Finally got my axles

[Mud Bug 94]

sounds good i cant wait to see it done...

 

[SuperEx91]

believe me when i say me either!

I have some minor progress tonight. I spent the night cleaning the garage. Here are a few pics of what it looked like before i started.

That is the s10 me and my brother were pulling the motor out of. that is out now and it is going to the boneyard on saturday hopefully.

that is the other side where my two axles are and 1 other axle is getting rebuilt which should also be leaving this week.

You can barely see my axles below that "workbench".
Anyways after i got that straightened up, i ran out to my dads work and dropped a few parts in the hot tank and tornado. While they were soaking, i ran to my brothers work and we put my R/A axle brackets together. He works on semis so they had all the equipment i need like a this big band saw:

it is one of those liquid cooled ones- they also got a nice drill press, and a 220v miller welder:

And of course an oxy/acetlyene torch.
the brackets come seperate like this:

I wanted to have them plated so they were stronger and it gives me a lot more surface to weld to the axle. I used the sleeve for the bushings between the plates and bolted them together so i would have the exact width needed.
i bought some 3/16" plate and we cut pieces to fit on the flat spots.

after welding the one end, he heated it up with the torch and beat it around and finished welding them both inside and out.

This is my big brother. He is very tedious with his work. its a good thing though. i dont have to worry about these ever breaking.

after i got home, i ground the rough edges so we had a smooth surface to weld on.

They wrap nicely around the axle.

He does a lot of welding. Thats why i let him weld the important stuff. i wish i could weld like that. maybe someday.
I got my new parta organized and gave myself a little work surface.

I also stopped by harbor freight and got a set of 6 ton jack stands for $30 They should do the job.

I hope to get the ex in the garage this weekend and my gears put in next week. I still havent got any tubing. its holding me back a bit. Soon i hope.
More progress soon.

 

[JoshC]

I thought my garage was a mess lol. Looks like you've got enough tool boxes on the one side there, are they full of tools?

 

[redranger4.0]

invest in a set of pipe stands. prolly one of the best things i ever did. They hold my truck up great, and are adjustable in height with the truck is on them.

 

[redranger4.0]

on a side note, no idea if those 78 parts will work or not, but your axle is completely identical to my 86 waggy front. And also 78 was a passenger side drop axle year, so your axle has to be 80 or newer.

 

[SuperEx91]

Yes they are pretty full. the first two are my dads. he used to work on heavy equipment and now is a supervisor so all his stuff came home. the other two my brother brought home and we keep spare tools and parts in them. the locker is full of wiring junk, old harnesses, lights, connectors, etc. the cabinets on the wall are all spray cans, and there are more cabinets behind the s10 with all the oils and coolant. through the door in the back is a whole workshop and you can barely see the fridge in the back there that holds the paint cans. and of course there is the fridge.

Regarding my front axle, i was originally told that it was an 87 but when i went looking for new parts, nothing matched. so i had the parts guy grab parts for random years until i hit a year that matched and 78 was the first one that the parts matched so that is what i based that on.

We have a set if jack stand at work that just sit and i might grab them for awhile. they sit at about 36-40 inches at there lowest setting. they are not adjustable once the weight is on them tho.

 

[SuperEx91]

got some work done this past week. I got the Ex on stands:

These should work for the duration of the project. i hope.

The rear stands kind of worry me because they seem unstable but i cant put them anywhere else.
On saturday, i met my buddy at his shop to do my gears and of course i was unprepaired. I had my gears, master install kits and my spool and thought i was set. nope. I didnt read up on the dana 44 enough i guess. the only axle i have messed with usaes shims between the bearing and the case and the D44 has them between the bearing and the carrier, the bad part is i have read about people grinding out the old bearings and using them as setup bearings and i never thought about my axles being that way. o well. the day was not a complete waste of time. we got the ring gear torqued to the spool and carrier. I also got to sand-blast my spring pads, knuckles and caliper brackets.

I also painted the caliper brackets.

I had to throw the budweiser girl in for grins.
I didnt paint the rest yet because i have to remove the old balljoints yet and drill out the old holes on the pads for the new ubolts.

they are 9/16s. only cost 32 bucks for all 4 with hardware.
I also got the tube notcher mounted to the drill press.

I am gonna get a set of bearing splitters off the tool truck tomorrow and press the old bearing off my old parts and use them for setup bearings and hopefully this week or weekend get the gears setup.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

now thats one classy garage..stickers,tools, and a bud girl ...awsome ... it needs a wall of shame tho...i got a lot of broken parts on mine:

 

[95exploderboy]

got some work done this past week. I got the Ex on stands:

These should work for the duration of the project. i hope.

Which yellow circle should work for the duration of the project? The stands I will agree with, but you will need more beer.

Its lookin good.

Keep up the good work!

 

[SuperEx91]

I currently have no room on the walls because of shelves, cabinets, and posters/banners. we do have a parts wall but they are good parts. spare grilles, set of headers for BBC, extra head/taillights. i am sure i will start a wall of shame when i get the Ex done.

and regarding the yellow circles, the jacks should work for the duration of the project and the other circle, well.....they are empties. the fullsize fridge out of the picture to the left though should last for the duration of the project.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

if you move the rear jackstands (the orange ones) back abit, it should be more stable...

 

[SuperEx91]

i cant go back any farther because of the front spring mount. i am already butted up to the front of the mount.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

just put the front down and do the back first...then withit on the ground do the front....

 

[redranger4.0]

just put the front down and do the back first...then withit on the ground do the front....

wont matter theres more then enough weight bias in the front, for it to be fine

 

[SuperEx91]

its been a rough week. i got my knuckles and u-bolt plates painted, got the new ball joints in. bought my angle finder, and figured out what i need for u-joints. the front axle joints are Spicer 5-297-x joints. these were replaced with the 5-760-x which is supposed to be better. i need 2 of those. the other 5 for the driveshafts are of the 1310 series which is the same as the 5-153-x spicer joints. need 5 of them. i will call napa tomorrow and see what i can get those for.

has anyone replaced the spindle studs and nuts? i ruined most of mine removing them. where did you find them?

 

[Mud Bug 94]

local auto parts store should be able to get them or something cose

 

[biggs92EB]

suscribed....Lookin good man

 

[redranger4.0]

its been a rough week. i got my knuckles and u-bolt plates painted, got the new ball joints in. bought my angle finder, and figured out what i need for u-joints. the front axle joints are Spicer 5-297-x joints. these were replaced with the 5-760-x which is supposed to be better. i need 2 of those. the other 5 for the driveshafts are of the 1310 series which is the same as the 5-153-x spicer joints. need 5 of them. i will call napa tomorrow and see what i can get those for.

has anyone replaced the spindle studs and nuts? i ruined most of mine removing them. where did you find them?

partsmike.com

 

[SuperEx91]

awesome. $15 for a set of 12 with the nuts. is the upper ball joint tool necessary? on one of partsmikes tech pages, it said to install knuckle, tighten lower nut to 60 ft lbs, then tighten the upper sleeve to 60 ft lbs, then go back and retighten the lower nut to 150 ft lbs and then tighten the upper nut. can i just use a punch and hammer?

 

[zainyD]

Get the tool and do it right.