Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

I would love to move to colorado, i had two chances and blew them both!! Although with all the parks opening in KY and TN and the eco nazis shutting stuff down out west, we may be close to a wheeling hot bed around here.

I'm still looking for the hard stuff in Attica, i don't count those gay ass cliffs in the quarry as difficult, that's all wheel base and throttle.

Harlan's definitely cool, my last trip out convinced me i need a front locker and cage.

 

Now thats what i call some rear FLEX...

 

You got an extra 8 grand laying around I can borrow... I have that kind of money, but I sure don't want to spend it all on new axles.

I may swap a couple years down the road. I was getting ahead of myself wanting to go to 60s as I just rebuilt the D44 it'd be a waste to not use it until I wear it out again. I hate leaf springs, worst design ever. They always fucking flop forward and they sit way to fucking high and they are just in the fucking way. Not to mention I bent a fucking BRAND NEW leaf and I'm just over it. Can't bend it back without ruining all the spring clamps and I'm not shipping it to cali just to have them fix it.

They don't flex worth a shit either, I'm always off camber on the slightest hill, I rather be more stable when wheeling which a 3link will bring. SO MUCH AXLE wrap in the front too. I use all TEN INCHES of driveshaft slip as well and it's retarded, at full droop I get about 1" of spline engagement, that's just asking to fail.

Now that I am doing a 3 link I can run the new SD axle when the time comes to swap them in, instead of using the outdated KP ford that's outrageous in price. Couldn't keep the leafs and use new SD axle since the spring width would of been like 5 miles.

The logical thing to do would be 3 link the front with dana 60 swap and 40s, but that's about $11k from my calculations. Don't give me that bull shit just use the axle as it because that's the dumbest fucking thing a person can do. Let's break everything we can first trip out and run 3.73 gears with 120 hp and a stock t-case... No.

 

Just use the axle as is, if you can break a stock d60 shaft with a 120hp motor and a stock tcase gearing, somethings not right with that axle!!

Yea front end axle wrap can be a PITA, ill need to figure that out when I do my swap. Oddly enough my buddy with a 4runner on 37s with a 3.4 duals and on leafs doesn't have that problem, yet my other buddy with a mini truck with a 22r has crazy front axle wrap. What brand spring did you bend? Sounds like your front end is designed like shit if your having all those problems, not the leafs fault.

 

Speaking of T-cases... should I be doing anything to mine to strengthen it? (Other than swapping it out for an atlas haha)

OTOH, if anything breaks I have a complete spare t-case and another complete set of parts minus the case itself.

 

Well even If I ran stock axle, I need to change the gear ratio out, gotta buy install kit, gotta pay for someone to install it, new wheel bearings and seals, driveshaft flange, ubolts and flip kit, shock mounts, new diff cover since it'd be stupid as hell to run that 1/16" plate shit, gotta fab a new hydro mount, need high steer, reinforced knuckles, new king pins, locking hubs, locker etc... That still adds up to over $3k into the axle.

The leaf springs I am running are Davez offroad custom toyota ones. I had my leafs set-up exactly how to recommended and they still fucking bent and flopped forward and shit. So I re-did the leaf spring mounts and they are much better now, but I still hate them.

 

Don't be a pussy, buy an atlas or TWF hero case

 

Atlas < TWF 3spd

 

If your running the stock chain drive case there is not much you can do to strengthen it. Its a beast of a case in stock form except for that tiny input. Make sure you cake the input in anti seize when you mate it to the crawl box (if running one) to prevent metal fretting corrosion and striping out the input. I stripped out my crawl box v1.0 because i did not do this.

Supra: good point about the gears and ram mount, the other crap... Adding Daves springs to my list of springs not to consider. I'm looking at 4404's, sky offroad's or OME mini truck rear springs.

 

There aren't too many spots at the badlands that a link setup versus a leaf setup that will make or break you. It's just not that technical in the rocks there. Lots and lots of people all over the country run leafs just fine for years without issues when setup correctly too. I did give in and built an anti wrap bar for the rear of my truck last weekend though, they aren't perfect by any means.

