The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts How fast can you tow a C65 truck with 7.17 rear gears?

I have a C65 eaton rear end with 7.17 gears that I'd like to stick under a trailer. But, I got to thinking that with 7.17's I might not be able to tow it very fast. What say you experts?

Pull the axle shafts out and fabricate some plates to cover the ends of the tubes, that way the differential won't be spinning.

Or why couldn't you pull the axles out, cut the ends and bolt them back on?

Great ideas... i'll have to give this some thought.

Just make sure the axle lube is full so the bearings are lubed as there won't be anything rotating inside the housing flinging oil everywhere.

Mike B

Does anyone know the top speed of a C65 with this gear ratio?

Remove the axles, fab some cover plates for the hubs, and pack the wheel bearings with disc brake bearing grease. No need to run any lube at all in the center section that way. I'd also pull the center chunk and plate over the middle housing- - - -why haul all that extra weight around in the first place?
Jerry

The rear under the trailer won't care how fast you pull it if it's just wheels on hubs.

What type of brake system will it have?

Mike B

Question about John's idea.
Isn't there a axle bearing at the spyder gears?
Is it part of the wheel bearing support system?
If it is, I would just cut off the splines, put it all back together and make sure the axle is full enough to reach the bearings.
As I remember, the ring gear splashes the bearings for lube. So your fill level plug may not be high enough to let the inner bearings get enough lube

Just some things to think about.
Don

Mike B. It won't need brakes, it will be under a pickup bed trailer and used to pick up rocks and make dump runs.

Keep it aimed down hill and loaded... Lol....It will go faster..

The heavy rear axles are call 'full floating' axles, this means that the axle shafts carry no weight, they only transmit torque. Fastest, least expensive would be cut the flange off and use it to re-seal the tube end. The hub bearing at the end of the axle carries all of the weight.

On a full-floating hub, the axles just provide torque. They support nothing. If nothing inside the pumpkin is turning it won't need lube. At some point axles like this had shafts with splined flanges to drive the hub. Then there was a light gauge cover held on with like 5/16 bolts. I don't know how late that system was used but if yours is like that pull the axles, grease the bearings and put the covers back on. You're done.

If you fill a pickup bed with rocks you'll need trailer brakes. What are you going to tow it with? If I understand what you're doing, you'll have to run regular 20 or 22.5 truck wheels to match the hubs with tires to match. In our state anything over 4,000 pounds has to, not only have brakes, but have a brake-away system too. There is made a "reaction brake" system commonly used on boat trailers (electric brakes don't like salt water). You could do a little figuring and come up with an appropriate-sized reaction-brake master cylinder, then plumb that into the existing brakes. I wouldn't pull such a trailer around without brakes. Even your spare Peterbilt tractor will skid the drivers with enough weight pushing it.

yikes.. maybe no rocks!!

it turns out that this rear end will not work with the trailer that I have now. I think it weighs more than the whole trailer!