Custom Axle Manufacturing for Specialty, Industrial & Off-Road Vehicles

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:04]All right, so we're back at East Coast Gear Supply as always talking with Chase. Now we're talking about custom axles and we say custom axles, we don't just mean like an axle for your Jeep, right? You guys can build anything.

[00:00:15]>> Absolutely.

[00:00:15]>> So let's talk about like what's the craziest thing that you've built in the past little while? I'm looking at these weird giant 9-ft wide axles over here.

[00:00:23]>> Yeah, this one is definitely a strange one. It's a swamp race buggy.

[00:00:29]>> Yeah, I've seen them. They're kind of crazy.

[00:00:30]>> Uh so it's maybe 12 in of water and they ride on top of the water. So super wide, very custom wheel tire flotation devices on them. Uh I think the coolest project we ever did, we called it the pickle pumper axle.

[00:00:46]>> Okay.

[00:00:47]>> It was a pickle company, uh Mount Olive Pickle Company, and the machine that drove to the vats of pickles, these vats of pickles were probably 30-ft in diameter, 25-ft tall full of pickles.

[00:01:01]>> Okay.

[00:01:01]>> And the machine would suck the pickles out and shoot the brine back in and drive down the lanes of vats and vats and vats of pickles. And so their axles completely rusted out in this machine that was probably designed in the '80s.

[00:01:17]So drove down there and when the machine was full of pickles, it weighed like 30,000 lb, but it only needed to go like 5 mph. So we designed a very very heavy duty fully powder coated cuz the the pickle brine juice would get down and start rusting everything. So coating was very important, weight was very important, and making the pickle machine drive.

[00:01:41]>> That's pretty rad. The pickle pumper.

[00:01:42]>> The pickle pumper. And you've been able to do that because as you've said, you have all the building blocks to basically build pretty much any axle, right? So let's just talk through some of the stuff because that to me is the The part of this. This is all new parts, even though some of these parts have, you know, been around forever, right?

[00:02:02]So, let's just run down some of the options that people have at East Coast Gear Supply.

[00:02:05]>> So, this is kind of like your CJ or old F-150 knuckle. A Wagoneer would have a C like this on it. So, we can take this C and build a 5 on 5 and 1/2 or 6 on 5 and 1/2 wheel end package.

[00:02:24]>> Yeah.

[00:02:24]>> B you know, your 1310 U-joint. So, you can get super joints, you can get a good locking hub, you know, mild build, but great for your lighter weight vehicles running like a 35-in tire. And then, this is a TJ C. So, we have uh the TJ C.

[00:02:42]We do have some WJ Cs, we have JL JT Cs, JK Cs.

[00:02:49]So, with the C end, now we can build anything in that Jeep realm back to OE form, but we can also use this if you had a mining vehicle or industrial vehicle, something like that. Again, not real heavy.

[00:03:05]We can run 5 on 4 and 1/2 pattern, 5 on 5. And then, we start stepping up into our kingpin, which would run a 1480 joint. So, now you're starting to get into a heavier weight class, a 1-ton weight class. We want to build that in 8 on 6 and 1/2 cuz that's a good match, but we can do that in 5 on 5 and 1/2 and 6 on 5 and 1/2. So, you get the big 1480 U-joint, but you keep that smaller wheel pattern if you so choose.

[00:03:32]Then, we've got some ball joint options, which this would be like a '05 plus ball joint option. Or there's other wheel end kits that will bolt to this ball joint knuckle that isn't a unit bearing design. So, you can go 8 on 170, 8 on 6 and 1/2. This could be anything. It doesn't have to be a Jeep or or even any vehicle. It could be a specialty vehicle that a company or individual is specking out. And what we're looking at is tire size, weight, cost, you know, all those things. What are you trying to accomplish? Because if you have a specialty vehicle, I mean, we've done trailers that drive themselves. And so it's heavy for a time and it just needs to roll, but it also will drive itself.

[00:04:20]So mass producing, they need to bring the cost down. They're not four-wheeling it. It's just different mobility solutions. There's um an application where we run this ball joint C 1-ton class, but not extreme, right? 31-in tire, but a 1-ton class. And then our KP540 C, which this is kind of our flagship baddest boy. You know, this is in the 15,000-lb weight class when we're talking industrial applications or specialty vehicle. And then from a off-road perspective, you know, you don't weigh 15,000 lbs, but you do have a lot of horsepower and you do have >> 43-in tire.

[00:05:03]>> And then with all those axle end options, when it comes to the center section, you have tons of options there as well, right?

[00:05:09]>> Correct. 8 and 1/2-in ring gear, 8.9-in ring gear, 9 and 3/4, your Dana 60, and then 10 and 1/2's your 14-bolt, and then 11 and 1/4 is your Dana 80. So obviously, ring gear size grows, strength of the axle grows, weight class grows. So currently, you know, Dana 80 is as big as we go. Although right now, and the next evolution will be even bigger than the Dana 80. And again, that's probably not for the Jeep crowd.

[00:05:39]That's more for the industrial specialty vehicle heavyweight class that just needs application.

[00:05:45]>> Yeah, section.

[00:05:46]>> Yeah, you're talking 15,000 lb.

[00:05:48]>> Yeah, plus.

[00:05:48]>> And you need it unbreakable.

[00:05:50]>> Yeah.

[00:05:50]>> And then also the same goes for the rear, right? You can do semi-float, full-float, multiple spline counts, everything, right?

[00:05:57]>> Yeah, so a lot of different wheel end rear options. This would run like a TJ Rubicon brake kit or late model TJ disc brake kit. This is we call set 20. A lot of people refer to as like the Explorer or the Torino end. So, the Torino end very popular in both car and off-road off-highway. You can run a set 20 bearing. We actually have a sealed set 20 bearing design, which is neat. A lot of time set 20 is a great axle bearing, but a set 20 axle seals weep. And um there's a a few applications that we build for that like weeping is a non-starter. You know, if it's your off-road truck and it's got a little wetness on that backing plate, it's not that big of a problem, but in one application there can be absolutely no fluid uh loss. And so, we came up with a sealed set 20 design that we really like, and we build that as a standard just to keep people from having wet backing plates.

[00:07:00]>> Got you.

[00:07:00]>> Uh so, great wheel bearing and we kind of solved its fatal flaw.

[00:07:04]>> Okay.

[00:07:04]>> So, this is FJ Cruiser or 4Runner, so it'll take the factory uh brake kit and it will hold the wheel bearing, so you're able ABS stays the same. This is a crazy end that is a secret, but that's for a specialty customer that's 100% they had very very specific request on what they needed the brakes to be and the shafts to be and all these things. And so, you know, we just designed it, made it for them, and it is what it is. Now, this is not necessarily the regular because a lot of our value add is we already have the building blocks, so you don't have to pay for tooling and all this engineering time. But, if you have a specific need in the volume, then we can make anything. You know, we'll design it, make it, and fulfill the need. But, really our value add is we already have this stuff and we have purchased in, you know, large volume, so we bring that cost way down and >> Jeep is buying axles, you know, from from Dana cheaper than what we can build them, but we have figured out how to bring those specialty vehicle costs down to make your your final project viable to the market. So, there you go. East Coast Gear Supply can build you whatever custom axle you want, and it doesn't have to just be one axle. If you need a hundred axles, if you have a hundred pickle pumpers, was it a four-wheel drive pickle pumper? Nope. Oh, well, maybe you need a hundred four-wheel drive pickle pumpers for your massive pickle factory, East Coast Gear Supply can build you those axles.