'97 V8 D60/70HD swap.....finally

Well, it all started with me breaking an axle on friday. Had to drop the diff to get the broken shaft piece out. Then the seal was ruined as well, scrapping a trip that i had planned for 2 weeks in advanced for on saturday.

I was thinking, why waste 50 bucks on the ifs axle when im gonna be ripping it out shortly. So i called my buddy and we started tearing into the mounty at 6:30 pm until 10pm, and monday from 2-10pm. We are on hold for parts so we can make brackets.

I have 2 Rustys off road 180 pound coils, 24" extened, we calculated that it should be around 18 inches compressed. As for the suspension design, its getting a triangulated 4 link. It kinda helps when you are friends with a suspensions engineer.

Well heres the progress so far. More to come next monday.

 

[Lefy]

They made me happy in a way that I didn't know a tire could...

haha nice man

sweet build what kind of welder are you using? Hobart or was that the plasma
I'm in the market for one and needed some advice.
I know I want one that can be upgraded to gas
220volt

thanks for your help
also It looks like you could eigther lower it a good 4 inches or run like 38s or 39
what lockers and gears are you running?

 

[redranger4.0]

haha nice man

sweet build what kind of welder are you using? Hobart or was that the plasma
I'm in the market for one and needed some advice.
I know I want one that can be upgraded to gas
220volt

thanks for your help
also It looks like you could eigther lower it a good 4 inches or run like 38s or 39
what lockers and gears are you running?

Any of the 220 hobart/miller and lincoln welders will work great. I bought a lincoln just cause of my budget, but I would have gone with a hobart if I could have afforded it.

 

['97 V8]

redranger4.0, once it stops pissing rain i'll get you some pictures. A hobart 140 was used for welding duty. penetrated very well into the frame and the 1/4'' steel plating used for reinforcement.

lefy, the bodylift is getting yanked.

can someone give me a run down of what size bolts i need to buy and the wquantity for my body mounts? i want to yank the body lift this weekend.

edit, this is my favorite picture.

 

[chriswells78]

Yeah, this rain is annoying. We've gotten 4" here in the last two days.

 

[redranger4.0]

how did you bend the plate for some of your brackets?

 

[Fusion213]

What steering box did you go with? Any chance you could snap a few pictures of it, i'm going to be starting my SAS soon and still not sure what route to go with the steering box.

 

[colindo94]

Just pull all the bolts and take them down to the hardware store and get 3" shorter bolts. Thats what I did when I did mine.

 

['97 V8]

the plate was bent by clamping it down to my engine hoist and taking a 3lb sledge. It bent exactly the way we wanted it. No heat was used.

the box is from a 92 toyota pickup. its an ifs power steering box.
Make sure plate the piss out of the frame, and sleeve your holes.

 

[410Fortune]

clamping it to your engine hoist? Was this just because tyhe engine hoist provided you with the box steel you needed to hold it against? or is there some trick to using the hoist? Just curious....I havent had my coffee yet

I am always having to come up with ways to get stuff done...so I love new tricks!

 

['97 V8]

it provided the box steel i needed.

 

[redranger4.0]

upper link pictures?

 

['97 V8]

I'll try and get some. I've been busy with the mark viii i bought and school...notice the priorities.

Its hard to get a decent picture of the upper link with the tranny there and driveshaft.

 

[redranger4.0]

bump....

 

[zainyD]

Updates/pics?????

 

[colindo94]

So how long did you lower links come out to be?

 

['97 V8]

So how long did you lower links come out to be?

As for updates, the upper link is being remade. It was bent back on the shakedown run. Who new 1/4" steel could bend like it did. It was reinforced with ribs and double welds, but it bent at the part that wasnt ribbed...to the center section.

Now its being replaced with dom tube welded to the housing and axle, along with a u-bolt type strap going to the end of the pinion just for extra protection from bending.

Aside from the bent upper mount the truck was unstopable. I was climbing up 4 foot vertical dirt walls, becuase my front overhang is so little. The feeling was awesome. The trai;l got too tight and i didnt want to dent anymore panels so i just turned the wheel and crawled right out of the trail.

Right now im recovering from knee surgery so icant work on it and im leaving to jordan on friday.


My lower link length is 42"( adjustable 2 inches more in length or 2 inches shorter)and the upper is ~36(adjustable by 2 inches both ways)

 

['97 V8]

Ok so some updates.
Last weekend i fixed my drivers side lean. I also replaced my shorting out multi function switch.

This weekend my upper loink mount on the axle is getting reworked and a bumper for the front of the mounty will be made to accomadate my nearly new T-max EWI10000 with the poison spider winch mount and brand new 100 ft of cable and fairlead. Got a smoking deal on it. It was used only twice and i bought it for 200. Its only 6 months old!

In other news, next weekend i will be installing my 5.13 gear set for my 60 and my newly acquired 14 bolt. Also the body lift will be coming off.

 

[zainyD]

Killer deal on the winch and accessories, you practically stole them for that price!!!

Glad to hear the body lift is coming out soon.

Why are you ditching the D70 for a 14B??? Did you find a suitable SRW 14B for a good price?

 

[DitchWitch]

Man I absolutely LOVE this truck. I would kill to have the same under mine.


..how about I buy everything and make a drive

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

come on we need some more pics