Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

Love your build btw! Holy fuck that rotor hahaha

 

Hopefully your unnamed shop is not RST

 

Have no fear, the shop has a name. I will provide name upon completion so if someone's interested in having their truck done by a shop they can reach out. I actually met the builder through a local customer who was having his sas done by the same guy. His was dropped off the same week mine was picked up. This truck went away in stock form (Relatively) and came back as such.

 

Looks like mine. Lol. They went way forward up front.

 

The owner provided most of the parts and said he wants it to ride as low as possible. Lots of custom frame chopping/supporting for clearance. Even used an FJ80 steering box i believe. Pretty wicked build and owner says it drives 75 on the freeway comfortably. To say the lest, he's very happy with how it turned out.

 

Ahh ok I was going to say you either got the deal of the century or go pick that truck up immediately because your links would be made out of old chain link fence posts or some shit!!!

 

that would be something. I’m sure I’ll be pretty happy with the build. The only somewhat questionable aspect of this is my axle choice, but I think those will work out pretty well. If they don’t, sell em and install some different ones .

 

What axle is that, or did I miss that somewhere?

 

Nothing wrong with that! It's nice to have things done for the "just because" factor.

And you'll get body damage sooner than later lol

As others mentioned, the quote to link the front is really cheap.

If I recall correctly, there's around 100hrs worth of labor for my front 3-link. Then a bunch more hours (can't remember now from the top of my head) for the steering. Setting the steering can be very time consuming depending on your ride height and flex goals.

Anyway, consider yourself lucky! That's a heck of sweet deal you got there.

 

Matching set of Dana 44s from a 2013 Rubicon with 44k miles. Some specs for anyone who’s not familiar with them.
Front is high pinion, 8.5” RP, e locker, 30/32 spline shafts. 65.375 WMS. Rear is 8.8” RP with 32 spline shafts and e locker.

 

I’m no fabricator, but I’d assume for someone who does this for a living they probably have it down and can do it much quicker than a hobby builder. I know that XO Fab told me they would be done in 2 weeks max from start to finish. Personally this would take me a few years . I was gonna have my friends build it on leafs, but when I switched to 3 link I decided to have a professional do it.

 

You made the right choice with links! You won't regret it.

Wow, XO Fab quoted 2 weeks? Is that for a turn key build? That seems a bit unrealistic. Well, I suppose it is possible if they have an entire crew working on your project only everyday all day long.

 

Yeah two weeks from drop off to out there door. Seemed crazy fast but again if that’s what they do and they have a crew, I could see it possible. I must have called every shop working 6 hrs of me trying to get quotes but more importantly finding someone competent that’s done it before. I literally had a shop tell me to keep the factory jeep brackets on the axles and they will just install a jeep lift kit and make custom brackets . Fuck to the no. Another guy said “sure we will give it a shot”

 

Yea there's a lot of hacks out there lol.

With the bigger shops, the real profit comes from the "quicker" jobs not the big fabrication projects. A shop may quote two weeks for a SAS on a Tacoma. But if in those two weeks gear installation jobs come through the door, bolt-on lift kits, rock sliders, etc.; the shop's owner will move the crew to those projects first, especially if your rig is in the shop during the height of wheeling season.

Two weeks can easily turn into two months, and so on. I would say this is typical in the industry. Your single-man shop fabricator will probably build your truck faster than a fully staffed bigger shop.

 

Im hoping sometime next month I’ll be driving to Montana to pick it up. I was originally gonna fly there and drive it home but fuck plane ticket prices now!

 

Ahh okay. I know the shop, fortitude fab in Montana?

ive talked to the guy that owns that silver 4 door a bunch. He’s had his fair share of issues. Nothing major but some of it I was surprised by.

still good on you but I would not consider that pricing the norm lol. I have a pretty good idea of how to build these now and it’s still a duck ton of hours to do one properly as not everyone is the same.

looking forward to see it though.

 

Mine will be considerably taller, which I’d imagine will make it easier to fit everything. Again, I know very little about fabrication and how the geometry comes into play with links, track bar and drag link. I’ve met a lot of people in the NW that built their own and it’s pretty impressive.

Are you referring to Travis rig? There’s like 3 rigs in the NW that are all one tons, silver, 40s, low and shaved fenders. They all kinda look alike.

theres also a guy in my town doing a black 1st gen double cab right now. 3 link on 40s, atlas, diamond housings front and rear.

 

Assume you live in Wa, if you do you gotta stop by Outlaw in Kent and check out their 4dr they are building right now. They got the tube front with a 4 link down to a science, tell them Kevin told you to look haha

 

I’m actually in OR but I know where Kent is. I’m always down to check out other rigs and see how they’re built

 

Where's this shop in Montana? I might have to check them out.