Shaving 10b front

[Hossbaby50]

How much can I shave my 10 bolt front axle and still have enough meat left? I rockcrawl so I will probably slam the diff pretty hard. How much is ok and how much is to much?

I already shaved about 1/8" and smoothed the diff this afternoon but kinda want to shave more. Thanks

Harley

 

[az-k5]

If you see gear oil stop!!

 

[HarryH3]

The front end takes a LOT of abuse when you happen to get some air time. I would be concerned that removing too much metal could make the housing too weak to handle the stress of re-entry. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Calclips]

I'm no expert in the field... but it seems to me that removing metal from an already weak axle would cause problems... unless said axle was under the front of a rig that weighed a lot less than a stock blazer/PU...

 

[CyberSniper]

I cut off the ears with a hacksaw and ground off about 1/8" all the way around including the top of the case. I then blended the lip into the rest of the case.

After that, I went around and removed all the surface defects from the case. Especially on the driver's side on the webbing. I then went around the case with a stiff wire wheel and "polished" it with that. After that I ran a sanding flap thing-a-ma-bob to smooth it out even more.

If you really want to beef up the case then I'd run a thicker cover. I'd also run a tap into the holes to tap further into the case. I'd then run some ARP bolts in it. That'll get rid of a lot of the flexing of the case.

The weakest part is still where the driver's side tube goes into the housing. They always break right there.

 

[Hossbaby50]

I picked up another cover today to plate with 1/4" plate for frontal abuse. I think I will just call it quites with the 1/8" removed and blended.

Harley