Solid axle done!

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:15 pm

heres the first pics, i will have to get the process pics later as my disc isnt working

i love it! it sits really high now.

Only thing i have trouble with is steering as it hasnt been aligned and i dont have the high steer kit yet. so on highway it goes cray. i should fix that pretty quik

coffeedrnkr · Post by **coffeedrnkr** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:43 pm

I actually have not gotten an alignment after the swap, we never messed with the tie rod so the wheels were straight with eachother from before I got it.

Looks great though. I don't know how many inches you gained over having the ifs but I gained about 2".

Just wait till you realize "hey, I don't have to replace my ball joints every week anymore" or "hey my alignment isn't out again"

then you will realize that it made all of that work worth the effort

edit: get me some close up pics of your setup too

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:49 pm

looks sweet, hope all works out!

adrenalnjunky · Post by **adrenalnjunky** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:53 pm

particulars - what axles are you using, gears, lockers?

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:20 pm

man i have already took it out and the thing wheels like a mofo. i cant belive the " feel" of strength of the truck now.

hey paul when you did the swap did you have any wobble or anything with the steering? i havent got the bracket yet ( which i will pm you about) but it is pretty bad. i need and alighnment and to put on my proper adapters that you sent. i bought some from lordco ( before i bought the ebay ones )and they dont fit right so that may be it to but to finish all the fab i needed em. i will put the spacers you sent on tonight.

Anyone who says a dana30 sucks doesnt know anything. i took it wheelin and it absolutly owns IFS the flex and strength is amzing.

The axle is a dana 30 with 4.46 gears. leaf sprung.

I gained about 4 inches of lift

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:22 am

looks great

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:03 am

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SONOMA915 · Post by **SONOMA915** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:16 am

Is there any info on a step by step install for a SFA? Parts and install?

jeggers · Post by **jeggers** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:33 am

wished i had gons sfa $2500 gone on the ifs lift.

but your truck looks great

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:25 am

i will get you guy some more pics tonight after i fix the steering a bit and install proper adapters. i will get pics of the crossmember aswell and how its all on there

thanks for the compliments guys

in terms of an install i can put pics online in a bit. its not that hard really.

you basically hack everything out and make what you bought for an axle work

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:50 am

bubaloo1983 wrote:Anyone who says a dana30 sucks doesnt know anything. i took it wheelin and it absolutly owns IFS the flex and strength is amzing.

Compared to our IFS, yes the Dana 30 is pretty strong. BUT, put a big V8 in there, slap on some 44's and go rock crawling and that Dana 30 won't get you very far at all before it goes BOOM!

For the kind of wheeling any of us ever see though (except for Quickbiker, a2b and Warn - How Warn managed to blow up Dana 44's I'd like to know), I think the Dana 30 will be Ok. If I ever SFA'd my CC, I'd do the same thing. I read something about using a special ARB locker made for Dana 30's that lets you use the Dana 44's axles. Makes it much stronger. I'll see if I can find it.

One swap I looked into was putting a Ford 8.8 from an Explorer in a S-10. From what I've read, it's almost a bolt in except for changing the yoke for the driveshaft and it's way stronger than even the 8.5 the ZR2's use. I just can't get past putting Ford parts in a Chevy though! Just doesn't seem right somehow.

By the way, your truck looks great!

Blaze One · Post by **Blaze One** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:53 pm

I am thinking of a 5-6" IFS lift in the future . For those who have had the ifs lift , do you think it was worth it or would you just skip it and do the sfa ? How much would it cost to have some one install a SFA like that compared to a 5-6" IFS lift ??

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:21 pm

IMO if your not going to use the truck for much offroading seems to me to be a waste of money that could be spent on other mods unless you just want it for looks

I do just fine with my 2in BL

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:27 pm

Here's what everyone told me: If you spend the majority of your driving time on the street and you want the "look", then stick with IFS and do a lift kit. IFS drives and handles much better on the street than SFA does. If you do a lot of serious off-roading, then do the SFA conversion. What confuses the issue though is the design of the SFA setup. Some are better than others. I've ridden in trucks with SFA swaps that would scare the h#ll out of a sane person on the street. I have also ridden in some that handled extremely well. I guess it really comes down to what you want.

Blaze One · Post by **Blaze One** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:35 pm

Thanks for the advice .

Steve2003 · Post by **Steve2003** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 4:19 pm

Justin, Nice job

I think it's time you threw some 37's on that bad boy!! What do think? I have been thinking about doing the same thing to my truck. I told my wife that we could make the CC into a Truck for going snow sking and going camping and fishing and then get me a little 4 banger s-10 for a daily driver. She's starting to think about it.

