Venture Axle Swap?

[Chance]

Companies like Quigley and others have been swapping axles for off-road purposes for decades. If you do a search you'll find lots of pictures of Class Cs converted to 4X4.

It's really not that difficult. I worked at a shop after school that replaced front and rear axles on a regular basis, and also added transfer cases to allow farm trucks to go into fields. Most of the axles and transfer cases were surplus military back then.

Ford E-Series are presently a common chassis to upgrade by using F-Series 4X4 components.

The problem here is that off-road use is often more concerned with super-high-torque capabilities because of low gearing, whereas the need here is for load carrying. Your need is very different.

Your axle is rated at 9,600 pounds, so you could upgrade to a 12,000-pound unit. It would be so expensive though that I don't see how you'd ever justify it if done right, which would have to include new tires, wheels, brakes, etc....

I still think it's easier to reduce the load; unless you are way over the axle's rating. Have you actually weighed the RV fully loaded? If so, what was rear weight?

[Bob Denman]

I just went and did some digging...
The DANA 80 is actually rated for 11,000 pounds, but is commonly de-rated by the manufacturers.
Artek Industries offers a KILLER axle-truss...


(Off-Roaders know how to build the strongest rear axles imaginable!)
Remember: we're also operating under high-torque loads. These rigs aren't lightweights!