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Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

paradisepwoffrd

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Hickory, NC
I know many of you will think this is crazy, but just humor me for the sake of discussion and possible tech.

Has anyone ever put unit bearings on a kingpin dana 60 knuckle?

I'm thinking something like superduty bearing assembly on a Ford or Chevy knuckle.

I know that you can use the balljoint knuckle.

I have a 609 front axle with ford kingpin knuckles that is converted to 5 lug. Currently have a semi float 9" rear. Have been thinking about converting the rear to full float using unit bearings, and thought if I could convert the front too I could carry 1 spare.

Haven't measured anything, but thought an adapter wouldn't be too hard to make.
 
Where you been...

http://www.reidracing.biz/off-road-products/super-kingpin

Certainly not cheap, and, I realize you meant to adapt a spindle knuckle to unit bearing.

Matt
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

mcutler said:
Where you been...

http://www.reidracing.biz/off-road-products/super-kingpin

Certainly not cheap, and, I realize you meant to adapt a spindle knuckle to unit bearing.

Matt
I've seen that, but that doesn't work on standard inner Cs, from what I've seen. I would go balljoint if replacing inners too on this housing.

I know that most prefer to get rid of unit bearings, but I think they offer alot of options for flexibility and are plenty strong for trail rigs.
 
I'm only looking at CAD files but the ID of the dana 60 knuckle and the OD on the Unit Bearing are the same so you could just redrill it for the Unit Bearing bolt pattern. Only thing that I see that might be a problem is the Unit Bearing will stick in past the mounting flange about 3/4" so there might be interference with the axle but I bet you would be fine.
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

JDodd said:
I'm only looking at CAD files but the ID of the dana 60 knuckle and the OD on the Unit Bearing are the same so you could just redrill it for the Unit Bearing bolt pattern. Only thing that I see that might be a problem is the Unit Bearing will stick in past the mounting flange about 3/4" so there might be interference with the axle but I bet you would be fine.
Cool. I figured you would need an adapter/spacer to get the length correct for a sub shaft.

Anyone know the length difference between a unit bearing stub (superduty) and ford/chevy?
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

paradisepwoffrd said:
Cool. I figured you would need an adapter/spacer to get the length correct for a sub shaft.

Anyone know the length difference between a unit bearing stub (superduty) and ford/chevy?

Dana60_Front_Axle_shafts_Mr.N_.gif
 
Thinking about this more, brakes may become an issue.

Just to figure out what you are working with what is your:
Current spindle: (5 bolt Ford or 6 bolt Chevy)
Brake setup: (Ford or Chevy caliper)
Length of shafts: (if you're wanting to keep the existing ones)

If you're really wanting to do this I can design what you need and try to reuse all your stock components.
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

JDodd said:
Thinking about this more, brakes may become an issue.

Just to figure out what you are working with what is your:
Current spindle: (5 bolt Ford or 6 bolt Chevy)
Brake setup: (Ford or Chevy caliper)
Length of shafts: (if you're wanting to keep the existing ones)

If you're really wanting to do this I can design what you need and try to reuse all your stock components.
I was thinking you might could incorporate the caliper bracket with adapter.

I am currently running ford outers and spindles, but am open to changing stubs. Was thinking SD stubs would be cool to goto slug-less.

It's currently just an idea for me, so unless you're just curious and like doing CAD.
 
Re: Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

paradisepwoffrd said:
I was thinking you might could incorporate the caliper bracket with adapter.

I am currently running ford outers and spindles, but am open to changing stubs. Was thinking SD stubs would be cool to goto slug-less.

It's currently just an idea for me, so unless you're just curious and like doing CAD.
Unless you are going to run the Spidertrax Ultimate bearings and their stub shafts (which are 99-04 style bearings) then you'll still need drive slugs
 
This would be pretty simple and I figured that I could help you out, I use CAD every day so if you had the dimensions it would take me 30 minutes to model it.

The easiest and cheapest way would be to use 2 spacers, one between the knuckle and the caliper mount and a second between the caliper mount and unit bearing. You could use these spacers as an adapter and could get by without having to redrill the knuckle.

If you wanted to spend the money you could get a one piece adapter made with the brake mount machined out of it. This would be the best option but it would probably cost you between $300-400
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

JDodd said:
This would be pretty simple and I figured that I could help you out, I use CAD every day so if you had the dimensions it would take me 30 minutes to model it.

The easiest and cheapest way would be to use 2 spacers, one between the knuckle and the caliper mount and a second between the caliper mount and unit bearing. You could use these spacers as an adapter and could get by without having to redrill the knuckle.

If you wanted to spend the money you could get a one piece adapter made with the brake mount machined out of it. This would be the best option but it would probably cost you between $300-400
Thanks for the offer. I will seed if I can get some dimensions if no one else has any. I don't have a unit bearing to measure, but maybe I can find something.
 
i dont know the technical specs about the difference in length , although I have both sitting here so maybe I can sometime. If you were going to do all this and make an adapter etc, I would ditch the big heavy d60 brake calipers and adapt it to the 3/4 ton chevy setup. Saves a lot of weight, easier to package, etc
 
This has caught my eye as I am going to start some ford 9s with the spidertrax steering components. Will end up running unit bearings to accept the 35 spline shafts but I haven't found anything to do something different with brakes (not wanting to spend the money on wilwood and spidertrax brakes) to keep my 15" wheel? I'm guessing I could maybe machine a 1/2 ton rotor to fit on the unit bearing of 6x5.5 but I haven't found any one that has done this yet?
 
simpletoy said:
This has caught my eye as I am going to start some ford 9s with the spidertrax steering components. Will end up running unit bearings to accept the 35 spline shafts but I haven't found anything to do something different with brakes (not wanting to spend the money on wilwood and spidertrax brakes) to keep my 15" wheel? I'm guessing I could maybe machine a 1/2 ton rotor to fit on the unit bearing of 6x5.5 but I haven't found any one that has done this yet?