Just maybee.

Steve

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 4:21 pm

Ummm steve you can do all those things with your truck now

Steve2003 · Post by **Steve2003** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:21 pm

jeff024 wrote:Ummm steve you can do all those things with your truck now

Jeff your right to a point. After finding out about my lower ball joints being shot and then hearing about the problems with the CV's and the front drive shaft just seems like this would be an option for me to have a truck to do certain things I need it to do. My son and I like to go fishing up in the local mountains and there are some pretty nasty roads that you have to have a lifted 4x4 to get up to. This is just something I am considering. I love my CC and I'll do whatever it takes to get all the parts fixed. But I feel like right now what I've done with it it's still a daily driver that looks nice but I am concerned about the capabilities of the offroading that I want to do. Maybe I'm wrong but I am still waiting for winter and ski season to come and see what that does. That's the most important thing as that's what my wife loves to do is go skiing, that's why I lifted it in the first place so I could fit off road tires on and not have to chain up. Geez I'm babbling ain't I? Oh well

Steve

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:24 pm

we never did get an answer from Kcustom as to why he sold his truck just wonder if it started having the SUPER LIFT blues

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:22 pm

jeff024 wrote:we never did get an answer from Kcustom as to why he sold his truck just wonder if it started having the SUPER LIFT blues

If I was to bet on something, I would bet it had to do something with fatherhood

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:26 am

could be but sounds like these SL trucks are starting to have problems

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 3:33 am

f9k9 wrote:
jeff024 wrote:we never did get an answer from Kcustom as to why he sold his truck just wonder if it started having the SUPER LIFT blues
If I was to bet on something, I would bet it had to do something with fatherhood

That would be my guess. Fatherhood was a primary reason for the loss of a lot of my toys, like my beloved '67 Camaro.

Still, unless KCustom pops in here and enlightens us, I guess we'll never know for sure.

coreylubahn · Post by **coreylubahn** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:39 am

Looks great Justin!!! Looks bada$$ man!!! Is that also the first installed pics of your new "Denali" grill? Totally awesome truck!!! Congrats!!

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:04 am

jeff024 wrote:could be but sounds like these SL trucks are starting to have problems

Unless HenryJ comes up with something, I'm leaning towards BDS myself. I think the SL kit was hyped big time.

Hey Justin, are you planning to make a kit out of your SFA conversion? if so, I wonder if it would fit a first Gen S-10 Blazer? (No, I haven't given up that idea!)

jeffc · Post by **jeffc** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:21 am

i don't think superlift trucks are having any problems that stock s-10's don't have. we all know ball joints,tie rods,and idler arms go out much more often on s-10's than say a half ton truck. i doubt Kcustom was having trouble with his lift kit....the truck probably never left the asphalt. with the amount of coin he had in his truck a problem with the lift would not be reason enough to get rid of it. not to mention he obviously knows people at superlift and i'm sure they could have easily fixed any potential trouble he might have had. my superlift has been problem free. my drive shaft going bad has nothing to do with superlift...it's just one of those things that can happen anytime you mess with driveline angles....you have to adress the same issue wether you do a lift kit or a custom sas. the lift companies don't put new drive shafts in their kits because it would raise the price of the kit too much and there might be trucks that get lifted and never have a drive shaft issue.

Post by **HenryJ** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:12 am

The grille really looks good

Are you going to have any interference issues with the Highsteer and the springs , since they are mounted SOA?

Your bump steer issue is directly related to your drag link angle

"Be afraid...be very afraid!"

A hard right will likely understeer in a heart beat.
I was discussing a similar topic with "Top" via PM. The suspension travels in an arc on each side. The draglink needs to match this arc as closely as possible. As your suspension travels upward currently the draglink effectively becomes longer as it reaches the apogee. Optimum is to have both parallel, and horizontal while in resting position under normal load. If you have more up or down travel it may be advantageous to have the angle bias that direction to maintain the neutral position.

For what you are wanting you are on the right track. Keep up the good work.

jeggers · Post by **jeggers** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:06 pm

well i cant say any thing bad about the sl kit ,i may have a ball joint issue now but i know they were starting to go with only 7k on the truck(at the time the lift whent on). my rig is in the shop now getting ready to pull my new trailer so when i get it back home i will be checking those lower joints!

Pauleo · Post by **Pauleo** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:18 pm

I don't know a thing about SL's so forgive me in advance if I offend anyone or otherwise stick my foot in my mouth. But why in the world would someone want to do a solid front axle??? I understand the greater approach & departure angles associated with a higher truck but don't you have LESS ground clearance with a SFA as opposed to a IFS?? It sure looks that way in the pics above.

