I though i would share my SD axle swap on here. I got alot of crap about swapping out my D60 and Sterling 10.25 for 2002 SD axles. My main reason was the gears my truck had 3.55's and the SD axles i got were factory 4.30's. I know that i'm now running unit bearings and i'm ok with that since they are at most parts stores and take about 30 minutes to change.

Almost all parts used were from Sky Manufacturing, they have some great stuff.

I got the SD axle swap kit, SD track bar kit,extended brake lines, drop pitman arm, rear leaf springs shackle flip kit, OBS-SD rear spring shackle, and 6" rear block. I also ordered Bilstein 5100 shocks F&R.

My front springs i have out of a excursion they were stock with an add-a-leaf. Rear springs are factory B code springs.

I did a lot of prep work on the axles before installing them, I removed sway bar mounts(P/S was bent), replaced all brakes and wheel bearings. To do the swap it took my buddy and I 2 days starting around 9am saturday and driving it sunday around 3:30pm (we stopped around 4pm saturday and started back up around 7am sunday). All and all it was not to bad of a job.

Here's some pics of it.



Prep ready for paint


Axle Swap Parts


Leveled with 265/75/16's


Getting ready to start


Front out


Front spring hanger. This hole is already there, bolt on, mark all other holes then remove and drill out all holes then bolt back in.


Front spring hanger


Factory rear spring hanger removed. We drilled out all holes to 1/2 inch, then bolted new hanger in.


While i was drilling holes my buddy removed the rear end. We had to swap the yokes on the rear diff's as the 94 rear axle u-joint is smalled than the 2002 yoke. It was just a matter of taking the nut off and swapping yokes.

More Pics



Front S/H with Shackle


Rear spring hanger flip and shackle. To bolt this in we did have to drop the rear tank a little.


This is the front track bar conversion kit.


No drivelines, shocks or brake lines hooked up but it was sitting on the ground Saturday afternoon. Yes the front is sitting lower then the rear by almost 2 inches.


Sunday afternoon, it was able to be driven. But i didn't like how much sag there was in the front.


In order to get the front level with the rear I have to make some spacers. I bolted them to the leaf pack.


I'm running 37x13.5x18 toyo mt's. Wheels are 18x10's with -24 offset. I did have to run wheel adapters as 2 of my wheels were 8x6.5 thanks to the guy i bought them from telling me they were all 8X170. The front has wheel spacers as well. The smallest i could get was 1.5 inches


All said and done, the front drive shaft was too short at this point. I had bought drive lines out of a 86 f250 4x4 just to have extra part if i needed to build my own. To my surprise, the female slip on the rear drive line is the same size and the male on the front drive line. And the rear slip is about 2 inches longer then the stock front, swapped slip yokes and bought a conversion joint for the front diff and 4x4 was back in use.


I ended up with around 7 inches of lift, i think its perfect on the 37's. The 4.30 gears with 37's is awesome, its just slightly lower geared then 3.55's with 265's. The truck is a 7.3 PSD with a 5 speed btw.

Sorry pics are so big not sure how to re-size them. Hope you all like it. If anyof you are looking to do this or have questions please feel free to ask.

 

You did exactly what I'm looking to do in the very, very near future. Looks good. How do you like the 4.30 gears? BTW, my truck is a 1997 F250 CCSB 7.3 auto, also with 3.55 gears.

 

The 4.30's with 37's is awesome. It's great for towing. I towed my first trailer with it and it did so good. I had a super duty 7.3 with an auto and 4.30's with 37's great for dd or towing. My V10 excursion has 37's and 4.30 I wish it had 4.88's for towing.

I did take the obs into my buddy's Toyota trails and just put it in 4low and never had to touch the throttle or clutch it's a great setup and can't say enough about it.

 

 

I didn't change the speed sensor on mine, pretty sure they are all the same. I had bought brake lines with my kit, they maybe be the same as well.

 

 

The lines I got from Sky and they were real easy, just change out the rubber line from caliper to frame. The ebrake is hooked up I just need to shorten my intermediate cable and it will be done, I used the SD cables and brackets and even the SD intermediate cable but it's still too long by about 4 inches.

 

A lot of work swapping one D60 for another, unless you swapped in a SD D50 which is worth less than a D60. The Sterling 10.25 is just like a 10.5 so almost no gain except for disc brakes.

 

Just an update pic, tinted windows cab guard and smoked led amber cab light.
The disc brakes and better gears were worth the work, also the 10.5 is wider than 10.25, another bonus. I'd do it again, but then again I like the work.