A guy brought up an interesting idea over on Pirate to use a planetary somewhere on a 14 bolt to get ratios lower than 5.13 or 5.38 if it's actually available.
Now, don't get me wrong, this wouldn't be a production piece due to cost and labor, but I gave it some thought and don't think it'd have to be all that wild.
The parameters would be:
#1. Uses the factory spindle and takes the place of the OE hub.
#2. Allows the use of factory drums or normal disc conversions.
#3. Bolts directly to the wheel with an 8 on 6.5" pattern.
#4. Uses a ratio that would match up commonly available 14 bolt gears to commonly available D60 gears.
#5. Fits inside a 15" rim.
Using an outboard planetary would take a lot of stress off the internals (not like a 14 bolt really needs it), add some width for those of you who don't like your truck being narrower in the back, and give you access to deeper gearsets than the third 14 bolt pinion support would traditionally allow.
A 1.43 or 1.44 gearset would turn 3.73's into 5.38's and 4.10's into 5.86's. A 1.49 or 1.5 gearset would turn 3.73's into 5.57's and 4.10's into 6.17's.
The same gearsets for D60's are cut for industrial use (noisy but strong) so the only real problem would be in the 60 shafts if a combo like this were set up. (I'm thinking of the additional torque multiplication from the gears)
Honestly, I'm off on a tangent here, and this is impractical considering you could just go D70, but I think I might take this into consideration for a CAD design project in the future. Although planetaries have been around forever, they're limited to huge applications and nobody has really ever made one for light duty stuff.
Now, don't get me wrong, this wouldn't be a production piece due to cost and labor, but I gave it some thought and don't think it'd have to be all that wild.
The parameters would be:
#1. Uses the factory spindle and takes the place of the OE hub.
#2. Allows the use of factory drums or normal disc conversions.
#3. Bolts directly to the wheel with an 8 on 6.5" pattern.
#4. Uses a ratio that would match up commonly available 14 bolt gears to commonly available D60 gears.
#5. Fits inside a 15" rim.
Using an outboard planetary would take a lot of stress off the internals (not like a 14 bolt really needs it), add some width for those of you who don't like your truck being narrower in the back, and give you access to deeper gearsets than the third 14 bolt pinion support would traditionally allow.
A 1.43 or 1.44 gearset would turn 3.73's into 5.38's and 4.10's into 5.86's. A 1.49 or 1.5 gearset would turn 3.73's into 5.57's and 4.10's into 6.17's.
The same gearsets for D60's are cut for industrial use (noisy but strong) so the only real problem would be in the 60 shafts if a combo like this were set up. (I'm thinking of the additional torque multiplication from the gears)
Honestly, I'm off on a tangent here, and this is impractical considering you could just go D70, but I think I might take this into consideration for a CAD design project in the future. Although planetaries have been around forever, they're limited to huge applications and nobody has really ever made one for light duty stuff.
