Damned u-bolts. That passenger side was a workout....

 

Looking good guys. What was the problem with the u-bolts?

 

One of the passenger side u-bolts has to bend around the toy housing, PITA to get it lined up with the plate.

 

Status update...

So, the springs are on, the axle housing is bolted on, thirdmember is in...

I had a hell of a time getting the inner shafts to go into the diff if I had the birfs attached since I couldn't get the far end of the shaft to lift up enough to clear the splines. I did finally get both to go in by seperating the inners and getting them started then putting the birfs back on, but then I couldn't get the knuckles over the outers. It's a heck of a lot easier to get the birfs in when the axle isn't bolted up so you can flip the housing over at will and use gravity to help get them lined up. I decided since I'm going to be getting a set of longfields and chromo inners anyways, I'm just going to leave them out for now and keep reminding myself not to fill the diff with oil until I get the new shafts in. I could get them in now, but I'd have to disassemble the outer knuckles and at the moment I don't have a set of gaskets for them. Besides, I think in all my attempts the only thing I succeeded in doing was destroying the new seals.:pat:

The knuckles are on, hi-steer is on....

But... it looks like the tie-rod and draglink are going to interfere, so I'm going to have to get a shorter pitman arm. The hi-steer arms I'm using are from Sky and are already shorter than most, but I believe he makes a pitman arm that's an inch shorter than the stock one so I'm going to try that first before attempting to move the box forward on the frame. The reason for the interference is the axle is an inch forward from stock solid axle location for better firewall clearance. I kind of expected the interference, but was hoping it would just work and not hit.

I'm also waiting on the shocks to arrive, had a 2-3 week lead time to build them. I'm a little worried about the hoops I got, they look a bit short for the shocks I'm planning on using which are a 14" short-body Bilstien 7100. I'm waiting on them to get here before I weld the shock tabs to the axle, and I still need to put some beefy steering stops on it too so it's probably a good thing I'm not able to get the axles in just yet.

Today's tasks are to get the wheel hubs and brakes installed, torque/re-torque everything that needs to be, and then get the rear springs bolted up. Hopefully I'll get to do a little test drive around the block tonight. I'm going to be starting late though, needed to sleep in since I've been feeling a little deprived lately. So far it's been 8 days straight of 12-16 hour work sessions to get this done. Every joint in my body is aching...

Oh ya, and it hurts to type... :cry:

I'm kind of wishing I'd stopped for a few weeks once the bumper was done so I could rest and have the axle prepped and completely assembled beforehand. The last few days have turned into a rush to get it done.

 

Hey Shane, glad to hear you're making some progress, although I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties.

If it's any consolation, it's a bit of a PITA to get the inner axles seated correctly on a D44 as well (not a huge one, but a pain all the same )

Have you already installed the shock hoops? It really makes life easier if you've got the shock in hand, and can mock up the setup...

Also, did something happen to the web cam? I haven't been able to connect to it since yesterday (I dunno if it's just my connection or not... I can see 4-low.com, and I can ping the source for the stream, I'm just not getting anything but the "Connecting to media..." status...

Best of luck throughout the rest of this project. I'll be watching as the webcam and my garage projects allow

ChrisCo

 

Nope, waiting on the shocks to arrive.

The webcam isn't running at the moment, haven't gotten over to Mike's yet today. I'm sort of dragging my feet today.

 

The webcam is not working on my end, likely my stupidity more than anything.

How far forward is the axle from stock?

How much lift are you shooting for?

Thanks for the details and keep up the good work,
Adrian

 

The axle is approximately an inch forward from stock, and mounts included the lift is ~6"


The webcam is up now.

 

Shane, I was looking at http://www.allprooffroad.com/. They now have Profields which are supposed to be stronger then birfields because they use the same process as CTM products. First they go through cryogenic freezing, and then they are heat treated. Check them out if your going to go that way!!! Just a little bit of info!

 

Holy crap!! This is amazing!! Sorry Rob, but I think Shane has you beat on the webcam this time. Is it a live feed? If so, that's freakin amazing man.

 

Thanks! There's about a 10-15 second delay, but yes live feed.


I'm going to get a set of longfields since Bobby has dropped the price nice and low and shipping is free. I'm stuck waiting 'til the 17th for the 4340 chromo inners though Probably won't have a front driveshaft until around then anyways so it doesn't matter that much.

 

DarylD is in the house...

You guys look like something bad is wrong. What problem are you trying to figure out?

 

Just looking things over.

 

Whew, okay. Y'all had me worried there.

 

Gotta wait for the paint to dry on the wheel hubs, so dinner break time! Back in a couple hours to finish...

 

Ya , my dial up is too slow for the live camera feed , so I had to go see in person. Shane's doing very nice work He also has some very nice welding equipment . Daryl

 

Shane, when you're done come up and do my truck too.

 

Ok, next weekend sound good?

 

i haven't been paying attention, did I just witness its first time on the ground with the wheels on?

Looks like test drive time to me!!!

 

Yes!!!





but.... no front brakes yet. Still need to bolt on the calipers, hook up the new hoses, and bleed them. Then it's time to swap out the rear springs. Also still have to install shocks/shock hoops, and box in the engine mounts. There's probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting too...