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spool and daily driving

Kocher93

Kocher93

1/2 ton status
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Jul 5, 2011
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Location
Campbell, CA
Locked 14 bolt on the street, drivable? Dangerous? Annoying? chirps and such dont bother me. Im concerned on breakage. 89 350 just an intake and exhaust. But to a locked 5.13 diff with 37s. Will i be breaking u joints left and right? Or will it just scrub the tires? I already have a spool for free so im trying to justify not spending 500 on a locker. Thanks in advance for advice
 
only difference is slow driving, parking, u turns, etc

otherwise, my locker stays locked pretty much all the time. I don't notice being locked in parking lots or gas station etc, but you'll notice a spool quick
 
I have no idea of the relative strengths of a Ford 9 inch and a 14 bolt, but I suspect the 14 bolt is stronger.
Friend of mine ran a spool in a 9 inch for a year or so in his DD. He did some street racing, and needed the traction.

Went through a lot of tires, but everything held up until he went down and picked up a large amount of roofing material one Saturday to help a friend replace a roof.

Making a hard left turn, the truck did not want to move, so he goosed it and snapped the housing in half.

Personally I would have thought an axle would have let go first, but he split the housing.

As long as your tires can slip some, it should stand up. Just don't load a half ton or so in the back and try to drive down some dry pavement.
 
Fordum said:
I have no idea of the relative strengths of a Ford 9 inch and a 14 bolt, but I suspect the 14 bolt is stronger.
Friend of mine ran a spool in a 9 inch for a year or so in his DD. He did some street racing, and needed the traction.

Went through a lot of tires, but everything held up until he went down and picked up a large amount of roofing material one Saturday to help a friend replace a roof.

Making a hard left turn, the truck did not want to move, so he goosed it and snapped the housing in half.

Personally I would have thought an axle would have let go first, but he split the housing.

As long as your tires can slip some, it should stand up. Just don't load a half ton or so in the back and try to drive down some dry pavement.
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A stock 9" is actually pretty close to a 10 bolt strength wise, the FF 14 bolt is WAY stronger than either.

Of course the 9" has lots of aftermarket support thanks to the drag race crowd, and they can be built strong, but they're not much to talk about in stock form.
 
Figured that, its a half ton after all. My old truck was a 150 and had a 9 inch. Never broke anything on it except for some bad factory welds on the axle tube.

And I did some bad things to it.

The one under my present 250 is the 10.25 inch standard duty, and you can tell its built much heavier.
 
I dd' d my k5 for about 5 years with a mini spool. It might as well not have been there. I'm still not sure what all the hype is about. Don't worry about it.
 
Sounds good i litteraly have no idea where this spool came from i dont remember getting it or buying ot but its in my garage. Another question i have is why do people weld the tubes on their 14 bolts? I dont get how the housing can twist
 
I ran my bronco (rear 60) welded for better than 50k.
Tire wear wasnt really as big of a deal as I expected, but tire pressure was very important.

The noise did get to me, but what got me the most was all the people that would ask wtf or point out that something was wrong.
 
Kocher93 said:
Sounds good i litteraly have no idea where this spool came from i dont remember getting it or buying ot but its in my garage. Another question i have is why do people weld the tubes on their 14 bolts? I dont get how the housing can twist
Click to expand...

Big power and a stick shift it might twist a tube in the center. But its not a "must do"
 
I've had a welded 14-bolt for years on my K5 with 35" radials, skinny 38" Swampers, and now wide 39.5" Swampers. Not a DD but I drove it to the trails and around town pretty regular back in the day. I did not notice any excessive rear tire wear with the 35x12.50 radials, but did notice it more with the Swampers.

The only time I notice the welded diff is in parking lots and sometimes when turning from a stop light in town some. On the highway you can't notice it.

Wouldn't worry about breaking anything driving on the street.

A friend of mine has also ran a welded rear diff in his F250 big-block/42" tired Ford for years and has driven it thousands of miles. I know he has driven in probably 200+ miles at a time to get to out of state trails. Really don't notice any excessive rear tire wear on his rig, but the longer wheelbase and less weight on the rear tires probably makes a difference.
 
Fordum said:
Making a hard left turn, the truck did not want to move, so he goosed it and snapped the housing in half.

Personally I would have thought an axle would have let go first, but he split the housing.
Click to expand...

I have seen quite a few 9" factory housing break in various places. They are a fine axle but not the legend that alot make them out to be
 
blazinzuk said:
I have seen quite a few 9" factory housing break in various places. They are a fine axle but not the legend that alot make them out to be
Click to expand...

The problem is that there are so many different housings, and axles.

An early housing and 28 spline axles isnt really any better than an 8.5 10 bolt. The later housings with 31 splines and tapered roller axle bearings will put up with some serious abuse, for the size and weight anyway.
 
1BEATK5 said:
I dd' d my k5 for about 5 years with a mini spool. It might as well not have been there. I'm still not sure what all the hype is about. Don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

What he said :D

My K30 rear is welded, while not a DD by any means, more mileage is accumulated running errands around town with my son, then wheeling it lately :doah:. Like others have said I only notice it when making sharp turns :dunno:, my son (6) thinks it sounds cool when the swampers "bark" anyway so I figure I've got a few hundred to spend on something else :D
 
It depends on your tolerance for tire wear, noise, and driveability issues. Opinions vary, but I have found mini spools frustrating to use extensively on the street. Not a good choice for a DD, IMO.
 
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