Ford 9” front

[WildWillys]

I’m new here. I’m looking for info on who makes a decent front ford 9” axle housing. I have some 31 spline hi9s left over from an old portal buggy and want to put one in the front of my LJ. I know Currie will make a housing. I found Western Differentials, and they have some decent looking options. Anyone have any experience with front 9” housings, good or bad? Also want to go to ~65” wms and older Dana 44 inner C’s to cheaply run locking hubs for flat towing reasons. Currently on 35s and will move to 37s once these wear out. Not interested in 1tons for this jeep. I want this to remain my daily. I have other wheelers for beating on.

 

[macleanflood]

Are SpiderTrax axles Ford 9s?

-Mac

 

[k1n3k]

building a 609 hybrid makes a lot more sense than using dana 44 parts.

 

[WildWillys]

Yes. Bare housings only I believe though. Spidertrax style Cs/knuckles uniballs haven’t held up for me in street applications in the past.

I’m looking to buy a housing with old style Dana 44 Cs, 31 spline inner shafts, and tj brackets ready to bolt in. Wish I had the time to build one. It’s probably cheaper and close in price to buy a package, not to mention quicker. I have a pair of 31 spline HI 9’s thirds left over to use.

I thought about doing 60 outers, but not sure it makes sense with being limited to 31 spline inner shafts. I’m not concerned with knuckle/ball joint strength.

 

[mrblaine]

Yes. Bare housings only I believe though. Spidertrax style Cs/knuckles uniballs haven’t held up for me in street applications in the past.

I’m looking to buy a housing with old style Dana 44 Cs, 31 spline inner shafts, and tj brackets ready to bolt in. Wish I had the time to build one. It’s probably cheaper and close in price to buy a package, not to mention quicker. I have a pair of 31 spline HI 9’s thirds left over to use.

I thought about doing 60 outers, but not sure it makes sense with being limited to 31 spline inner shafts. I’m not concerned with knuckle/ball joint strength.

What differential is in the Hi-9 third? Or better, what locker is being used?

 

[WildWillys]

What differential is in the Hi-9 third? Or better, what locker is being used?

True HI9. It’s a high pinion 9”. Similar to gear works high pinion. Same gears can be used.
31 spline arb. Carrier bearings are too small to go to a 35 spline locker.

 

[mrblaine]

True HI9. It’s a high pinion 9”. Similar to gear works high pinion. Same gears can be used.
31 spline arb. Carrier bearings are too small to go to a 35 spline locker.

View attachment 706798

I know what a Tru HI-9 is. ARB makes a 30, 33, and 35 spline option for the TJ Dana 44. Is that possible with this locker?

 

[WildWillys]

I know what a Tru HI-9 is. ARB makes a 30, 33, and 35 spline option for the TJ Dana 44. Is that possible with this locker?

I wish it was. 35spline uses larger ID/OD carrier bearings and won’t fit the 3rd member housing I have.

 

[WildWillys]

Problem solved. Sold the thirds. I’ll build a 35 spline front end. Know to decide on kingpin vs balljoint knuckles…37s or 40s…

 

[mrblaine]

Problem solved. Sold the thirds. I’ll build a 35 spline front end. Know to decide on kingpin vs balljoint knuckles…37s or 40s…

Don't let the internet confuse you. Modern ball joints are just fine in the larger stuff. I've run the Spicer versions in the 99-04 SD knuckles over the trails in JV through 4 sets of sticky 40's without a single hint of an issue.

 

[WildWillys]

I been collecting axle parts for another buggy, but I’m over trailering everywhere. So, I’ll be building H1 portal/9” axles for the LJ. A windshield, ac/heat and a 3rd seat are kinda of a requirement nowadays… 9” diffs flipped. 2.75 gears, 35 spline ARBs. CTIS equipped, but not sure if I want to deal with the potential issues. 37 or 38” tires. Got a bunch of parts from JHF to make it easy to put together. Won’t have time to get any real progress until fall hits, but I’ll have the axles built soon. Hopefully there’s enough driver side axle tube to keep coils springs in the front.

 

[WildWillys]

I’ll be selling the axles under it once they’re pulled in a few months.

Front XJ HP Dana 30. 4.88, 30 spline ARB, revolution inners, USA made Foote outers, CTM joints. Sleeved tubes, Braced brackets and knuckles.

Dana 44 rear. 4.88, 30 spline ARB,
revolution shafts.

Maybe the wheel and tires also.

Currie front steering and track bar.
Metal cloak aluminum control arms,
jKS rear track bar.

What’s a realistic selling price?

 

[WildWillys]

Don't let the internet confuse you. Modern ball joints are just fine in the larger stuff. I've run the Spicer versions in the 99-04 SD knuckles over the trails in JV through 4 sets of sticky 40's without a single hint of an issue.

