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shave or locker?

gonefishin

gonefishin

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i am bulding a 14bff and i am trying to decide wether to shave it or put a locker not enough cash for both if i shave it i can weld my spider gears and later when i get the money put a detroit it would be easy with it still in truck but i would have to pull it back out to shave it

will this wear my tires out too quick? i don't drive too much on the street to and from trails and every once and a while to work

any thoughts? i have to get this done kinda quick cause my brakes are wore out and axle seal starting to leak on my 10 bolt and dont wanna spend money on it just to change it out
 
All you are going to get are personal preferences based on personal experiences that may or may not apply to you. because you didnt give enough info. Once you give us all the info the answer will probably be pretty obvious.

1.What is the vehicles primary use?

2.What kind of wheeling do you do?

IMO its a hell of alot easier to do a shave than a detroit locker with the axle under the truck, But if you dont plan to do the locker yourself then it doesnt really matter. A spool is not like a detroit and it will wreck your tires in short order.
 
i mostly wheel in the mud i haven't got it dependable enough yet to venture far enough to find some rocks but i really want to i love crawling over stuff lol and its not my dd i only drive it a couple times a month

i am only running 35's and don't wanna loose all my ground clearance going to the 14 bolt cause where i wheel the ruts are deep and a have been stuck more than once on dry ground lol
 
I don't understand why it would cost a lot of money to shave the axle.A few cut off wheels, grinder wheels, & a couple of hours on the weekend?
I would spend the money on a locker. Like The Beast is saying, Detroit lockers rock. I have an automatic Detroit locker in the rear & if you take it easy you can drive around town without tearing up the tires. If you don't want to take it easy around town; meaning you like to accelerate hard around turns & take off quick;you may want to consider an electric or air locker. However, if money is an object here those lockers cost more too.
If you weld your spider gears, or install a spool you will burn through some tires. When you go around turns both tires are trying to move at the same speed which makes the tires churp & burn rubber.
 
He may be talking about a shave kit, where you cut the bottom of the diff out, shave some off of the ring gear and then weld a plate back on the bottom to seal it up.
 
Detroit, and use a sawzall/grinder and shave bottom lip.

IMO the "Shave" kit isnt worth the hassle and cost.
 
yea i am talking about a shave kit i thought about just grinding a little off the bottom of the diff but i need all the clearance i can get i am trying to get as close to as much ground clearance as i have now with my 10 bolt
 
Fwiw....

I had my 14bff unshaved when I was on 36s that barely measured 35. I almost never had an issue with getting hung up. With it smoothed out on the bottom it will be a non issue.

If your deaf set on the clearance I would spend the 500 or more for the shave kit/install/ring gear shave, and add a little on top and get bigger tires
 
NorCal_Chris said:
Fwiw....

I had my 14bff unshaved when I was on 36s that barely measured 35. I almost never had an issue with getting hung up. With it smoothed out on the bottom it will be a non issue.

If your deaf set on the clearance I would spend the 500 or more for the shave kit/install/ring gear shave, and add a little on top and get bigger tires
Click to expand...


You're not trying hard enough :deal:
 
you can shave quite a bit off very easily by yourself.

I get hung up on my 14 bolt all the time but its smooth on the bottom so I can usually just drag it across rocks.

Mind you this is with 42s

So buy the locker and shave what you can yourself

This is a very good item (and cheap) for someone who is doing their own shave http://diy4x.com/cart/index.php?route=product/product&path=18&product_id=73

Adds enough to the stock diff cover you can shave it good but its still a cheap mod
 
I wouldnt buy the kit for the marginal gain it would get you, especially if you spend most of your time in the mud.

cut-off wheels are cheap
 
I shaved my 14b with a grinder and cut-off wheels and it has as much clearance as my d60...

Welded the spiders and haven't looked back...

Both only cost me a couple of dollars...

I spend my money on things I can't build, like tires...

But, to each their own...


EDIT::: Oh yeah, a buddy gave me the same diy kit that blazinzuk posted for the d60... I built the one for my 14b... There's some pretty good pics in my build thread of what I did...
 
Always been a big fan of welded diffs for mainly trail rigs. When I first welded by 14FF it had 35" MT/R's on it and I drove it to and from the trails (usually 3-4 hour round trip) for a couple of years. There was very little difference in tread depth between the front and rear tires. I then switched to 38" TSL's that were grooved and siped and there was noticable increased wear on the rear tires after a couple years of driving to the trails. I then got a trailer (not because of the tire wear) and continue to use these tires for several more years of heavy trail use and most of the time 20-30 miles of pavement on trail days. A lot of the trails required parking the trailer someplace and driving on pavement to reach them, and often pavement time between trails.

A friend of mine has run a welded rear diff in his longbed Ford trail truck for years also, including a lot more time then me driving the rig to the trails before getting a trailer. His are 42" TSL's and made several 6-8 hour round trips on the highway, and beats it hard off-road. Prior to the trailer he had a full bed and carried a ton, literally, of tools and spare parts. To this day you have to look very carefully to see the difference between the front and rear tires in regards to wear.
 
You can floor it now with the 14 bolt so you can just bounce over stuff that the 10 bolt would clear :thumb:

A lot of people seem to like a welded rear, but I hated mine, I'm much happier with the grizzly locker in the back

The 14 bolt housing cuts pretty easily with a sawzall and you can easily take an 1" of the bottom
 
do both locker and shave the lip off the ottom, shaving that lip alone will aide in decent clearance, and make it easier to slide the diff over rocks if it happens to get hung up on one. That lip is a major "hook" for rocks.
 
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