Floater 9" rearend

[69fbodyproject]

We have been sitting here looking at my bare unfinished rearend housing and we started discussing doing a full floater rearend. Has anyone ran one either on a road course or autocross? I am asking because I am not sure if there would be any real performance or strength advantage by going this direction.

[ProBell]

I have run mine for 2 years now. I have numerous track days on it as well as 10,000 street miles and 2 auto cross events. It has numerous advantages in my book. You can put camber and tow into it, You can pull the axles and center section with out taking the tires or brakes off, If you brake a Axel the wheel will not fall off. I think it is a grate thing to do if the budget allows. Randy

[69fbodyproject]

Thanks for your imput Randy. It would be pretty easy to do for us, because we are starting with an unfinished 4130 Bears sheetmetal housing. Its not like we would be paying to build it since about the only thing we are paying to have done is the paint and body work and the enigine tuning. How much camber and toe do you run?

[Mike Holleman]

We have been sitting here looking at my bare unfinished rearend housing and we started discussing doing a full floater rearend. Has anyone ran one either on a road course or autocross? I am asking because I am not sure if there would be any real performance or strength advantage by going this direction.

I'm running Colemans floaters on the Elky. 17,000 hard miles without an issue. There are many advantages as Randy shows in his post. They are way stronger than a standard axle setup with zero flex. No brake knockback. Plus I change third members for different uses. Takes less than an hour, without even removing the wheels.

[ProBell]

I run 1 Deg. of camber and .060 of tow. Randy

[Ron S]

In my opinion, the brake knock back is the biggest advantage to the floater. My Mustang is a little scary at 150 when you have to pump the brakes up at every turn. I see a floater in my future. Ron

[TnBlkC230WZ]

I run 1 Deg. of camber and .060 of tow. Randy

This has me interested. Did you purchase the axle with the camber and tow build in or did shim it some how?

[ProBell]

The axles are straight. The wheel side of the axle is crowned to make up for the offset in the hub that rides on the housing that is offset.

[parsonsj]

I agree: a floating axle setup is a superior design. It just comes down to cost.

jp

[parsonsj]

Now I'm curious: how do you pull axles without pulling the wheels? I spent hours yesterday looking at Moser's floater setups and I'm not getting that...

Help a confused mind out!

jp

[Matt@BOS]

Now I'm curious: how do you pull axles without pulling the wheels? I spent hours yesterday looking at Moser's floater setups and I'm not getting that...

Help a confused mind out!

jp

In theory, if you pull the center cap off the wheel, although I'm guessing most cars with floaters aren't running center caps, you will be able to see (and unscrew) a cap on the drive plate which is cut to accommodate the splined axle.

Here is a picture of a floater without the wheels attached, or the axles in.



Does that make anymore sense?

Matt

[parsonsj]

OK, no center caps. Check. Pull a cover off the hub, and there's a splined shaft down there. Unless the cover includes the splines, the axle is still stuck down there behind the splines. It better have a tapped hole in the end to attach a puller. Still confused...

jp

[Matt@BOS]

Yeah, I don't think I cleared anything up either because I'm not too sure. Maybe I should just spend an hour trying to figure out on my axle. Right now my best guess would be that you start unscrewing the bolt that threads into the end of the axle and just grab that....?

I'd call up Speedway Engineering but I don't want to remove all doubt that I'm an idiot.

Matt

[parsonsj]

LOL! No problem. I always appreciate it when someone says they don't know. I'll be talking with Moser this coming week... I'll ask them.

jp

[DVS51]

I can't speak to the new Baer setup or anything like that, but on a typical circle track floater there is a small end plate that is the only thing that holds the axle in the housing. By removing the end plate typically held on by 3 small screws you can slide the axle out. The end of the axle will be flush with the splined drive plate, but most axles have threaded holes on each end so you can screw a bolt in to pull it out. The splines on the outer (drive plate) end are larger so it should slide right out. The configuration of the drive plate will differ depending on what style hubs you are using of which there are several.

[hotrdblder]

dv is correct, the axles dont get locked in there, and i have never needed a puller either, there is a threaded hole on the end of gun drilled axles. unscrew the 3 bolts that hold cap on, which the cap is o'ring'd remove cover, then you will see axle, simple pull out with your hand.
on full floating axles you have to put a set screw on the inside end of the axle to make sure you have full spline engagement on the driveplate.

[claytonisbob]

How expensive is doing a full floater really?

I always wondered if anybody ran something like this:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Grand-...rend,6587.html

I am currently setting up a 12 bolt with a trutrac (pulling it out of the car to do the diff and gear swap this week), but if I hadn't already bought wheels, and everything for a 12 bolt... I'd be looking into something like this (unless there is a gleaming reason not to that I'm just missing). 5 on 5" would suck a little as most everything I plan on running in the front is 5 on 4.75". Having an extra pumpkin with some ~4.11 gears and a spool for the drag strip, and another limited slip loaded pumpkin for the autocross would be awesome. Especially if I can swap them in an hour or two. Gotta love 9" rears

For now I'm going to be running factory C-clip axles with LS1 brakes until I can figure out how I can get the 12 bolt setup with Ford ends and tapered bearings.

[parsonsj]

We'll be running a Moser/Wilwood/II Much Fabrication floater on Unfair now. Moser put their GN floater setup on our housing. From there I drew up rotor adapters with integrated reluctor hub (for traction control/ABS) that uses the standard floater bolt pattern and supports Wilwood's big 14" rotors. I'll have the adapters back this week. The final piece of the puzzle is a caliper bracket. I'll be working on that soon.

jp

[AMC Racer]

Are the road / circle track floaters suitable for occasional drag racing? Do you need the GN style for a 3500 lbs. street car, or will something smaller like Moser's DBP ends work? Thanks!
http://www.moserengineering.com/circ...-packages.html

[big gear head]

I sold a Moser housing and axle package that had the 5 on 4 1/2 bolt pattern, and the 5 on 4 3/4 is available.