Thanks alpha for your suggestion, I plan on eventually changing the intake, but probably after I complete the axle swap.

Sorry prozon, I just noticed I called you capt prozon, I had a dislexic moment.

 

I have come across a little bit of a dilema, my 14 bolt rear end requires a 1350 joint and is retained by straps, many folks around where I live have broken these straps and have upgraded to a yoke that uses u bolts instead, my question is this:

does anyone know of a way to modify the stock 14 bolt yoke to accomodate for u bolts, I know I can buy one for about a 100 dollars but it seems to me that I could drill through the threads on the yoke and adapt it for a u bolt, I don't know how of you have run 14 bolt rears but if you have any insigh on this please share it.

 

Thanks for all your input concerning the machining of the 14 bolt yoke...

I got some time to work on my truck last weekend. I dropped the front end out, and started taking measurements to see what I need to do to accomodate 44 inch ground hawgs in the front.




Dana 44 front.



For Mississippi, my truck flexes enough so I think I am going to utilize the coil springs I already have because they have a smooth ride. My battle plan is to cut the coil bucket flush with the top of the frame, and then lower the coil bucket straight down until the top of the bucket is level with the top of my frame. Then I will secure it to the part of the bucket that is bolted to the frame. That probably sounds crazy and is hard to follow, but I think once I do it it will make more sense.

I am aware that a lot of folks would simply unbolt the bucket, drop it down, weld a brace to the bottom of the frame, and bolt it up lower, but I thinking the way Im going to try to do it will be net a little more lift and still retain factory strength.

 

The factory strap is fairly strong. Its the after market ones that dont fit properly and permit the u-joint to move and eventually fail.
Some folks have modified the yoke to accept a u-bolt, but this requires a u-bolt that does not fit the cap properly and once again contributes to some failures.
The proper fix is to spend the cash and get the new yoke. Id first see if you start breaking parts or spitting u-joints with stock u-joint straps before you replace them. You might be surprised at how much abuse they can take when they fit correctly.

 

hey on your drop front coil bucket i just got done doing what your doing. just use your top bolt holes as your bottom holes you will get 3.5 inchs of lift and its super easy and cheap. im coil springin my dana 60...hells ya

 

Thanks for your input on the 14 bolt straps. Your logic makes sense to me, i'll probably just run the yoke the way it is for now and eventually upgrade to an aftermarket yoke.

On the subject of lowering the coil buckets-- I think what I am doing will make more sense once finish. There will be a little more work involved, but it will net more lift and should retain everybit of the stock strength.

 

ya im not sure how you going to do it...mine does net the same strength. i weled a piece of 1/4" steel to the back of it flat, because those buckets bend out or whatever, drilled 1.5" holes in the original bucket so you can access that back flat very easily. im no expert but just throwing out what i know

 

Finally I got a chance to get a little work done. I just invested in some machinery that I got at a local auction, and that has had my upmost attention for the past month or so. Now that I have all of the electrical gremlins and mechanical issues worked out in my shop I can finally get back to work on my dent. (Which ironically is at a friends shop...)


Anyway, today I built a the coil bucket I was talking about earlier. I simply cut of the top part of my old bucket and made a shorter bucket to to weld the top to. This will hopefully yield about 4-5 inches of lift. I only have it spot welded currently and all the points are still sharp, but when I take it over to the shop where my truck and verify it fits, I plan on finishing up the welding and smoothing out the rough edges.

 

Whats next on the to do list?

 

I verified this morning that it does indeed fit, so I am going to build the other coil bucket tonight and finish up the welding, then I will bolt them on to the truck, and bolt my springs to my radius arms, then I plan on letting the jack down and seeing how far my springs squash down. Once I i know that figure, i'll secure my radius arms to my axle and build driveshafts and what not. I haven't quite figured out how I am going to do my steering but I have some ideas.

 

Dusting off the cobwebs...


Looks like a good project with some good work in it. I know it's a beater truck from the looks of it, but you at least finish(i.e. paint and smooth out rough edges) right? You do good work, I'm just wondering if you actually finish it.

 

Good question, yes I do finish the parts I make, I just wait about smoothing out rough edges and painting until after I insure that all the parts are going to fit, and the truck sits the way I want to. For example, on the rearend, my springperches are not finished, nor are they welded to the axle. Once I have my castor just right and my truck is sitting at its final ride heighth, Im going to weld the inside of the springperches to the axle, weld some square pieces to the open part of the tubing smooth it all out, and paint it. Thats just the way I like to "fabricate".

 

Cool, Just curious. One of my pet peeves is when people take the time to fabricate but never do the detail work, either they don't care or are too lazy.

 

i like your build i wish i could do stuff slowly like this. i gotta make everything perfect my whole build started with putting a new motor in my truck. then pulled the dog house, then the bed then cab then axles the it was a sandblast bare frame haha.

 

Tonight me and buddy spent time smoothing out all the rough edges, and welding it all together, I think it came out nicely, now to paint it and of course to make the other one.