So I woke up this morning and decided to get something done that I have been meaning to do, a sold axle swap (SAS) into my two wheel drive tow rig.
Some might remember that I bought an axle almost 2 years ago, I finally got around to re-gearing and converting it to dual rear wheels (DRW).
The swap is really straight forward. It’s basically a direct bolt on upgrade. I started at 10 AM, and pulled the truck in.
Started unbolting things…
Soon the other side fell off…
Then I just bolted in the new axle, with done of the usual cursing… 8 hours after I started this job I was done.
There are some things left to do
- Order & install new shocks
- Install a ABS sensor on the driver side.
- Install Steering Stabilizer
Other than that I am super happy how well this went! I did learn a few things that I did not realize before I started…
- The spring buckets on the frame are different for 2WD & 4WD trucks
- The axle will work with the 2WD springs, and the bump stops appear to be in the right spot to prevent and hard hits.
- The ABS sensors are different between 2WD & 4WD
This is the first step towards the 4WD conversion, and I feel that it was the biggest step. Hopefully next month I can her the transfer case installed and get the rear drive shaft cut down.