Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

Anything is possible with $$$

 

Yep. Your limitation is your pocket

 

Show me your fish plates that you guys have made to tie the old frame to the new frame. The ones I did on my personal Tacoma where a pain and I don’t care for the look and can’t find something I like for this new truck. Bonus picture of some motor mounts I made

 

Just copy and pasting this to see if anyone has any insight. Anyone using the lower radius arm mounts on a super duty axle for their lower links?

So building a truck for a buddy and goal is to crawl good while also being able to boogie across the desert. He bought a 4wheel underground kit but with the uptravel numbers we are trying to get most of it won’t work with the 05+ superduty axle.

Plan is 3 link with a 25 in frame height and 5 inches of uptravel minimum. Main issue I’m running into is using a shorter upper link mount on the axle side is making the link separation pretty low (6-7 inches) while using the upper radius arm mount like the 4wheel underground kit is setup to use.

I’d rather not go through the labor of clesning the radius arm mounts off and wondering if anyone has used the lower radius arm mounts for their lower links? I know they hang low but with some trimming and plating, I’ll gain some clearance.

 

I feel like I've seen it done but have no insight other than that. Those radius arm mounts look like they suck complete and total ass to wipe off the axle so I don't blame you.

 

The lower radius mounts hang as low as the pumpkin so I don’t think that’s a great trade off for more separation. Sucks to clean them up, but I wouldn’t half ass it. I’d do away with the SD provisions altogether and throw on the correct lower link mounts. You’ll have tons of clearance and range of motion. All the popular companies make 05 SD lower link mounts. Usually in a few flavors of degrees.

 

Talked to the guy I’m building it for. He said if I can’t use the uppers like the 4wu kit intends he wants to do it right and clean the axle. I got all the links tacd up and besides making a new axle side upper link mount, it looks like the upper radius arm mounts will work.

 

I’m curious why everything mounts so much higher than the axle center line on that kit. Seems like it’d have some funky characteristics- especially on the front. Already hard enough to fit things up there and get the most uptravel.

 

It really helps the roll axis angle for street driving at the expense of high loading on the link mounts

 

Can somebody check a gear pattern for me? I’m a noob, it’s my first time doing this. 5.38 gears, HP Dana 60, backlash is at 0.0065”. It seems centered to me but I’m not so sure about the hard edges towards the root of the contact patches. Thanks!

 

Looks like your a bit too deep on the ring gear. (Too deep on the ring gear equals too shallow on the pinion) So small increment changes on pinion depth because your close.
Any pics of the pinion pattern?
Also, need to apply more resistance to the ring gear when running a pattern. Try using a prybar against the ring gear as you spin the pinion flange. This will give you a more exact pattern to diag.

What you want is the contact patch to come up a bit from the root, and shift over closer to the toe (carrier). This will help with longevity as torque and bearing wear is applied to the ring gear over time.

Good reference guide https://www.yukongear.com/blogs/how-to-create-read-ring-gear-patterns_1

Example of small changes on my Toy diff, not quite the same but same pattern rules apply https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/project-dbl-blk-◇-by-toyryd.357381/page-24#post-25901124

 

@PainterVern how do you offroad with that much contact? Seemed like the CO is getting pushed against the frame by the tire in front of the track bar bracket? Is this the Martec kit?

 

@ToyRyd04 super helpful info! I guess I just don’t have my eyes trained to reading gears easily yet. Trying to calibrate my “eyecrometers”.

Attempt #2. I moved the pinion away from the carrier ~0.008” from before, backlash is 0.008”. The drive side looks maybe a tad deep but the coast side looks maybe just a tad shallow, so I’m not totally sure….Run it?

 

Looks much better, drive slightly deep is a great pattern. On reverse side your not going to get much better without shifting some off the drive. Pinion shows good engagement with a "comet tail" pattern.

Make sure you have good pinion preload and tested before you put the seal on. Seal drag causes false pinion preload readings.

At 500ish break in miles, pull the cover, drain the fluid and put some marking compound to see if the pattern has shifted. Will confirm your all good and ready for abuse.

 

Thank you for the help!!

 

Result of trying to outboard any kind of shock or coil-over on a factory Toyota rear axle. I’ve never seen a tire not rub the shock/coil in that situation

 

Yep. No room for factory axle especially when it involves a CO. Even a smooth body shock will rub without wheel spacer.

 

I run toyota yokes on my superduty and sterling rear with tons and 40s and no issues