Inside the 2 1/2-ton Rockwell Axle

Rockwells weigh nearly 700 pounds in stock form, but you can shave off about 120 pounds by removing the huge drum brakes and backing plates and replacing them with either a pinion-mounted disc brake setup (shown right) or...

...a wheel-mounted disc-brake conversion.

Poison Spyder Customs offers its high-clearance Deuce Skid to replace the stock Rockwell housing bowl. The Deuce Skid adds ground clearance, rids your Jeep of the whack-prone factory drain plug, and is built from high-pressure steel that's 3/8-inch thick on the bottom and 1/4-inch thick on the sides.

The stock deuce steering arm is held on by four bolts similar to an early kingpin-style Dana 60. You can find steering arms or full hydraulic steering kits from some of the companies listed in the "Rockwell Sources" sidebar. MileMarker makes Selectro locking hubs for the front axles, but at around $600 per set, we'd probably just leave the stock drive flanges alone and let the front driveshaft and gears spin.