Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

They are going in a zuki based buggy, with fj80 axles they will live forever. Shit Im not worried about breaking them in my tacoma.

 

Those fuckers are heavy as shit. I hate having to move mine around

 

Exactly. It is the same story over and over again. People just get excited and carried away at first. Then they look back and realize they could have put all of that money on something else.

Many years back there were no options. Now, there's really no reason to dump all of that money on toyota axles. I am not talking necessarily about 1 tons but the custom axle market out there.

Personally, I think custom 9's is THE way to go for anybody that is serious about investing some $$$ on axles. It's really the best of all worlds.

Yea, any axle can live forever in a lightweight underpowered rig

When I bought my D60, I hated every minute of moving that thing around my garage. Even with an engine hoist it was a pain because the pumpkin is so heavy that each time I tried to move the axle the pumping would point down and shift the axle's position. I got to a point in which I learned how to maneuver it to the position I wanted; but it was a PITA each time nonetheless.

 

Got a little work done this weekend. This thing may end up looking like a truck again someday

 

Are you building a new frame for it then?

 

I am. Gave up on trying to fix it, just wasn't enough left to save. Devised a way to replace it all in sections since we don't have the room and tools to build it seperately and transfer everything over. Not ideal, wont be perfect, but it'll be a hell of a lot better than it was and should work out fine.

So the whole frame will be 2x4 3/16" wall box steel soon.

This weekend we will try to get the cab back down and mounted, build the crossmembers and try to get everything as straight and square as possibel. Again it won't be perfect but on a SAS truck as long as the front and rear axles are square it should be good to go....in theory

 

Dont even need that, my front and rear axles arent square lol!! Watching because i may have to do this someday.

 

Man, you have put an insanely amount of work on that thing.

Next time somebody starts arguing that "buying built" is cheaper and easier than starting a SAS from scratch, they should watch your build thread.

Was there anything useful on that truck after all? (besides the 1 ton axles, big tires and duals)

Props to you for fixing the mess and turning it into something great. New frame is gonna be strong.

Is there anything square on that rig? "D

 

The front axle knuckle balls are true and square!

 

First of all, Thank You. IT's cool when someone notices the work you're putting in. Helps keep the motivation levels up.

The engine and trans may be decent. I haven't driven them enough to know. Hope so, cause when they get ripped out the will be my backups for my DD. The crawlbox I purchased before I touched the truck so it doesn't get credit there.

So to answer your question...probably not.

My goal now is actually to leave as few original parts in place as possible. I want no trace of what a hacktastic POS this thing was when I get done. IF it takes years, I really don't care at this point. I have one pretty cool truck already. And I need a project to keep me sane.

Push come to shove I'll SAS my DD this year and wheel the piss out of it. It's already on 37s, I know what gearing works well on it for street/offroad. I'm probably going to 14bolt swap the rear on it soon anyhow. I've seen ( and experienced) too many rear end failures with the elocker and even the 8.4s.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention we raised the front frame rails while we were at it by 2" and the engine. That should solve some clearance issues and give me room to get more up travel while staying low low. I want at least 4" of up travel while staying as low as possible

 

Yup, raising the front part of the frame will definitely give you more up travel. That's the reason why some guys end up nothing the frame. And the farther up you can bring those coilovers, the lower the ride will be.

BTW, You might find it useful to install a small body lift. It will make like easier now that you have raised the engine a couple of inches.

You are really doing good work with the frame. it looks solid, the welds look good too. It will be a good project; and good projects take time. Hang in there!

Yea, those toyota rear 3rd explode eventually. The 8.4 is stronger in factory form, but still. A 14bolt is a no brainer. Super cheap and if you shave it; it makes a HUGE difference for clearance. Ruff Stuff sells a pretty darn complete disk brake kit to get rid off those gigantic drum brakes.. Yea, it is a heavy axle but worth it.

BTW, I got a late model 14bolt. They already come with factory disk brakes and ebrake. I have not made made the ebrake functional on mine yet; but apparently it is a common modification. I need to do some research on it.

 

No body lift needed, hes building a new frame, just raise the mounts.

 

So fuck after hanging around Cap and Eddy for awhile I've decided to just SAS. Going to be a slowish process but I'm going to be running a 14 bolt rear shaved. Right now I'm leaning towards a front 14 bolt shaved of course also. I know I'm going to have great help with this from Cap and Eddy. I'll also be doing a shock relocation in the rear with Chevy 63s. I may hear shit from this but I'm thinking of staying 37's since this will still be my DD for a little.

 

Nothing wrong with 37s, the dudes going with 40+ just cant drive!

Front 14 bolts are cool, but i think it may suck trying to fit it under a full bodied truck and not having it turn into a sky scraper, thats a big ass diff!

 

Yeah I'm still learning a lot about all this haha. Noob I know. I've also been looking at the '05+ ford axles for the front. But I've been told running a 1 ton axle and 37's my ground clearance would suck

 

We shaved a 14bolt in college (2002-3ish) to the point where it had more ground clearence than a d44 without shaveing down the ring gear. Its currently in a rig running 37s, it was an assload of work and required a milling machine, but it can be done! I would just run a 60 up front. Easier to fit and you wont ever break it in a full bodied truck on 37s.

 

i had thoughts of doing this but my tires are already eating the fenders at full flex and i wanted to run 44's so im going to say ill just leave it tall.

 

FIFY

 

Thats my plan. I actually already bought the body lift, but I won't end up using it. It just pull measurements from the top of the frame rail to the bottom of the cab on my DD which also has a 1" body lift and make the new cab mounts at that height.