I don't think you'd have to machine the rotor at all if you have 6 lug bearings. Usually the bearings are machined to accept the hub pilot of the rotors.
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

simpletoy said:
This has caught my eye as I am going to start some ford 9s with the spidertrax steering components. Will end up running unit bearings to accept the 35 spline shafts but I haven't found anything to do something different with brakes (not wanting to spend the money on wilwood and spidertrax brakes) to keep my 15" wheel? I'm guessing I could maybe machine a 1/2 ton rotor to fit on the unit bearing of 6x5.5 but I haven't found any one that has done this yet?
It's likely that there's a rotor that will fit over it. Try looking into newer toyota/chevy stuff. You could always run a wilwood/speedway rotor with a stock style caliper.
pennsylvaniaboy said:
i dont know the technical specs about the difference in length , although I have both sitting here so maybe I can sometime. If you were going to do all this and make an adapter etc, I would ditch the big heavy d60 brake calipers and adapt it to the 3/4 ton chevy setup. Saves a lot of weight, easier to package, etc
The dimension you really need is spindle/bearing mounting surface to drive slug face. Although I believe the stub length tells much of this.
Also be good to understand the kingpin centerline to mounting face distance. I suspect it's the same or similar given the yokes should be about the same.

Lighter brakes are a must for me. I feel toyota stuff would be awesome, but haven't found a rotor that works with it, and not 6 lug.
 
paradisepwoffrd said:
It's likely that there's a rotor that will fit over it. Try looking into newer toyota/chevy stuff. You could always run a wilwood/speedway rotor with a stock style caliper.


Ahh nice info thank you sir I found some speedway rotors that would most likely work. Now to pull the trigger and start ordering parts


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Re: Unit Bearing on kingpin knuckle

paradisepwoffrd said:
It's likely that there's a rotor that will fit over it. Try looking into newer toyota/chevy stuff. You could always run a wilwood/speedway rotor with a stock style caliper.The dimension you really need is spindle/bearing mounting surface to drive slug face. Although I believe the stub length tells much of this.
Also be good to understand the kingpin centerline to mounting face distance. I suspect it's the same or similar given the yokes should be about the same.

Lighter brakes are a must for me. I feel toyota stuff would be awesome, but haven't found a rotor that works with it, and not 6 lug.
[/quote

What about CAddy limo rotor and toyota calipers..

post 565 and on here and there in this thread
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/2251770-8-ball-23.html

some more info as well

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/2383777-lightest-full-floating-spindle-hub-brake-setup-2.html
 
To bump this up from the dead.

I did some CAD work, but didn't get much farther than that. Big thanks to Ross @Hudson1 for being willing to 3D print the parts for me to try.

Biggest challenge from what i recall was fitting a stub and brakes. The 99-04 bearings would be easier to use, and could likely work by redrilling the knuckle and using the SD stubs. I havent messed with brakes, but honestly think that would be easy once the rest is solved.

I was running under the assumption of being able to use the stub shaft for the kingpin axle, and using factory length components so that spares are easy/cheaper. The 05+ stub is the one I wanted, but couldnt find the dimensions or drawing of one to try. Also, not sure how much value the 05+ stub is without the 1550 ujoint. I believe it would require machining of the knuckle, making them weaker, and wouldnt leave much options for brakes. If someone can get me the dimensions, or has a shaft they are willing to send me, I would be glad to give it another round.

The 05+ SD hub is the preferred, but the larger pattern and shallower hub depth makes a larger adapter, and much wider WMS.

Here are some pics:

This 1st set was what i ended with, to keep the WMS more narrow, but requires a custom slug or stub also.

Click image for larger version  Name:    1.jpg Views:    0 Size:    144.8 KB ID:    83969
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

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Click image for larger version  Name:    1 (1).jpg Views:    0 Size:    77.4 KB ID:    83968

Here is the 1 version, that would didn't need the custom stub/slug: You can see how much longer it is.

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Here is the version for the 99-04:

Click image for larger version  Name:    1 (4).jpg Views:    0 Size:    21.6 KB ID:    83967

Not that most here would find it interesting, but I also drew up an adapter to bolt a 05+ bearing on the end of a 9" or any axle using a Set-20 bearing.




At the end of the day, the adapter would likely cost more to machine than anyone would want to pay. Pricing a blank to cut it from was more than i wanted to spend, before the lathe work. I think someone could make it multiple parts that weld together, for cheaper, I just haven't had the time to investigate. Once I knew the dimensions of the different components, the CAD work wasn't challenging.

Also, if you swap your kingpin axle to slip-on rotors, removing the hub as an assembly becomes almost as easy as a unit bearing.
 
Send me the drawings and I will print some more if you need it. You retain the the rights of course!! I don't mind helping someone out. Plastic is a hell of a lot cheaper than having them machined and find out a dimension is wrong. I can hold A lot better tolerances now than when I printed those for you.

If you have a lot of time, not in a hurry, and send me some beer, I can manually machine them for you as well.
 

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