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14 bff mini spool issue

Monster512

Monster512

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Posted on here before debating on what to put in rear end and I opted for the Polyperformance mini spool. First trip out after about a half a day a wheelin rear end started clankin and slippin, I thought for sure I didnt trash a ring gear or pinion, so limped it back to camp. Got into rear end and the "spider bolts" in the mini spool had all slipped out, The way the carrier is with the troughs for the bolts to fit in allowed them to slide all the way out but not fall into the housing. All four bolts came out, out on trail if I would roll backward one of the bolts would slip back into spool housing and lock me back up so I could go. I guess the bolts are just pressed into housing. You cant really "trail" weld the bolts back into the spool because of the way the 14B carrier fits together around it. So ended up welding my spider gears up (luckily I brought em with me) and kept on truckin.
Not saying anything is wrong with Polyperformance, I contacted them and sent them pics and Dave with consumer service said he wll take care of me. what that means I am not sure yet. I know there are some one piece mini spools out there but just giving you a heads up on this brand.

spool pins out.JPG
 
I think I rember seeing this problem over on Pirate too. I'm not sure if it was a Polyperformance product or not though. Good to see that you got out without trashing the R&P.
 
A fix for that would be to cross drill and install roll pins so the "spider bolts" can't come out.
 
buy an OEM (Ouverson Engineering and Machine) 198.00 dollars solid chromoly steel. i put one in my old rig with a v8, 44s and a stick and raped it for all it was worth for a few years............never even faltered once. im runnin front and rear OEM spools in my rockwells now with 49s, its the ****. they stand by everything they sell 100%. OEM for life.
 
Allready welded the spiders up, just gonna go with that. That Poly spool was 210.00 delivered. There are ways of fixing it with the roll pins, grooving the housing with a grinder and welding pins in, or putting a bead on the carrier valleys that the pins fit into so they use the bead as a STOP. I was out on a trail ride and had limited resources and wanted to get back to wheeling, so didnt spend a bunch of time on the issue, just welded up my spider gears that I luckily brought with me and kept on going. I havent ever heard anything bad about the chromoly one piece mini spools, guess I should of shopped a lil harder.
 
Guess that's a $200 lesson learned. I still don't understand why anybody would spend that much money for a mini-spool in a 14FF when you could weld the spiders up for $10 in welding wire.
 
i was gnna weld mine but i have some buds that are always welding breaking and rewelding diffs and i dnt want to haft a worry about it. piece of mind i guess.
 
2.5chevy said:
i was gnna weld mine but i have some buds that are always welding breaking and rewelding diffs and i dnt want to haft a worry about it. piece of mind i guess.
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Anyone that breaks a welded diff did a horrible job of welding it up and they're lucky it didn't take the ring and pinion with it.
 
2.5chevy said:
i was gnna weld mine but i have some buds that are always welding breaking and rewelding diffs and i dnt want to haft a worry about it. piece of mind i guess.
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It sounds like "your buds" need to learn how to weld up a diff.
 
one of em is runnin rockwells and the other who was having most of the problems was running a 14 bolt.

your probobly right they didnt do a good job. hes a pretty good welder but i dont think he had alot of experience on spiders. hes pretty abusive so im sure if it werent done right it would show. he runnin 44s stick shift and 468 BB.

i wouldnt have welded mine anyway, even though i can weld as well as anyone ive run across. 200 bucks isnt alot of dough to never hafta worry bout it again IMO. the spools are stronger than any welding job, plus Randy offers a lifetime warranty so you really cant lose.
 
It's your choice and your money. I don't have anything against a good minispool except not wanting to spend $200.

I do have to disagree about the comment "never have to worry about it again" for a spool, as I will say the same for my welded diff.

Back to the guys breaking them, you mention they had to reweld them.....well, if they broke where you only had to go in an reweld it then it simply wasn't welded enough to begin with. I'm quite positive if the weld ever broke on my 14-bolt the entire case and gear set would probably explode and there would be no simple rewelding it.
 
im not sure what the exact circumstances were involved when the "rewelding " took place. i was just told that he had to weld it again. the guy owns a junkyard so maybe abother set of spiders was used. but i will say whatever he did this time has seemed to hold up rather well to date! so hes happy with it!

and anyone who tries to champion the welded diff over a spool is mistaken. sorry. a welded diff will never be as strong as a spool. im no expert in metalergy but i think its universally excepted that a billet piece is stronger than some spider gears cobbled together with a welder.

now that bein said, im in no way disrespecting anyone who has welded a diff as i have done the same in the past. if the solution is strong enough to fix the problem then its the right one, in any situation. i have seen many welded diffs break in the past and for me this is unacceptable cus a busted carrier/spider gears is not something i want to fix on the trail.......... ever.

i guess its all relative to the tire size, type of wheeling, drivetrain, budget, and the weight of ones right foot as to what what corners one is willing to cut. i have built and rigged A BUNCH of stuff on my truck cus my pockets aint deep by any means, but when it came time to lock up i just wasnt willing to take that chance.
 
2.5chevy said:
and anyone who tries to champion the welded diff over a spool is mistaken. sorry. a welded diff will never be as strong as a spool. im no expert in metalergy but i think its universally excepted that a billet piece is stronger than some spider gears cobbled together with a welder.

i guess its all relative to the tire size, type of wheeling, drivetrain, budget, and the weight of ones right foot as to what what corners one is willing to cut. i have built and rigged A BUNCH of stuff on my truck cus my pockets aint deep by any means, but when it came time to lock up i just wasnt willing to take that chance.
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I won't disagree with the comment of a billet spool being stronger for a 14FF or equivalent size axle (I don't doubt you would see a lot of welded 10-bolts fail in a fullsize truck, but you see them fail a lot whether welded or not), but I personally think it's a moot point........a properly welded 14FF is far from the weak link in any reasonable system and basically indestructible. I think of it this way, you can have $100 straight up, or you walk through a bed of smoldering coals barefooted for $110...........would you do that for an extra $10?

But again, that is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions......... I have absolutely no issue with somebody dropping $200 on a part if in their opinion it's better (of course I know a guy who spent $15,000 on a set of Dana 60's that are stock width and have spools because they are "that much better" than spending a fraction of that rebuilding junkyard axles.......)
 
lol! i know what ya mean. a weak axle is a weak axle welded or not.

15k on dana 60s WTF!

must be nice to have that kinda flow, but you know what they say, "A fool and his money are soon parted" lol
 
If you got Dyna-Trac Pro-roc 60s with 35 spline outers they would run close to $8000 a piece. I had a quote one time from them and it was right around there.

Dik
 
damn! 8k each! thats nuts man!

what lockers came with those things?

i mean theres no way those things are as strong as a stock rockwell! why would anybody pay that much?

well i guess if i was wealthy individual who wanted the "best" of everything and the cost wasnt an issue, why not?

some of these buggies i see on the trail in the south east are good examples, 80k to build em! yikes! maybe they will buy a mini spool! LOL
 
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