those. What is the aluminum puck thing? Can you get a picture of the front?

Eddyj said:

Boom!

I would be very interested in the weight of this axle when completed.

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Shouldn't be a problem, I have a shipping scale at my shop.

redneckengineered said:

Nice! I'm going to have to call on those. What is the aluminum puck thing? Can you get a picture of the front?

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The puck is just pressed in there. They come with the slug kits that use the factory shaft so they take up the space between the slug and cap. They were originally offering them in solid black or raw aluminum. I got the raw and did the anodizing myself.

Beerj said:

The puck is just pressed in there. They come with the slug kits that use the factory shaft so they take up the space between the slug and cap. They were originally offering them in solid black or raw aluminum. I got the raw and did the anodizing myself.

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I like it. I notice they don't have the hole for the bolt to screw into the shaft which makes sense since they are not necessarily designed for the RCV stub. I have an email in to them with some questions. Thanks

Factory brake options list a 340mm and 347mm rotor. I assume go with the smaller unless there's a good reason not to. It's still bigger than what I am running now on my front 60 which is 319mm.

redneckengineered said:

Factory brake options list a 340mm and 347mm rotor. I assume go with the smaller unless there's a good reason not to. It's still bigger than what I am running now on my front 60 which is 319mm.

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If your knuckles have the caliper mounting bosses cast into them (I assume they do) you'll need to figure out which dia. they are meant to fit and get that.

Got my big block RCV shafts ordered up. That's 40 spline inners, big bell w/stub, boots, and whatever else misc bullshit comes with it. Kit price was $3995 retail although I did not pay nearly that much. I got a great price through Skinny Pedal Racing (Mortalis5509). He worked with me for at least a week calling RCV and pricing various parts and answering questions. Hell even RCV isn't that familiar with this kit and several other vendors I talked to quoted the wrong **** all together. Tripp was great to work with and was the cheapest quote I received. RCV is going to ship everything but the inners, I wanted to have as much as possible in hand and since I won't know my inner lengths until the end, this seemed like a good option.