axle swap time!!! already posted a couple pictures but ill go through the swap in a bit more detail.
Got a killer deal on Adams old 44/60. Came with some 15" steelies with a ridiculous backspacing, 4 35" discovery stt's (2 bald, 2 half decent tread), full steering, limit straps, M.O.R.E. steering box brace, and orange braided brakelines. Convinced a buddy to drive his 9" lifted yellow ram with open headers on 35's alllllll the way down to LI and back, without an engine hoist. Somehow got them into his bed with 4 guys, somehow didnt get pulled over, and somehow didnt die with the constant death wobble. Borrowed an engine hoist to get em out buuuut mission accomplished!!
Had to get some u bolts bent up, hunted down a vent hose fitting for the 60 from the bowels of a random drawer in one of the tech's tool boxes at work, and needed to replace the passenger side caliper on the 44 due to the bleeder nipple breaking off. Also ordered a ram 2500 master cylinder to be able to keep up with the bigger brakes. My Dad wasn't too happy about the garage situation to say the least.
Started the swap the weekend after we picked the axles up, and immediately ran into some issues. The most obvious was extending the push rod. Had all the numbers and measurements in my head when I did it, and of course now I'm drawing blanks. Pretty sure it was a 1/4x3" fine thread bolt I trimmed the head down on. Forget how far I extended it, but I measured from the inside of the stock MC, and compared it to how far the push rod sticks out in the 2500 mc, and the difference was how much farther out it needed to be. Still need to play around with it a little since I can still feel some slop in there but can still lock up the brakes no problem.
aaaaaaaand this is why I need to do a 3 link. Like I was describing before, the distance between the lca and the uca brackets are farther apart, making the angle just off enough to be sketchy. Drilled the holes out a bit more and managed to get the bolts through, but the arms are threaded out stupid far and I dont trust it. Drives fine, but a 700+ pound axle on radius arms welded to the crossmember probably wont hold up too well over time.
Also found myself needing to figure out a new track bar situation. Tried using my friends rubicon express mount, but it sat too far back on the frame and would come in contact with the truss at full flex. Didnt want to wait on shipping for a ruff stuff mount, and after a little time thinking I realized the misalignment spacers that came with the track bar fit the inner diameter of the extra 2x6 I had perfectly. So instead of wasting money and waiting on shit I boogered this up! could use a bit more trimming here and there, and when I figure out what im doing in terms of front frame stiffys I might just weld it to the frame. or redrill the holes and weld it to the outside of the stiffeners. But then id need a new bumper sooooo not sure what i'll end up doing. Bolts for now are cheel
After 2 days and 2 pitman arm pullers breaking I was about to give up, and then it just magically fell off. Go figure. Had to ream it out to 7/8 to accept the bigger tie rod end, didnt want to buy my own reaming bit, went to a highschool friends dad's shop (Forte's in framingham) and had it back the next day for half of what I would have spent on the bit itself. They drilled a liiiiittle bit too far so I threw a washer on before the crown nut and it snugged up perfectly
swapping the rear out took all of 20 min. Since the lower shock mounts weren't centered like they were on the 8.8 the shocks were rubbing a bit on the wheel wells, but after a little trimming and they were happy
threw the new caliper on, bled the brakes, tightened/greased everything in the front end and took it around the neighborhood
