Super H233b Build

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
Long time no post.... figured I would make my grand rentrance with some wacky/awesome things Im working on.

The concept-
Take a stock H233b, up the spline count, switch it to full float and disc brakes, ULTRA BEEF the hell outta things.

Basically heres the plan. I found a company in Belgium that makes a H233b 35-spline spool, the H233b is WIDELY used overseas in modified patrols racing Ultra4 Europe and many other forms of motorsports like Winch Challenges and Rock Rally. This lends itself quite handy in that there are companies relatively unknown making some REALLY awesome (and expensive) parts. Atom 9 is their name, chromoly everything is their game. They make a FULL chromoly 35spline spool for the H233b its about $750 from Gigglepin in the UK to my door here in Nebraska. Another awesome thing is that they will accept standard H233b gears which have started to come down in price over the last few years.

So now we have a 35-spline spool, but no 35-spline axle shafts. What do we do? Glad you asked! The spool uses a 1.5" axle shaft with 30* pressure angle on the splines. Luckily for us, Yukon Gear and Axle makes a 35-spline 1.5" shaft with a 30* pressure angle in the form of a Dana60 rear axleshaft. With little modification to the shaft being required I should be able to slide it into the spool and bolt it to a free float hub.

For the hubs, Im planning on using GM 14Bolt spindles and 6x5.5 hubs purchased from Ruffstuff Specialties, but they are made by Solid Axle Industries. The Spindles will need some minor lathe work to allow then to slide into the H233b housing, however this should be a fairly quick and painless process.

Brakes will LIKELY be of GM 14bolt variant, I would like to find some fairly lightweight options probably in the form of Willwood trophy truck or Ultra 4 spec materials. Costly and overkill, but we are already in the realm of "wtf am I thinking" so why not?

Updates will be slow until I have the money to order the spool, however the spindles should be had by about the first of the year.
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
The H233b stock axleshafts are no slouch themselves. Likely made from a medium carbon steel like 1541. They are 33-spline with an outter diameter of 1.31/1.32" (sources vary on info). The 35-spline Dana 60 shafts I plan on using and 4340 Chromoly steel and have an outter measurement of 1.5" they should be able to withstand an EXTREME amount of abuse and the added load from and spooled rear end.

This picture shows the size difference of a 33-spline 1.31" H233b stock axleshaft compared to a 1.5" 30-spline GM 14bolt. I dont have the D60 shafts on hand to show, however they are functionally the same size for a good comparison.

151B8EAB-48FB-4F3C-9CA3-F0148211D478.jpeg
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
So first step I did was to figure out the wall thickness and inner tube diameter of the H233b was. To do this I am required to cut the bearing cup off the end of the housing. I just used a grinding wheel on an angle grinder. 15-20 minutes later we end up with this 1F4506D9-577D-4A1C-ABBA-82C592796F06.jpeg

What I found is the axle tube has a 3/16" wall thickness which isnt much and will need some reinforcement to withstand more abuse of the weight and larger tires I plan on running. The axle tube has a diameter of 2.625" or 2 5/8" which is also quite small but very workable.

The 14Bolt spindles I plan on using have an inner bore of 1.59" to allow axleshaft through, and outter overall diameter of 2.95" or roughly 3". Ruffstuff reccommends to not turn them down past 2.75" or 2 3/4" HOWEVER if my math is correct, they will still have plenty of meat left over being nearly .51" or roughly 1/2" to both retain strength and material to weld to. The picture below is kinda hard to understand and was done in a short amount of time, however it shows what I am trying to explain. In short, the 2 parts will go together.
7AD1757C-0587-4B72-8C86-C2B7A3B126D2.png
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
Pulling my spare H233b down I learned that the housing is INCREDIBLY light! Once completely gutted it only weighs about 45-50lbs. Being so lightweight, I will deffinately be building a truss to help beef things up.

The diff that was in this housing is a 4.9 geared LSD. Im currently looking into donating this third member to a friend to get his xterra back moving. I will take his third and strip it down and install the Atom 9 spool into it.4CC564EA-32AE-4824-A352-62F1094519C3.jpeg3FC39362-F45B-4F74-95C5-5C9E5D95ED7B.jpeg
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
This is super exciting! I love it. Are you completely ditching the ABS system? Also, Eldorado calipers work well on the 14-bolt setup.
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
fair enough. Looking forward to this build. Also, good to see you again.
Thanks. Life has been busy. I have a few things (projects) Im working on. Life is still an absolute shiatshow, but I need something to occupy my mind while I deal with the other stuff.

