Full Floater Question

A while back I purchased a full floater kit from Herm and am finally in the process of installing it. My question is with the axle "end play". Is there something I need to do with the carrier (Detroit truetrac) to get more spline engagement in the drive flange? With everything installed I only have a 1/2" of splines past the wheel hub. I know this will differ as the axle floats in and out, just wondering if anyone knows how to achieve less play with this setup? The axle is a Dana 44 with tapered axles.

 

That doesnt seem like enough. In my case I made my own FF setup. To remedy my own similar problem, I machined grooves for snap rings in the shaft to keep it centered.
build your own full float dana 44?

 

You may want to try coating the axle splines in grease, installing the drive flange and then removing it. When you remove it, you will be able to see exactly how much spline engagement you are getting. I just finished installing one of Herm's kits and I get about 3/4 of the way through the drive flange on both sides.

 

I had Herm send me a fully re-built rear axle with the FF kit and an E-locker installed a few months ago, and mine has about the same engagement as yall are getting on the end spines.
It concerned me as well, but i am just going to assume that is how it is supposed to look until there is a problem.

I only have only taken it off road a few times, and nothing that would really 'test' it yet...but it is working fine so far.

 

If using drive flanges, maybe drill and tap1/4-20 threads into the axle shaft and use a bolt and washer to keep the shaft fully engaged in splines and cover with dust cap? You would want to make sure your shaft is fully in the side gears in the case though. You could fine tune the stickout with varying thickness of washers small enough to fit in the drive flange.

 

have you called or emailed herm yet? he has been really helpful when ever i had questions about his parts. i have his full floater kit but its not installed yet so idont know what the spline engagement on my kit is.

 

I recently had a set of original Warn full float shafts and they were the exact same length as Herm's.

 

Thank you all for your replies! I just talked to Herm and he suggested putting a bolt in the hub end of the axle shaft(he drills and taps them, which you can kind of see in the pic above) with a washer large enough to butt up against the drive flange so you can pull the axle shaft out a bit. Heading out for the weekend, but I will post pics of it when done. I also want to say that Herms customer service is great, I've had a couple of wrong parts and he has sent me replacements no questions asked!

 

I have Herm's kit also. I am just finishing up the gear setup in mine (Ox locker, Woo Hoo!). I will move on to fitting up all of the FF components after that.

I will be watching the commentary on this thread with great interest. Once I'm done with mine I'll chime in with how it came out.

Edit- Just saw the last comment about what Herm said. That sounds like an easy solution.

 

This isn't a very detailed article but is pretty much the way it installs with some good pics.
Early Dana 44 Full Floater Axle Kit - Jp Magazine

 

i mocked up my kit and the axle shaft is recessed 1/2" into the drive flange when the shaft is fully seated in the diff. my axle shafts are not threaded on the ends like the OP's. i also noticed that the 30 spline shaft can fit all the way through the spindle, i thought only the 19 spline version could do that.

 

Looks like either the spindle was bored out to accept a larger axle shaft or the axle shaft was cut to fit out. I did a bit of both on mine. If you purchased a kit with disk brake Dana 30 spindles, I would have zero concerns about a bigger hole being bored. The lack of spline engagement would concern me, but if there havent been failures... Call Herm and ask.

 

Had a chance to check out the axle for threads, it's drilled but not tapped. Going to leave this alone for now, won't be driving it for some time anyway since my garage looks like this: notice the CJ5 frame hanging on the wall, need to finish those damn windows!

 

Hahaha! Now THAT is a novel way to find storage space for your Jeep!

 

Edit: that's a spindle lock nut. If they are missing you can buy them.

According to Google it can be used in Dana 30, 44. Chevy, Ford and jeep used apparently.

I'm not sure if it's a warn hub as the spindle parts are probably spicer (Dana)