Rockwells, worth putting under an XJ?

I found a little private junkyard close to me with a bunch of old military stuff. I can score a set of Rockwell axles for $100. Those of you who have ventured into this area, was the weight and hassle of all the sleeving/reinforcing worth it? Would I have to narrow these axles or should I keep them full width if I'm going to put them under there? I really don't want to cram a bunch of money in them to narrow them, but the super CHEAP price is definitely a turn on. I'd like to build something a little unique and an XJ on Rockwells around here would be pretty rare.

I'm going to do a search and look up some articles but I am heading off to work so I thought I'd see if I could get a response here. So my apologies beforehand if I seem newbie-ish.

Thanks!

I'd say by them for the $100...then sell them on e-bay for $1000...then go back to the junkyard and grab some D-60's.

i believe they are nearly impossible to narrow...or maybe its the mogs? i agree with 043500, if you want to keep it semi dd, the buy and sell em and do d 60/70. or just 60s. or continue to buy and sell em for awhile and make a penny or two

You would have to lift the XJ high, so that the drive shafts wont hit.

It's been done.

The question is, what size tire are we talking, and how much horsepower do you have to turn them?

Personally, I wouldn't do Rocks for anything under 44", and I'd want a built 400 inch motor to turn them, minimum.

$100 rockwells? 44's on an xj? I think i just felt something in my pants move.

BRIANHO13 said:

$100 rockwells? 44's on an xj? I think i just felt something in my pants move.

Click to expand...

lol

ditto what crash brought up. Strength wise, it is becoming generally believed that due to the age of the typical rockwell axle you find, a D60 with alloys is stronger and definitely lighter. Now they will cost more, but that has alot to do with how you want your truck to perform.

Rocks are cheap to get, but keep in mind, brake options can be real pricey. If a trailrig only, then pinion brakes will probably do fine. But if you plan to see ANY street time, it is super prudent to install wheel brakes. There are some guys that are working on cheaper brake options using bus disks and similar. It works for rears well, but steering axles are harder. You will likely spend more on brakes than you did on the axles. Unless of course you decide to keep the billion pound stock drums, but they are crazy heavy.

Next cost is wheels. Your wheel options will be limited due to the bolt pattern. So plan some coin for it unless you build them yourself from junkyard rock wheels and whatever you wanna run.

The toploader style rockwell means significant lift to prevent the chunk from punching your oilpan. So once you have raised the truck that much, do you really want then narrowed? If you are building a mudder, go for it! You can't beat the initial cost. If a rockcrawler, you will probably endup too tall to be very stable.

i dont think it would be woth the effort and expense to put them under an XJ. the 2 rigs i know with rockwells are huge, slow and HEAVY. both run 50" Michelins and even with stout V8s they just dont get the wheel speed needed. IIRC there is only 1 gear ratio available for the Rocks and locker availability sucks. the YJ i know weighs in around about 7800# and the F-350 is a legit 10,900# he's just too heavy to even climb a loose hill. he can go anywhere as long as it's not uphill.

buy em for that price and sell them. probably wont get $1000 for them though but you should make a good return on the cost.

too much effort putting them under your xj. like everyone said, just buy them and resell them for 10 times what you paid for.

you can narrow rockwells 7 inches by using two short side shafts, and you can flip the hubs in. if you want to put rockwells under an xj plan on a whole new frame or plating the entire frame along with a v8 and stronger tranny and transfer case , perferably a 203-205 doubler. atleast 44" tires , to most the amount of work isnt worth it and you might as well build a tube buggy. but other then that there isnt much cooler then an xj on rockwells and 44"+ tires with a v8. only two of them i have ever seen so far and i want one eventualy simply becuase i like the look of huge xj's. there are 47 spline 2" shafts out for the rockwells now too, and options for wheel brakes are getting wider.

if thier top loading rockwells and you can get them for 100$ buy as many front axles as you can then get on pirate and sell them for around 600$ apiece. if you were in cali i know two people off the top of my head that would buy them. rocks are getting VERY popular for good reason.