To each his own though I'm a DD capable kind of guy that doesn't own a trailer

 

Yea I read such good reviews. Maybe I just got a one off shitty one... I'm not sure. They did say they would fix it though. I just didn't want to ship it back and have them either not be able to fix it / replace it and then pay for shipping back... all while my truck is on jackstands. I don't like when it's on jack stands haha.

I ran Marlin crawler springs before hand and they were great. I ruined them myself though by not having bump stops so I can't honestly say how good they could of been. Pretty sure ALL POO makes their springs now

4404s always been a great choice I think, just gotta pull a spring out to soften them up right away and they are pretty stiff. I really considered TG as their springs look really nice too... But, fuck trail gear.

I really wish I could make switching axles over as simple as possible, that gear change really adds up if you have to pay someone to do it. There is such small things that just need to happen on an axle that make it viable to wheel.

Don't forget about tires... Sure I could use the same ones... but, they are small 37s and my wheel pattern is wrong - so there I gotta get beadlocks and rims to match the tires. Well, most 40s are a 17" rim so I mid as well buy 17" rims and well my 37s don't work for that so I should just buy new tires since generally there isn't much for sale around here (all in cali) and shipping kills any of the good deals... So BAM basically $3k in tires and wheels right there. Did I mention you need a spare?

 

I don't wheel just the badlands lol. That place is fucking trash. I rather wheel tracey city, harlan, wind rock etc... Where there is an actual challenge.

 

I will hopefully be ordering an atlas 4 next month .

 

There is a challenge at the badlands.... its seeing how many 4wheelers that you almost hit!! The invite only trails are pretty cool there, very hard stuff! I layed my truck over at the top of a v groove and had to drive it 100ft to the bottom on its side because there was no good place to winch it back over and out of the grove. It was my dads first time wheeling with me in the taco LOL!

Are they back holding events again at Tracy city? I went down there for SETO a few years ago and it was sweet and then there was some lease debate with the owners and they moved the event. Cool place, something for everyone, I would have shot myself or smoked the clutch, or both if i didn't have a crawler. The truck didn't leave double low for 3 days. I have to make it out to wind rock one of these days, i heard its a neat place.

On the gear thing: that's why me and my friend learned how to setup gears and pooled money and bought the tools to do it back in the early 2000's, not many shops i would trust around here and they all charge WAY too much money!!

 

My friend got his 4spd atlas at Hi angle driveline 20% cheaper than anywhere else he looked. This was back in 2005 or so, so it may have changed. Jess is a cool dude and gives some kickass service, hes the only vendor that talked me out of buying his product (one piece rear shaft for the taco)!! I buy all my u joints from him now because he took an hour out of his day to talk to me about his stuff and i didn't even buy anything.

 

Wild that's who im ordering it and the adapter from. Price wise it's the same from him or advanced adapter.

he is also selling me rest of the parts I need to make my front drive line 1.5 ton.

 

Sweet! Hes a cool dude, and someone you want to give your money to. My buddy has his drive-shaft's in his jeep as well, you wont be disappointed! If it wasn't a two week turnaround due to where i live, i would have them do all my drive-shaft work, but unfortunately i have to stick to the local shops.

 

I do my own drive line work (I have a lathe) but I will need parts from him.

 

I heard there is going to be a run at tracey city in may.. or at least that's what Mark told me. I've never been there, but he talks about it ALL THE TIME haha. I wish SETO was there again like it use to be back when the vendors and shit were there. I'd like to be apart of that.

I went to windrock once, had a bad experience due to my rig... but the trails were bad ass!! I wanna go back and have a great experience.

 

Get a crawler first or you will hate life there, trust me. Its mostly dried creek beds with rocks ranging from the size of basketballs to small cars with some ledges mixed in. Think johnson valley with smooth rocks, but there are some forest type trails as well. The part i liked the most was that the trail groups weren't split because the trails are as hard as you make them depending on the line. So if you have a mild truck, you are in the same group as the buggies and you can watch them get stupid on the "buggy" lines, while you pick your lines according to your ability. Lots of traction, so it was some of the hardest trails i ran but i felt i was the easiest on my truck if that makes any sense no need to bump stuff (too hard) or get stupid on the throttle if you can pick a line.