The Meritor 611 axles are comparable to an older 5 Ton Rockwell axle, they feature planetary gear reduction hubs, large steering kingpins and knuckles, central tire inflation, and hi-pinion center section. The main appeal to a Meritor 611 axle, is the massive strength built into the steering knuckles and the face loading design, this makes it an extremely tough axle without the clearance issues of a top loading center section. They are also a higher quality axle than the older Rockwell’s, the machined tolerances and designs are better engineered, and at the time of publishing this the 611 axles are quite reasonably priced.

Why Don't I Want a Meritor 611?

They are on the higher end of axle weight, a stripped down 611 will still weigh around 1000 lbs. There are no traction aids available, to my knowledge, the differential is open from the factory and would need to be welded. Planetary hubs can be susceptible to contamination and can take a bit longer to set up when being serviced.

Are Pinion or Disc Brake Kits Available?

Yes, we offer a quality pinion brake kit, however they are expensive due to the fact that the pinion yoke has to be replaced by a flat flange, in order to mount a rotor. Wheel disc brake kits have slowly started to hit the market, it's been slow, but they should start to show up in greater numbers soon. Also swapping mx23 knuckles and hubs will allow you to run a disc brake on a 611 axle, you will need the king pins from the mx23 to make everything work, also switching to an mx23 hub will change your bolt pattern to 10x335mm

Are Replacement Parts Available?

Yes, the axles are new enough that parts are available from Arvin Meritor, however it can be difficult to purchasing parts for military axles as a civilian. Western Canadian Rockwell stocks almost all items for these axles.

Are There Different Versions of The Meritor 611 Axle?

Yes, the newer unused axles showing up have a cast housing and 6.14 gearing, some of the older axles have plate steel housings and 7.80 gearing, as far as I’ve seen these are the 2 most common versions. Meritor also has an mx23 axle available as military surplus, but it's in a different league than the 611, therefore I won't get into it right now.

Hub Reduction

Meritor 611 and mx23 hubs are all a 2:1 reduction. This means if the overall ratio of the axle is 6.14 the carrier ratio is 3.07 (1/2 the overall ratio)

PHYSICAL WEIGHT AND DIMENSIONS/ SPECS

Front and Rear WMS: 88.75" with drum brakes on

Hub Reduction is 2:1
Inner Shaft OD 1.64" 32 Spline
Stub Shaft OD 1.84" 36 Spline 

King Pin OD 2" Upper and Lower are the same 

RF611 Bolt Pattern 10x285mm
MX23 Bolt Pattern 10x335mm

Hub OD 13.15"

Steering length measured on the stock tie rod 10.5" 

Plate Steel Axle Weights, DeBraked (approx):
Front: 1026 lbs
Rear: 800 lbs
Bare Cast Steer Housing: 296 lbs

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