Enlighten me, please!

And again, I don't mean to tick anyone off. So please excuse my ignorance.

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:29 pm

thanks for all the support guys.

i agree with you HJ the steering is mickey mouse. but i did order the high steer kit as coffdrnker has.

so that should clear up the trouble. i just needed to get to work lol.

In terms of a kit the only things a made were the front crossmembers and rear shackle hangers.

it should be done complete soon

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:43 pm

heres a few pics of the fab work

i will get more if you ask me what to take pics of

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:03 pm

You should post pics of this over on S10Extremist.org. They love SFA conversions and your brackets you made are some of the better ones I've seen. You might want to get the highsteer first though or they'll get all over you about the linkage angles. Once again, it looks great. I can't remember if you said what the front axle came out of.

a2b · Post by **a2b** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:56 am

looks good! ya i am a firm believer of SFA for s-10's over the IFS lifts. now the debate of what axel is another thing. if its for street and 35" tires. then a dana30 is fine. well heck, if its for street and solid i beam will be fine too

but for wheelin on rocks with a front locker, a 4500 lbs truck needs a dana60

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:51 am

thanks guys

yah i agree with ya dana 30 is good for street and even what i tend to do with it. if i ever get hardcore i will swap it out for something better

adrenalnjunky · Post by **adrenalnjunky** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:22 pm

again - what did your axle come out of?

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 5:15 pm

sorry adrenal,

its from a 2001 cherokee.

dana 30.

im quite happy with its strength, even just driving i notice my tires don look like they are falling off as it did with my ifs lol

bwenny247 · Post by **bwenny247** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 2:32 pm

AWESOME

justin your truck is nutz!!!

that denali grill looks perfect

get us some pics of that hogg at work in the mud

personally, I've only had one problem with the IFS lift and that was a seal in my passenger side half shaft blew. it's leaking a little oil (about a quart for every 1500 miles) so its not awful. I've got just over 5000 miles on the lift and wheeled the truck hard a handfull of times with my buddies fullsize through some nasty mud holes.
my opinion, like everyone elses, if you're going to wheel your crew weekly don't bother with IFS. If you're like most people and do it for looks and the occasional mud hole the IFS lifts are fine.

but, for what it's worth a body lift, cut out flares, 31" mud terrains will get you off the beaten path just fine.
just my 2 cents

Ben

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:44 pm

i will get som epics in the mud dont worry i will be wheeling it on a zedr2.com trip late august

The wierd thing about it though was with my ifs lift i hardly ever wheeled it because i was afraid iw ould break something. so everything that was busted was from the street driving. it kinda sucks as i spent alot on the lift. Oh well whats done is done and i like this alot better for even daily driving, like my girl friend says " your wheels are going to break off when you turn anymore" lol

Blaze One · Post by **Blaze One** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:10 pm

that truck looks freakin nice ! I only wish i had the skills to do that .

coffeedrnkr · Post by **coffeedrnkr** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:22 pm

bubaloo1983 wrote:
im quite happy with its strength, even just driving i notice my tires don look like they are falling off as it did with my ifs lol

AHAHAHA omfg rofl. that is EXACTLY what my family was saying to me "hey Paul, it looks like your tires are going to fall off

. then I have to go through the omg I know, you are the 20,000,000,000th person that has told me

As of yet, I am not even partially worried about my d30. as long as it isn't locked in the front it should be fine as long as you aren't a retard on the throttle. I am more worried about my rear 7.5 than I am about the d30. Still haven't broken a single part since the swap and I have gone about 2500 miles on the swap without a problem.

bubaloo, don't worry. the first month is the debugging stage. once you get everything worked out and how you like it it should work out GREAT!!

Oh, and a steering stabilizer is like a majic wand. as soon as you put it on your truck is instantly more drivable and predictable, or at least that was how it was with me but it was like night and day.

gairbear · Post by **gairbear** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 1:45 pm

How much does a SAS normally run??
DO you need alot of experience w/ metal and welding and the like??

bubaloo1983 · Post by **bubaloo1983** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:20 pm

it took me a week to complete, as well as another week to work out steering problems ect.so if you piad someone labour your looking at 4 grand if it takes a week. i have metal fab experience so that was in the bag.

Parts and matierals for fabricating cost me close to 1500 and i still dont have everything i want yet. im getting a few more things for steering and stuff. if you do it yourself your looking at 1500-2000 if you pay someone your looking at 5000 bucks i bet