Crunchy Taco? - 1st gen on 35s BS

Wait so your blowing up rear hubs but front cvs... are just fine?

 

Right, it was kind of a bum deal to break that chromoly rear shaft and have it take out the spindle and wheel hub with it

 

54" from front edge of bed to center of first mark, 13" center to center between marks

hmmmmmmmm

 

I've always been hesitant to do it in case I end up missing the space...but I don't really use the bed when I'm wheeling

Plus, this bed is pretty fucked up between my wheeling scars and the PO. Look at that nasty 1/8" bondo covering the drivers quarter

""""never been in an accident""""
""""clean car fax""""




As my friend would tell me, it's just metal. I can always extend the frame and throw a clean bed on if I hate it....

 

I was patting myself on the back for ordering everything before I realized I still need a spindle

I'm sure it's like $20 from pull n pay but I don't want to waste half my Saturday driving there and pulling one so I just ordered one from eBay.

 

I can never bring myself to do this because I always feel like I am running out of bed space. I love the look and idea, but just can't ever consider it.

 

You seem to use your bed a lot more than I do so I understand not wanting to give up any of that space.


For the most part the only things I ever have back there are the spare, hi lift, cooler, gas can, and on this last trip Ryan after his truck broke

 

Yeah especially since most of the trips I drive the truck to and from, not trailer and camp along the way. Definitely hard to keep the truck light this way though.

 

I would bob it before you mangle it up even worse, that would suck to weld.

I'm also in the pro full length bed camp, and the full length bed never really hung me up. Although I have been thinking flatbed recently.

 

Here's an idea of what it'd look like thanks to @TeecoTaco

 

I really need to take about half of the leaves out of the rear spring packs

 

Where is the before?

 

Started tearing into the truck. Shit is so fucked.

I had to use a pry bar and chisel to clean up the end of the spindle enough to get the spindle nut off with the right socket and an impact.



After that I spent 45 minutes heating the end of the spindle/wheel bearing with a torch and beating the rotor with a BFH to coax it off. I made it about 1/8" closer to the end but it's still 3/16" or so from being free.

I'll keep working at it tomorrow but at this point I'm thinking a liquid wrench would be nice.

For reference here's my new junkyard spindle, about 3/4 of the threaded portion was grenaded with the axle shaft

 

The struggle is real

Meanwhile im full sending it and nothing has broken... except that shock

Its the 35s

 

I ran 295s and then 35s with no issues on the stock setup with 3.90 gears. So far I've been disappointed in this setup which is supposed to be beefier and easier to work on when something breaks

 

New RCV shafts are $400 ea too

 

Well you dont need a giant press to do bearings right?

 

No press at all.

 

Since everything from the backing plate out is getting replaced I started cutting.

I cut around the base of the splined hub, made two opposite cuts parallel with the axle shaft, and split the splined hub off with a chisel. The outer wheel bearing cage and rollers came off with a few taps of the chisel and BFH.

Obviously this is a shitty option for any case where you want to reuse parts but the spindle is fucked up and I wasn't making any more progress trying to beat the rotor to get it to come off.