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91 XLT Solid Axle Swap

My 91 Xlt Explained in detail

Ok, I posted in the SAS thread but i figured i would go into a little more detail about my truck just incase anybody finds it interesting.

I did a full paint job on my truck about a year ago. I left it the original color because i liked it. I shaved the holes that hold on the emblems and didnt put any of those or the moldings back on the truck.
To the engine, I did the air box mod and dropped in a K&N. Put on a set of 'nascar' plug wires. I installed Jba headers, a high flow cat, and a flowmaster exaust . We tucked the exaust up as high as you can and put a turned down pipe coming right out of the muffler. I also took the fan clutch off the motor and installed a 'Black magic 150' Primary cooling fan along with an aluminum four core radiator. This fan flows 2800 cfm which was the best I could find and works excellent.
As for the Rear suspension, I have a track-Lock in the rear. I bought the Soft ride springs from National I believe at $210.00 a Piece. These work excellent. No one can ever believe how smooth my truck rides. They only have four leaves to the pack. I believe they are for a four inch suspension lift for a jeep. Then I had them put these new springs Over the Axle(welded leaf mounts), No blocks. The rear shocks mount way up high on the leaf mounts.
As for the Front suspension, here came the Fun part.
I was working on a limited budget so I called a friend who owns a junkyard and got a Dana 30 Front axle out of an '89 Jeep wrangler. I checked the gears by removing the diff cover and to my amazement they were like brand new. They already had the 4.10 gear ratio that i wanted. $375.00 and i was out of the door with my new front end.
After "mocking up" the front end probably 30 times the plan was ready. The springs decided upon use were from a jeep, With some really high arch. Once everything was clamped into place, they made some really strong gusset type brackets to hold the new leaves. Shackles, from a jeep were mounted in the rear of the front springs, like they are designed to be used. After all of the new custom steering compenents were made the front end was almost done. They made me a nice hoop bend for the Dual shocks, and reinforced it to be super strong.The First lower shock mount was in the same stock location. The second lower shock mount was mounted right in place of the sway bar. Bye bye sway bar. Dual 12" Fox shocks were mounted. New Stainless Braided brake lines were installed.
Both axles Are telescopic. Drive line angles are great.
The tires of choice were 37X12.50 R15 Super swamper SSr's. These tires are great. They ride smooth with a Tiny bit of vibe very Tiny. They are not loud at all. About the same as the 31 Bfg all terains I used to run. They are mounted on 15X10 amercan eagles. Cheap, nice looking and very easy to clean.
To get the four wheel drive to work all i had to do was install a manual engagement in place of the "vaccum engagement" that is normally on the dana from the jeep. this was only $200.00 bucks and the handle goes up into the cab conveniently so i dont have to get out to lock into four wheel drive. It is made by '4X4 Posi-Lok' Just push my dash button and turn the engagement handle , and it's ready 'on the fly'.

Future mods include, Alarm, Supercharged 302 Cobra motor Probably strocked to a 347 Ci with the T-5 Manual Tranny and computer. 38.5 Super swampers. Fox shocks in the rear. Air Lockers Front and Rear. Possibly fiberglass fenders and hood in front. keeping the 1st gen look though:) . Warn winch. And A Sick Stereo.
Thanks for checking my truck out guys hope you like it. Sorry about being long winded, Late!
 



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Sorry, I didnt realize anyone had posted.....

SkanlaxJMO- I had planned on getting some kodiak steps, but just havent done it yet... For know my wife gets the old grab her butt and boost her in routine :)

BigDave!!!- I realize you posted this a month ago, and I am sorry i didnt know but yeah you probably did see me in La Jolla, I am down there alot. I live in Clairmont... Thanks for the props.

91sasexplorer- Let me know if you still want to see that brake line... I will take a pic and post it for you.
 



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can you get a pic of where the perches land on the axle?
 






heh, back from the dead again... This thread doesent die. Lol.

Anyway, you can sort of see here in these pics.... But its not very good. If you need better pics Ill have to snap a couple for you. Let me know!
-Tim

finished from front.JPG


Rear,driver shot,shackles driveline angle, leaf mounts, posi-lok_WEB.jpg
 






i realize this is kinda a dead thread, but, i will be doing the same swap within the next month and i was wondering if you had to get a custom drive shaft made? and if so what length
 






I did not, but my front needs lengthened about 2" ( at full droop the splines are barely together... I have had it pop apart twice on me) and the rear is fine.... it will really depend on what axle your swapping in, where you locate it and most importantly how much articulation you have. Just be prepared to have the front and rear lengthened or shortened in your budget, becuase most likely youll have to do it... Let me know if you need anymore help...Good Luck!
 






I did not, but my front needs lengthened about 2" ( at full droop the splines are barely together... I have had it pop apart twice on me) and the rear is fine.... it will really depend on what axle your swapping in, where you locate it and most importantly how much articulation you have. Just be prepared to have the front and rear lengthened or shortened in your budget, becuase most likely youll have to do it... Let me know if you need anymore help...Good Luck!

awesome, thanks for the quick reply, i will definitely keep that in mind, did you look to see if you can use the front driveshaft from a manual explorer? i think its longer than the one off the automatic
 






i realize this is kinda a dead thread, but, i will be doing the same swap within the next month and i was wondering if you had to get a custom drive shaft made? and if so what length


I thought i'd throw in my 2 cents here..

i found when i did my SAS, that with the shackles placed in the rear of the springs, i needed a very long (longer than stock) slip joint on the driveline.

i ended up placing the shackles at the front of the springs (for other reasons) but this also made the slip joints travel very minimal during axle movement.



Chief34, I hadn't seen this thread before and i read through it a bit. now that you've had it together for a while (and hopefully wheeled it some), how has the d30 held up?
 






I didnt check the manual trans driveshaft, but it should be alot shorter I think because the manual trans is shorter than the auto trans... the rear would be longer....


Rhauf.... Ive wheeled it quite a bit and your foot controls whether or not the dana 30 will last... Ive only broke 1 axle shaft with it.... cost me 35 bucks I think to replace it... But if your gonna wheel hard core, or Dont have throttle control it will break... if you dont stop when you Hop its gonna break..... My slip yoke needs about 2 more " of slip to it and Ive got about 15" of travel up front....
 






I didnt check the manual trans driveshaft, but it should be alot shorter I think because the manual trans is shorter than the auto trans... the rear would be longer....


Rhauf.... Ive wheeled it quite a bit and your foot controls whether or not the dana 30 will last... Ive only broke 1 axle shaft with it.... cost me 35 bucks I think to replace it... But if your gonna wheel hard core, or Dont have throttle control it will break... if you dont stop when you Hop its gonna break..... My slip yoke needs about 2 more " of slip to it and Ive got about 15" of travel up front....

Heres some pics... Keep in mind they are 37" tires

flexed out.JPG


look at that flex.JPG


thats drooped.JPG


wow.JPG
 






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