I agree. But I’ve broken 2002 SD ball joints and stock kingpin inner C’s/knuckles at JV on 40/42s. Never broke a Reid inner C or Solid knuckle. I also don’t wheel like I use too though… I used to run JV every new years, thanksgiving and 2-3 other trips a year from 2005-2020ish. I miss that place. Especially before it got popular. Cant stand the traffic and crowds KOH brought.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I been collecting axle parts for another buggy, but I’m over trailering everywhere. So, I’ll be building H1 portal/9” axles for the LJ. A windshield, ac/heat and a 3rd seat are kinda of a requirement nowadays… 9” diffs flipped. 2.75 gears, 35 spline ARBs. CTIS equipped, but not sure if I want to deal with the potential issues. 37 or 38” tires. Got a bunch of parts from JHF to make it easy to put together. Won’t have time to get any real progress until fall hits, but I’ll have the axles built soon. Hopefully there’s enough driver side axle tube to keep coils springs in the front.
View attachment 708454View attachment 708456

That's a cool project. It will be interesting to watch you build it.

 

[mrblaine]

I been collecting axle parts for another buggy, but I’m over trailering everywhere. So, I’ll be building H1 portal/9” axles for the LJ. A windshield, ac/heat and a 3rd seat are kinda of a requirement nowadays… 9” diffs flipped. 2.75 gears, 35 spline ARBs.

I know next to nothing about portals but I'm guessing the diffs are flipped because the portals reverse tire rotation due to gear arrangement? With 2.75 in the diffs, obviously some reduction in the portals. I sort of understand that due to some of that, you don't need nearly as much strength in the shafts.

The rest of what I have gathered is lots of difficulty getting a wheel to have enough backspacing to steer tolerably and typical suspension geometries get overly stressed due to the increased leverage when you mount links at axle tube heights. I got to spend some time around Clifton's portal buggy over at CTM and he had links mounted to the lower portion of the portal gear box.

Hopefully there’s enough driver side axle tube to keep coils springs in the front.

Same problem the 05 up SD axles have, good luck.

 

[mrblaine]

I agree. But I’ve broken 2002 SD ball joints and stock kingpin inner C’s/knuckles at JV on 40/42s. Never broke a Reid inner C or Solid knuckle. I also don’t wheel like I use too though… I used to run JV every new years, thanksgiving and 2-3 other trips a year from 2005-2020ish. I miss that place. Especially before it got popular. Cant stand the traffic and crowds KOH brought.

We wheeled the week of Thanksgiving starting the Saturday before until the Saturday after. We never ran into any traffic on the trails until the day after Thanksgiving. Our experience matches yours. We had to move camp several times due to large groups of fuckwits camping right on top of us. We went to wheel, they went to party. I got nothing against anyone partying but could you at least go do it over there and not right on top of us? If it wasn't partying until the wee hours, then it was 6 or 7 little fuck trophys on miniature 2 stroke dirt bikes running the same 50 yard circle course next to our camp 24 hours a day.

Dave's efforts were instrumental in saving JV but I'm not quite sure the juice is worth the squeeze. We still lost what we valued most.

 

[WildWillys]

Scrub isn’t as much as an issue as you’d think. Especially with 5-6” backspaced wheels. Lots of aftermarket wheels are available with correct backspacing now. Your typical rig with offset wheels/spacers is worse. Slightly more link separation and dropping the lower mounts more than normal in my experience helps. Otherwise the joints just wear faster and risk upper link mount failure. I’ve seen 3.5” 1/4 wall tubes tear at link mounts. 3/8” tube seems to have cured that. Toyota diffs and 30 spline shafts live in comp buggies with water filled 42s, but the available ratios won’t work for my use. 1.92 reduction at the hub helps with taking the load off the diff, joints and shafts, but your stuck with using diffs that have sub 3:1 gears for street use. 9” is the easiest route. Pinion height will be an issue in the front. 31 spline shafts are more than adequate but limit strength upgrades and ratio options later down the road, which all have 35spline input gears vs stock 32 spline.
I may have been one of the partiers, but we were on the trails all night/early morning. We always had issues with others camping close to us and riding their mini quads/dirtbikes in a circle all day creating a mini dust storm… why camp on top of us and do that shit…Ive been to KOH 3 times to help friends race, to many dumb dumbs for me that don’t know how to behave. Then certain times of the year, the bee invasion makes camping miserable. Almost forgot about that. The wild flower bloom is beautiful out there though.

 

[WildWillys]

Same problem the 05 up SD axles have, good luck.

I’m going to need it. Clearances are going to be tight on the driver side.