Ok everyone who reads Four Wheeler magazine turn to page 22. There you will see the cover truck, a beautiful '78 F-250 with an 18" lift, Rockwell 2 1/2 ton axles, and 44" Bogger's. Now turn to page 24 to see a shot of underneath the truck, it has a rotor and brake caliper mounted to the axle next to the diff. In the article it says it is a driveline brake but doesn't mention what it does. Does anybody know? I don't know what it is or what it does but i want one!!

-Jon

 

it is a normal brake, the thing is that they are not road leagel. My guess would be that they wear out too fast, or fade quickly. You would also have your axel ratio against you when trying to stop.

Just my $.02

 

There is nothing illegal about a driveshaft brake ... as long as the DOT approved brakes that came with the truck are still intact and in working order.

In offroading circles they are sometimes used as a parking brake. They require less maintenance to keep them working, the cables don't hang down. If mud and sand get in the drums it will still work.

If the truck is full time 4wd it will have a diff in the tcase. By using the brake the driver can make the power go to the front if needed. I doubt the driver of a truck that nice would stick with the lame full time setup.

... just thinking ... but it would be cool if you could add it into the rear brake circuit. There are always brake system effectiveness problems with big tires and heavy axles. Of couse that wouldn't meet DOT specs even though it might be safer.

 

I read an article in a magazine about this two weeks ago. Basically tha truck is not streetable, the brake right there causes a high pinion load (since it is mounted on the pinion) and will eventually wear the bearings out. They also aren't really enough brakes for a truck that big.

For a street setup on 2.5 ton axles they showed a regular set of disk brakes mounted like they usuaklly do and said this is the way to go.

 

Okay, the rockwell axles have a straight through pinion design and is therefore very well built for this setup and that allows them to be set up in tandem on the back of deuce and a halfs... aka 2 1/2's... now the drive line break is actually very effective.. since its turning as fast as the driveshaft is and not as fast as the tires are turning.. basically the faster the brakes is turning, the more stoping power it will have....the only thing i'm confused in that article is the fact that it didn't look like there were ANY brakes in the rear.. if he did discs on the outside of steerable knuckles then god bless him but I doubt it...