Birfield rings/hub fuses

[Dee]

anyone used the RRO (or whoever does them) birfield rings and/or the warn(?) hub fuses?

Sounds like a cheap and quick fix if your on the trail (fuse) and also may help prevent breakage/ lengthen cv life?

With everyone mentioning cv's with 33's on zook axles etc im surprised I hadnt heard of people talking much about them on here is all...

[fool_injected]

The Zuk I'm building has birfields, they were already there
Never heard of a hub fuse so I goooogled it

http://www.warn.com/truck/axles/hub_fuse.shtml

Hub FuseTM
Designed for the special needs of hardcore competition rockcrawlers, here is a cure for most of the broken U-joint blues. The WARN Hub Fuse replaces the standard clutch ring in WARN hubs. It is designed to give before an expensive and difficult to replace U-joint. A spent Hub Fuse can be replaced in minutes on the trail with standard tools and costs much less than a U-joint.

Here's the story: The standard WARN Premium hublock clutch ring is designed to withstand over 80,000 inch-pounds of pressure, a 297x U-joint will normally break at around 55,000 inch pounds in a straight ahead condition (considerably less at an angle). The Hub Fuse is designed to work up to about 46,000 inch pounds.

So when the Hub Fuse works, it strips the teeth. So the competitor pulls the cap, replaces the spent Hub Fuse, then replaces the cap and gets back into competition quickly. It could be the difference between making history and being a footnote.

Fits all 1/2 ton (3 inch) internal mount hublocks and all external mount hublocks with triangles next to the 4x4 and 4x2 on the chrome cap.

[Dee]

yeah.

see halfway down this page also.
http://www.rocky-road.com/zukdrive.html

[cj]

The problem with the hub fuse is that zuk stuff breaks before the fuse as it is designed for bigger rigs. I have heard of people trying to modify them (Dremel) to let go earlier but it's a bit hit and miss.

[Hekta]

I thought the Warn Hub Fuse was just for jeeps

[Dee]

i dont know, i saw them on the zuk page at rro so i thought they were made model specific?

Anyway, who is running birfield rings then? thoughts on them/work well?

[redzook]

The Zuk I'm building has birfields, they were already there

suzuki's come stock with birfields

so do toyotas and nissans


birfield is what the yanks call CV's



birfield rings or cv rings is a ring that is welded to to bell of the cv to stop it trying to expand and break

[jeep97tj]

my wrangler had hub fuses. While it is a really good idea and only a 5min and clean fix if u break one the catch is u have to buy there alloy axles and trick unis eg OX or ctm, other wise the fuses will be the strongest part in your axle combo. Never heard of them for zuks before but make sure u find out what axles u need before ordering them.

[lay80n]

The Zuk I'm building has birfields, they were already there

suzuki's come stock with birfields

so do toyotas and nissans


birfield is what the yanks call CV's



birfield rings or cv rings is a ring that is welded to to bell of the cv to stop it trying to expand and break

Brifield is what a CV is. Most Yank rigs have uni's instead (open knuckly) think Dana diffs. We are the opposite, most of our rigs run a closed knuckle birfield design.

Layto....

[hyzook]

I have run these rings for around 5 years with lockrites and 33's still on the same set (touch wood)
http://www.spidertrax.com/s.nl/it.A/id. ... tegory=100

[PAZZ]

the rings are just pressed on, but you have to do a bit of grinding inside the knuckle to fit them in, some people have worries about it weakening the knuckle,

pazz

[Gwagensteve]

I think there are three main problems with rings.

A) You will never know if they saved a CV because it is impossible to know if you would have briken one in that spot without the rings

B)if you do break a CV with a ring, you have to throw the ring too.

C) not all CV breakage initiates in the bell. more often than not, the cage will break first, and then the bell will go once the balls can move around and jam up. I am convinced that the last CV I broke (driving a friend of Greg's car) went in the cage first. there was only one very small crack in the bell but the cage was toast. Under these circumstances, a rins doesn't really help.


In relation to hub fuses - I think these are a dumb idea. Even when the diffs and axles are exactly the right parts, it is still possible to break axles/units before the fuses, because the fuses are designed to break before maximum load with the wheels straight ahead. With the wheels turned, the uni/cv will be weaker than the fuse.

Christian Hazel tried a set in his Ramcharger when he wrote for Petersens and that was his finding.

If the fuse was weaker then the uni/cv at full lock, you would be breaking them all the time.

Ps I think the only viable solution for sierra diffs are trail tough double tough front axles. I would like to see a comparison, to failure, between these and hilux CVs - I think the DT's would be stronger. they look at least as beefy as MQ patrol and are better material.

Steve.