HJ88
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Washington
I've been thinking about taking a Ford 9", and converting it to FF, with drive flanges (or hublocks or whatever you want to call them)... theres no doubt abit more to it than cutting the ends off and welding on some FF hubs from a D60 (although I recall seeing a custom built FF 9" with D60 hubs from a shop), but thats another thread in itself.
My Q is about using a spool with the above setup. the obvious reason a spool is such a PITA on the street is that it understeers, and chirps tires around corners, is useless in the ice and snow, and depending on the setting, I'd be willing to bet you could snap a stock axle trying to make a tight turn in a parking lot.... theres probably more but I cant think of it right now...
But heres the idea, if you have a FF rear with manual hubs, If you were to unlock one hub, would it handle better on the street? It seems like a good idea, although I have a few possible problems that I really have no idea on, but am making a poor, uneducated guess on what may be possible (If that makes no sense, i'm sorry, i'm a bit out of it at the moment)...
possible problems-
1) uneven wear on hubs. (do hubs even wear out? I've had bearings, seals, etc. wear out but never the hub/spindle itself wear out. maybe uneven wear on the bearings?)
2) uneven tire wear. (since the same tire is the only one under power it seems to me that it would cause them to wear strange. I suppose that a possible fix could be to alternate which hub is locked every 100 miles or every week... I quess this could potentially solve problem #1 aswell.)
3) messed up steering. (how to explain... how about this... lets say that you have the drivers side hub unlocked... now when you come to make a left turn, you coast into the turn, and theres no chirping since the unlocked hub allows the left tire to turn slower around the corner, but as you accelerate out of the turn the force (drive, torque, load, I cant think of the word at the moment) of the right tire pushes the car to the left, helping you round the curve...
but now if your drivers side hub is still unlocked, and you make a right hand turn, I think things might be abit different... coming into the turn would be similar, since the unlocked hub could spin faster on the outside of the turn, but when you accelerate out of the turn, as the right tire is put under (pick word from above) its going to want to push the car to the left again... and since your turning right, thats abit of a problem..)
maybe I'm over estimating the influence of grip the tires have compared to the ability of the little box in front to point you where your headed... I'm just thinking it'd sort of be like a poor-mans selectable locker, except instead of pushing a button or pulling a lever, you get outta the car and lock your hub... may not be a switch on the fly type setup, but for those of us that want a full time locker that also works ok on the street, it seems to be a viable option to me... I'll have a spool either way so I might just try making a FF and unlock a hub and try it out...
Unless someone has already tried this in which case i'm very interested in your results....
again... if something isnt clear enough, let me know and I'll try to explain better... and if I'm missing a key concept, please let me know... if this is absolutely the stupidest thing you have ever seen,;
please let me know
My Q is about using a spool with the above setup. the obvious reason a spool is such a PITA on the street is that it understeers, and chirps tires around corners, is useless in the ice and snow, and depending on the setting, I'd be willing to bet you could snap a stock axle trying to make a tight turn in a parking lot.... theres probably more but I cant think of it right now...
But heres the idea, if you have a FF rear with manual hubs, If you were to unlock one hub, would it handle better on the street? It seems like a good idea, although I have a few possible problems that I really have no idea on, but am making a poor, uneducated guess on what may be possible (If that makes no sense, i'm sorry, i'm a bit out of it at the moment)...
possible problems-
1) uneven wear on hubs. (do hubs even wear out? I've had bearings, seals, etc. wear out but never the hub/spindle itself wear out. maybe uneven wear on the bearings?)
2) uneven tire wear. (since the same tire is the only one under power it seems to me that it would cause them to wear strange. I suppose that a possible fix could be to alternate which hub is locked every 100 miles or every week... I quess this could potentially solve problem #1 aswell.)
3) messed up steering. (how to explain... how about this... lets say that you have the drivers side hub unlocked... now when you come to make a left turn, you coast into the turn, and theres no chirping since the unlocked hub allows the left tire to turn slower around the corner, but as you accelerate out of the turn the force (drive, torque, load, I cant think of the word at the moment) of the right tire pushes the car to the left, helping you round the curve...
but now if your drivers side hub is still unlocked, and you make a right hand turn, I think things might be abit different... coming into the turn would be similar, since the unlocked hub could spin faster on the outside of the turn, but when you accelerate out of the turn, as the right tire is put under (pick word from above) its going to want to push the car to the left again... and since your turning right, thats abit of a problem..)
maybe I'm over estimating the influence of grip the tires have compared to the ability of the little box in front to point you where your headed... I'm just thinking it'd sort of be like a poor-mans selectable locker, except instead of pushing a button or pulling a lever, you get outta the car and lock your hub... may not be a switch on the fly type setup, but for those of us that want a full time locker that also works ok on the street, it seems to be a viable option to me... I'll have a spool either way so I might just try making a FF and unlock a hub and try it out...
Unless someone has already tried this in which case i'm very interested in your results....
again... if something isnt clear enough, let me know and I'll try to explain better... and if I'm missing a key concept, please let me know... if this is absolutely the stupidest thing you have ever seen,;
please let me know