Steering showed up today. Got my knuckles drilled out to 7/8", welded the inserts into the knuckles to accept the GM tie rod ends, and then pressed the balljoints into place. All went smoothly.

Started mocking up the steering. Was using 1 1/2" PVC to simulate the DOM tubing i'm going to be using. With the steering locked at full lock to the right i have about half an inch of clearance between the diff cover and the tie rod. However, at full lock left the tie rod hits the diff cover at about the same time the steering hits the lock.

It's so minuscule i'm going to shave a hair off the diff cover and it'll clear without any problems. I could buy offset tie rod ends or bend the tie rod a little bit, but i should only have to clearance the diff cover about a 1/16" of an inch if that.

Used some painters tape on the balljoints to cover them up, painted the knuckles and the entire axle. The diff cover needs to come back off, but i painted it just for kicks and to keep paint out of the diff.

Going to finish up the steering tomorrow, paint that, and then put the rest of this axle back together. Hoping to have it into the truck this weekend.

 

That is a pretty looking axle! And I am finding out just how difficult it is to make it such.

 

Thank you! Figured since the truck isn't my only vehicle to drive i'd take the time doing it right and doing it exactly how i wanted it the first time around as opposed to having to do it later on down the line.

The secret is time and a lot of it. Spent about 4 hours (if not more) using an angle grinder with a wire wheel cleaning the entire axle, the knuckles, the spindles, and the rest of it. Even used a needle scaler on the diff housing to knock of the slight surface rust that was on it.

Takes a long time, but in the end it's totally worth it.

 

Nice truck, lots of love there...! You can eat off that axle

 

Same to you! That truck of yours looks clean!

Finished up the axle tonight. Got everything back together and ready to rock for hopefully tomorrow. Axle went from being about 250 pounds to 500 pounds in a matter of a few hours.

Anyways, i'm happy as hell. This axle looks amazing.

 

Built the tie rod tonight for it. Clears on left hand turns on the diff cover by like 1/8th of an inch, but hey that's still clearing in my book. Painted the diff cover gloss black, along with the tie rod.

Going to attempt to get this sucker in tomorrow.

 

That's why they call them one-ton axles...that's how they feel when you are moving them around!

 

You sure about that? I always thought it was because when you were done huffing them around you ate a ton of food.

Got some more work done on the truck tonight. Pulled the front axle out and got everything ready for tomorrow when I put the 60 under it. Those pivot brackets were a royal pain to get out. Got 3 of the 4 that go under the oil pan out. Fourth one was being stubborn so I plasma cut it out.

Got everything painted up and fancy so tomorrow it'll be all dry.

I also pulled the hub off the side that was bad. Oh my god. I have never seen one anywhere near as destroyed as this one. It literally fell off after I removed the caliper bracket. That was literally the one thing stopping the tire from flipping off.

 

Wow, that's some serious bearing damage right there! You got lucky!

 

Wow. Is that moly in the grease or is that ground up bearing steel making it look that color?

 

I know. There was a 1/4" groove in the caliper bracket from where the rotor was riding on it. Inside of my wheel is even messed up from the inside of the rim rubbing on what i presume was the caliper.

Obviously i only moved this thing around my yard in this shape, but either way i didn't think it was quite that bad.

That's ground up bearing steel. What's left of that bearing cage there is actually the bearing on the backside of the hub. The bearing that's in the hub is nowhere to be found. The inner nut that holds pressure on the inner bearing exploded into 5 pieces. You can see one of them sitting on the spindle covered in grease.

Anyways, got the truck all finished up last night. Finally took it for a drive today and WOW i'm impressed. It's like a new truck. Still haven't gotten the front end professionally aligned but i think i eye balled it pretty well as it's driving straight. Front end doesn't make any noises at all, rides super smooth, and cruises like a rocket down the road. God i love this thing.

I kept the 250 springs in the truck. I know they're stiffer and make it ride rougher than 350 springs, but i need to have this truck back together as it's going for another cross country trip in about two weeks. Once i get back i'm going to put some new 350 springs in and do a few other things i want to do to the truck.

The 250 springs really don't ride as rough as everyone makes it out to be. Trucks defiantly stiffer, but i almost like it. Doesn't bounce around as much and feels way more planted.

 

 

Really looks great. Now you need new tires
Congrats.

 

No dust shield? The axle looks great! The steering linkage is very nice n strong.

 

That's next. I don't know if i want to stick with stock size tires or kick it up slightly or even what kind of tires i want yet. Decisions decisions decisions.

Also getting the front end aligned. I'm pretty impressed with how well i eye balled it. Drives totally fine. I'd worry about messing up the tires but they're already smoked.

No. The ones that came off of it were super rusted out. I looked at the price of new ones, my jaw dropped, and i decided against them. Was wondering if i should've spaced the spindle out the distance from the knuckle that the dust shield would've taken up but i didn't.

Thank you! That steering linkage was actually cheaper than buying all new stock steering.