Drive Axle Weight Ratings

Tubes,wheel end bearings and possibly axles may be different. Tubes for sure.
Center sections are normally the same internally although the bolt pattern may not.

 

What axles are they?….this would be important in determining what might be different.
I know on Rockwell from that vintage generally speaking the housings don’t change external size until above 46k rating but the thickness changes. The wheel ends are mostly the same across all manufacturers (typically sae R style) and even at that will not be a failure point. The axle shafts are not really dependent on weight ratings although typically the higer the rating the larger they are. And the same goes for the center section.
I wonder if they’re actually derated 40k rears possibly because of tire choices.

 

I am pretty sure that information came from the tag on the removable 3rd member but there should be another tag on the housing itself that says what the beam is rated for.

 

The axle housings themselves. Thickness and welds. That is what holds the weight. The axles and bearings have always been engineered overkill just like the 2” kingpin has been.
Back in the day Rockwell and White’s in house version of Rockwell had two different visually obvious weight rated diffs. The standard 8 bolt still most common today and the other One had smaller hub with 12 axle end bolts. This was the higher rated of the two. Most heavy haul walking beam and spoke wheel hubs used these. They both used the same bearing and cup part numbers and axle diameter and splines.

 

Same thing with Rockwell steer axles. The hubs generally determined the rating. I have an FL and two Petes with the same model steer. The FL and one pete with 12k. They both have aluminum hubs. The older Pete has a 13.5k and has iron hubs. All the hubs use the same exact bearings and seals. The only difference is the hub material and the wheel studs are bolted in from behind on the aluminum hubs and pressed in on the iron ones.

 

Is what’s pictured, what you are gonna use? If so, what old fence line or pasture did you scrounge them from? There’s a lot of rust on everything. What happened to the inards?

 

Parts waiting to be shipped. They came out of trucks the family has owned over the years. The TXI orange hendrickson set came out of a ‘72 White 4000 from the old New Braunfels concrete plant before the sell out to Cemex. I sent the pigs up to Washington state were they went into a ‘60 Autocar. They are going up to Mass for an Autocar restoration up there. The other set is from a ‘82 White -Western star. The FL coe is sold and waiting to be picked up and hauled to Okie for a restoration.