Snowy's 3-Linked 98 Xtra Cab

It’s a Sky’s Offroad Design axle they built in the mid 2000’s. No longer in production though.

Yep, 12” 2.0 resi’s

 

First trip under the belt and no major issues to speak of! The difference in ride quality was as much as I had hoped. I used to get a fore and aft rocking over nuisance rocks that felt like drivetrain slop rubber-banding back and forth, now it’s completely eliminated. I knew my 15 year old front springs weren’t helping control axle wrap but now I know how bad it was.

The amount of steering I had bound up in big rocks was huge too. I hadn’t fully realized how much leafs let the axle shift side to side under high load situations.


Actual capability on leafs was 95% of what the 3 link has. Approach angle is way better now but it largely acts the same once you get into technical crawling.

I’d still advocate people do leafs for their first SAS. The amount of labor and added complexity isn’t proportional to the gain in capability for someone’s first serious SA build. The odds of staying out of project hell and actually finishing the swap is way higher with leafs. I may be skewed though since I really don’t like the build process the way some folks do, I enjoy the results and use far more than building...the one exception would be going SD60 axles on 40’s+, the beef is worth dealing with the short driver side tube and having to link it because of it.

 

Happy to hear this! I just finished up redoing the rear of my truck and adding in cab winch controller as well

 

Are you ready to link the rear now?

 

Oh god no. I don’t care much for actually building stuff, I enjoy using the truck wheeling far more than garage time so I’ll wheel it as is for quite a while.

The only thing I need to do now is relocate my traction bar mount on the frame. It’s ripped and been repaired enough that I need to make a crossmember and move it to the driver side so the exhaust isn’t banging into it

 

New tool day! Picked up a cold cut saw and discovered that they sell battery adapters to interchange Milwaukee 18v and dewalt 20v batteries

for Dewalt 18V/20V Max Battery Adapter Convert to for Milwaukee M18 18V Tool Use

$15 Adapter for DeWalt to Milwaukee Battery, Aikeec Battery Adapter for DeWalt 18 20V Lithium Battery Convert to for Milwaukee 18V M18 Battery Use for Milwaukee M18 Cordless Power Tool (Adapter only)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C2PS5VK

 

what's the difference between this and putting a metal cutting blade on a regular 7" circular saw?

 

This has a 9” blade for increased cutting depth on thicker material like tube and runs at a much lower RPM so it doesn’t put heat in the material and the blade lasts longer

 

Getting ready to run down to Windrock this weekend… Redrilling my steering arms with the drag link and tie rod closer to the kingpin to speed up the steering and get some additional angle out of it. I’ll trim the knuckle balls and backer rings to get 40+ degrees. Had to pick up some new longer heims to push the axle another inch forward to clear the steering being set back another inch.

Toy hauler is getting a new grey water tank after the old one cracked on top and isn’t big enough to handle 30+ gallons over a week. Beyond happy to have the shop floor done so I can no longer work on gravel!

 

Awesome I'll have somewhere to shit next weekend!

 

Went down for a long weekend at Windrock and had a great time. Weather was perfect for mid August and we stayed dry until late Saturday night.

Ran trails 15/3/40 on day one. 40 turned into
A winch fest at the end but we were running it backwards unknowingly. Made a number of notes on my trail map after this trip! Ran 16 on day two. The scale of Windrock always throws me off when I go back. Day 1 was a 10+ hour day on trail and 16 took about 5 or 6 hours too moving along at a pretty good clip. The blue 4Runner lost a head gasket at the start of day 2 when he noticed it wouldn’t cool off and started steaming like a freight train out the breather

 

Had an interesting drive home after driving through a monsoon on the way out to the interstate and then blowing a charge air cooler tube on the Ford at the top of a big grade 45 mins north of Knoxville. Scared the shit out of me and I fully expected rods hanging out of the motor after the big bang and zero power.



After a quick roadside diagnosis, I was able to limp the truck off the highway and into a truck stop. After a few phone calls I found a replacement at the O’reily’s DC in Knoxville so I unloaded the Tacoma and drove it to grab the new tube. Threw it on and eventually made it home about 4 hours later than planned!

 

Shit you should have called me, I would have turned around to get parts or at least BS!!

 

Don't they make an aluminum charge pipe aftermarket? My boss blew his too, towing his enclosed home over the summer. Upgraded to aluminum

 

Ha yeah that would have been the move to make!

The Dorman part I got was shockingly nice and all steel with silicone boots instead of the crappy hard plastic from the factory. I knew they weren't known to be super strong but I'd figured it was mostly tuned guys breaking them pushing big boost and the aftermarket was just trying to make a buck with new parts. I may actually look into a disaster prevention kit just in case I ever have a problem with the CP4...

 

Rescue tape and some hose clamps probably solves most things

 

Went and bought a thing today from a guy (Derek with Vice Grip Garage) up between Eau Claire and Minneapolis. Ford 9N that has a Sherman hi-lo range with the loader, finish mower, snow blade, clamp on forks. Should be great for my property maintenance needs and general work around the shop with moving heavy stuff or trailers around.

 

So what kind of hackery is keeping this thing going? Coming from Derek, wouldn't expect it to be factory

 

It’s actually pretty good. Converted to 12v with a GM one wire alternator, new automotive oil filter head, fresh hydro lines, new carb and fresh fuel lines. Motor is a rebuilt 8n so it runs great and doesn’t smoke at all. It’s got a few oil leaks but it’s 70+ years old so that’s to be expected when it probably leaked brand new

 

Boring update but it’s an update…

Plumbed in new rear brake lines and added a ball valve line lock to use as a parking brake. Been paranoid the dog is going to knock the truck out of gear while I’m out spotting. Took the time to delete the LSPV and add in a proportioning valve too. Got all Allstar performance stuff that worked great after seeing negative reviews on the generic branded valves