Hi Guys, just looking for opinions on a diff Puzzle. I am building a site rock dumper trailer based on a truck diff from a truck that was about 6-8ton? I will probably only carry about 4 tons max. I am trying to lighten up the axle by removing the center and axles as they are not needed. If i ran the diff with no center do you think the Banjo of the diff will be significantly weakened with out a center or do i need to plate the hole off to restore some of the original rigidity. Thanks in advance for your comments.
It won't matter for the way you're using it. Are you going to leave it open or what?
Are the wheel bearings oil type? They get oil from the center? If you run without the center section you will need to keep the dust out of bearings. You could lube bearings with regular grease than.
Yes they are oil type and i expect to have to grease them and recap the spindle ends. Its just that the diff looks so much weaker with the center out. Im guessing but theirs probably 400lbs of center so its worth removing if the housing will put up with the twisting. Thought someone here might be a bit more learner-ed on the subject and might say no its got to stay.
I would plate over the center hole with 3/8" plate welded all around. I have seen a few break without the differential housing. Grease pack the bearings, plug the spindles and cut the flange off the axle shafts for hub covers. Built a bunch of farm implements that way. I usually strip the brakes too.
Can't you pull the floating axles and cap the driven ends. Leave the 3rd member set there. We used to cut the axle and put the driven end stub back on. Let the rear end oil continue to lube the bearings.
Why keep all that oil just to lube a couple wheel bearings?
Because it is the quickest and easiest way and you know it works. If you are worried about the weight maybe everything but the pinion gear and shaft could be removed from the center with a torch or something.
Thanks for your comments. Ive asked around and it sounds like i will have to plate it or leave the centre in there. Would look a lot better with plate but more work. I suppose i could gut it a bit and loose the crown gear and a bit of fruit but the cast housing is where most the weight is. With the axles gone and the slow speed of site work i don't think the oil would ever get to the bearings so grease in the bearings would be best i think. Was hoping to reuse brakes (Hyd not Air) and use the tractor hydraulic press to apply the brakes. Have a spare control spool on a joystick which would be good to apply trailer brakes. Only catch is the relief pressure of tractor is 2418psi and i am guessing truck brakes only required 900psi to lock the drum so i will have to be creative and drop the pressure somehow. A pressure regulator is easy but need to get some proportional control rather than just on off. You wonder why you do these projects some times due to the messing around but you get a kick out off it when you succeed.
Most hubs seem to have a bit of a cavity that retains a fair amount of oil anyway. When I do work on this sort of axle I just smear oil on the bearings with fingers and put it together. Then move the vehicle to a very steep side hill so I can be sure oil ran down and filled the hub.
Exactly what RZucker said. Seen and done a bunch of farm stuff that way.
Why not just weld the axle tubes shut from the inside, cut the axle shafts off the flanges, bolt or weld a plate to cover where the 3rd member goes and use the level plug on the side of the hubs to just fill the tube portion of the axle with oil?
I drive a cup plug in the outside end of the spindle to seal of the housing, I have drilled and tapped flanges for a 1/2" pipe plug for oil filling the hubs, but for most tractor pulled stuff grease pack is just fine.
Was the way we once made farm trailers, find a freeze plug to fit or cut scrap steel and weld into axle center holes with shafts out, gas axe the axle shafts from the flanges and then grease pack the hubs, last indefinitely.
Make sure when you weld the plugs in the end of axle tube turn the welder up real hot.
Unless HOWEVER you need to use up the old axle for the rock haul, a old trailer axle would likely be as good or better and a lot easier to design around.
I would probably just leave the axil intact as is with the gears in it for this application . Something else came to mind on adding brakes to it ….. Feller could mount drum or caliper on the pinion & tie that into the tractor hydraulics with an actuator . Heck , maybe even a hydraulic motor on the pinion via chain drive . Could act as a brake and drive system when in rough country . Like a having a wagon with drive wheels . Random thoughts Mate .
I had thought of some of this but one can go over board a bit. There is no reason to add additional brakes when the existing brakes are there. Would be nice to have PTO driven trailer BUT. Most commercial pto driven trailers seem to have a gear box mounted on the draw bar where the operator can roughly chose a speed of the driven wheels to match the desired speed of the tractor. In my case the tractor is HST transmission which means the PTO shaft has no relationship to tractor speed. A hydraulic motor with one way clutch would allow some boost when required to that axle. Loosing the plot a bit, Not going to happen.
Random thoughts Mate . This thread reminds me of the pickup truck / trailer conversions . They were simple to build & worked fine . You left the rear end intact with the oil & tie in the tail lights to the bed . Pretty common in my area back in the day .
I recall a story about some guy who had a restored Mercury pick-up, believe they were only sold in Canada, but the only thing he was missing was the tail gate with the "Mercury" embossed in it. Then one day he was out with his pickup and happened to spot one of those home made trailers td25c posted a picture of. He followed the guy till he stopped some place and managed to talk the guy into swapping tailgates.