Spring over Axle Conversion

[jakwoo39]

Alright here goes my SOA conversion.
ill be doing a few things so here goes

SOA
shift winch back
rebuild everything on the axle
diff lockers
tires
Maybe some new rear bars

and here goes the truck before i have started

[jakwoo39]

ok so i started on the rear axle. after putting axle stands under the chassis and when the axle hung down i notice the brake hose was dangerously short


and then successfully got the rear axle out
diff is in mint condition (wouldnt know its done 360kms)
both short and long side axles were farked
only 200 for a new set from 4wd panel and parts in dunedin!

and can anybody tell me what the hell this is??

[niblik]

its for controlling the brake proportioning on the rear brakes...

[jakwoo39]

will i get away with taking it out?

[niblik]

i wouldnt..

just sit ya diff back under and take measurements of the distance in drop it has, ie the vertical height the metal wire has at std ride height, then modify diff end fitting to replicate said 'drop' when soa is complete..

[jakwoo39]

the mudzilla tyres sold on trademe the other day but still havnt decided what to replace them with yet either kumho kl71s or silverstone extreme tyres. will decide which to buy after seeing how much tyre wear my work mate gets on his silverstones

and machined both drum brakes
and cleaned up gasket surface on axels today

[wjw]

will decide which to buy after seeing how much tyre wear my work mate gets on his silverstones

road k's? They wear pretty fast on road...

[jakwoo39]

yeah. i have a daily driver car as well but i still dont want to be stressing about how much each trip is costing in tyre wear alone

[jakwoo39]

Ordered my front and rear diff lockers last night!
and the hi steer kit arrived today


then i started on stripping the front end and everything is looking to be in good condition, but i will still be changing everything i can while its out



and i think its time for the sway bar to go

[jakwoo39]

got front springs out and dropped them at brown and cope to get a leaf out and get lowered a little.

after all is done i should be looking at about a 2-4 inch lift.

next up is tyres, i have decided to get the kumho kl71's but unsure of what size to get as the 33's arent a true 33 could a 13bt have enough power to spin 35's in the bogs

[H2OLOVA]

13bt would spin 35s no problem

[Fakey]

Go 35"s or bigger, My truck (had 13bt with 2 broken pistons) went better with 35"s than 33"s
Besides itll look silly on anything smaller than 35"s

[jakwoo39]

what about on hills ect. my 13bt gets up most hills round otago at about 95ks with 33's

[niblik]

theres compromises to be made with all mods and upgrades in road goers unfortunately bud...

you could spend up and do either the ring and pinions or an under drive for the transfers...

[muddyplumber]

ul have no probs turning 35s with 13bt,iv run 36" simexs n they went sweet in bogs

[jakwoo39]

ul have no probs turning 35s with 13bt,iv run 36" simexs n they went sweet in bogs

im only running 4.11 diffs though your 5.2 will make the difference wont it?

[muddyplumber]

Yea forgot bout that but iv had 2 other 70s running 35 mudzillers,(on the smaller side for 35s) and they went sweet with 4.1s.current 70 has 4.1s and 35 creepys beadlockd,they are a heavy tire but turns them fine,just chuck in an exhaust temp gauge to be on the safe side.Rich

[jakwoo39]

where do i get new crown wheel and pinion from?

[jakwoo39]

also what ratio should i be going with

[jakwoo39]

havnt posted in a while but then again not much has happened. mostly waiting on parts but heres whats arrived so far

4x wheel bearing kits
and the new king pin bearings

my new tires including spare
kumho kl71 35x12.5 and some new black rims


and the springs have arrived back from brown and cope


also finished work on the rear diff housing (except shock mounts) ill get onto those after everything is back together and buy new shocks to suit.

and i altered the angle of the housing to reduce stress on the universals



and i have ordered my new ring and pinion gears they were pretty pricey but i think it will be worth it and mean the diffs are completely brand new

[ClassicCruiserSpares]

Liking the new parts What ratio did you end up getting dude? Are you going to tilt both diffs upwards?

[jakwoo39]

i went for 4.56 because of the chart that "kbushnz" supplied for me on 35 inch tyres this ratio will take it back to near standard ratio

http://www.4lo.com/calc/geartable.htm

and because i will be getting a new front diff housing i will attempt to correct caster angle on the old one first and if it doesnt turn to shit i will do it to the new one. but i only use 4wd when i get stuck in rwd so it isnt as important for me.

the next thing on my list is the front leaf springs shackle reversal. can anybody give me advice on how they have done it?

[jakwoo39]

went and bought a few more parts this week got..

new brake rotors
brake pads
brake seal kit
brake shoes
slave cylinders
and new suspension bushes




then i converted the shackel pins to greasable ones


and made up the new plates that the U bolts bolt through (10mm plate should do the trick)


also made up some new u bolts for the front, and shit high tensile steel is expensive one length on 9/16 retails for $90 plus gst. lucky my work gets a good discount only cost me $58 including gst

then it was time for the diff housing to be bolted up


finally things are starting to go back together and hopefully next week it should be back on its wheels

[Fakey]

You not cutting off the original spring perch?

[jakwoo39]

hadnt really thought about it and there is also a mount for the brake lines on the perches? guess i could just make another

[jakwoo39]

looks like i made alot of progress today. did all the wheel bearings and seals on the back axle
then got the back wheels on.
and im really happy with how its sitting the springs are just above flat and the hangers are still in a good place

[109]

Coming together well , Will be watching this with interest

[jakwoo39]

after wasting about 4 1/2 hours trying to get the pitman arm off with out wrecking it, i had a wee tanty and cut the bastard off to make way for the much stronger new one as part of my hysteer kit
it also measures about 25mm shorter than the original one


and finally the front and rear air lockers have arrived , so when the new ring and pinion gears turn up ill actually be able to start getting the front end back together
.

[jakwoo39]

the new crown wheel and pinion gears finally arrived on friday after being stung with a $150 bill from the tax man in customs
funny how the $1400 lockers got through fine and the $1000 gears got taxed

they look really good and they also come with solid preload spacers to replace the factory crush washers
(crush washer on the bottom)


and since the compressors arrived in such bad shape (looks like customs threw them at a wall) i dropped them at a local pneumatic specialist and got them to make a good one from the two and test them ect


im also nearly finished the new front spring mounts as part of the shackle reversal and they are looking really good, the 10mm box is guna be an ass hole to weld to the chassis butit wont be breaking any time soon


and heres a few more pics of how the springs and lockers look

[jakwoo39]

since im well over half way now i thought i would do a cost report up to this point

hi steer kit - $600
4 wheel bearing kits and 4 kingpin bearings - $290
8 cans of paint - $85
air locking diffs inc post - $1400
4.56 ring and pinion gears inc tax $1150
getting springs reset - $400
Speedo Cable - $60
Speedo drive gear - $100
Spring bushes, brakes, brake rotors ect - $600
tires and rims - $2500
axels - $200

this is a rough estimate of what has been done since i started SOA conversion up till this point

and whats to come...
diff bearings
diff gaskets
shock absorbers
cert and WOF and reg costs
new front diff housing
spot lights

so as you can see i have made most of the major purchases already but i have already crossed over 10 grand owing counting buying it, but just doing the soa would not have been so expencive