This project may seem like I have been planning it for a while, truthfully it was a concept less than 4 days ago. Im just going for it and figuring it out as I go.
 

Hawairish

Test Drive
Location
Surprise, AZ
This project is awesome. I’m a hoarder of H233B parts and have done some projects with them, but this is next level.

My current thought, given your objectives, is that the axle housing will eventually be the limiting factor for this application. It’s very light and thin when empty. A truss would do well for strength, but it’ll need even more work beyond that. You may want to reach out to Diamond Axle and see if they can produce a custom rear housing, since they already do front H233B applications. Seems it would be trivial for them to relocate the hump to center and do whatever custom tubes suitable for the shafts and hubs you’re wanting to use. Wouldn’t need a truss at that point, either, and would make for a super clean axle.
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
This project is awesome. I’m a hoarder of H233B parts and have done some projects with them, but this is next level.

My current thought, given your objectives, is that the axle housing will eventually be the limiting factor for this application. It’s very light and thin when empty. A truss would do well for strength, but it’ll need even more work beyond that. You may want to reach out to Diamond Axle and see if they can produce a custom rear housing, since they already do front H233B applications. Seems it would be trivial for them to relocate the hump to center and do whatever custom tubes suitable for the shafts and hubs you’re wanting to use. Wouldn’t need a truss at that point, either, and would make for a super clean axle.
Current goal is to retain the factory housing but reinforce it substantially. Im looking into sleeving the tubes and for sure will be trussing it. I actually plan to start the truss design this weekend and have it transfered to solidworks or fusion shortly after that. Unfortunately Im not familiar with CAD programs so I have to rely on my roomate for help.

As for a diamond axle, that isnt the route I really want to go with this project. Im trying to figure out a great path for someone with basic tools in their garage to make the most out of their stock axle housing. There also MIGHT be a secret alternative motivating factor too

Either way, I really just want to see where the limit is on these axles.
 

Hawairish

Test Drive
Location
Surprise, AZ
Current goal is to retain the factory housing but reinforce it substantially. Im looking into sleeving the tubes and for sure will be trussing it. I actually plan to start the truss design this weekend and have it transfered to solidworks or fusion shortly after that. Unfortunately Im not familiar with CAD programs so I have to rely on my roomate for help.

As for a diamond axle, that isnt the route I really want to go with this project. Im trying to figure out a great path for someone with basic tools in their garage to make the most out of their stock axle housing. There also MIGHT be a secret alternative motivating factor too

Either way, I really just want to see where the limit is on these axles.
I totally respect that approach.

I can help with some of the Fusion stuff, but I secretly despise the application. It's what I use with my CNC plasma table, though. And to that extent, if you need help getting parts cut, I can probably help there, too. Hell, I even have a spare H233B axle I can somewhat validate dimensions against. It's from an R50 Pathfinder, so it's got other junk in the way as 4-link setup, but it's dimensionally identical to the one you're working with. I actually dragged it out earlier today to get some pics and see about posting it for sale locally, but this thread now has me rethinking things.
 

Hawairish

Test Drive
Location
Surprise, AZ
Just realizing I had a different hub design in my head, but seeing now what the GM 14 bolt spindle is...yeah, that seems totally doable and obsoletes my suggestion about the Diamond Axle. I'll need to familiarize myself with the GM setup better.

Rereading your dimensions from the axle tube and spindle, I wouldn't think turning down to 2.625" would be problematic. But given the axle tube construction...two formed halves...how uniform is the tube on the inside, particularly at the welds?
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
Just realizing I had a different hub design in my head, but seeing now what the GM 14 bolt spindle is...yeah, that seems totally doable and obsoletes my suggestion about the Diamond Axle. I'll need to familiarize myself with the GM setup better.

Rereading your dimensions from the axle tube and spindle, I wouldn't think turning down to 2.625" would be problematic. But given the axle tube construction...two formed halves...how uniform is the tube on the inside, particularly at the welds?

the housing seems to be pretty unifrom in most directions with very, and I mean VERY, minor changes in tolerances. Not enough tolerance to make anything an issue going forward
 

Cptpackrat

Bumpers Installed
Location
Gillette WY
Was able to get the other bearing cup chopped off and shaved the axle clean of the uneeded brackets. Next step is finding a good sandblasring shop that isnt overly expensive to clean the axle off and make it easier to weld on. F1AE6729-7467-4D16-A0C4-0635D72BFAE9.jpeg
 

SteeevO

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
fontana,ca
just came across this.
We built a 35-spline ARB Locker like 8 years ago and put it in the front the 2nd Gen Frontier we SAS's with the diamond housing.
It was awesome.
 
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