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Silent One's Solid Axle Journey

60K views 333 replies 64 participants last post by  silent one 
#1 ·
I have been kind of slacking off a little so i thought if i start a thread it might get me more motivated to work on it and keep this up to date. So i invite you to follow along on my journey.

Chapter 1
The day i got my axle in all its rusted glory.




All the junk it came with.

As it sits now.

 
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6
#158 ·
great, so when is it going under? You started this thread over a year ago, hard to remember for anyone what you have going on? Not having any idea what you bought, I'd guess you are using too big a tube then. There should be no clearance issue.
 
#167 ·
nice bro, glad your rig is coming along.............................:beer
 
#165 ·
Thanks, little by little.

Hmm, I don't see that helping much toward actually having it installed

Git'er done, Silent One!
I have slacked off really bad on this, so i am starting with the small things trying to get remotivated, every little bit helps at this point.;)

I like em, maybe a bit much but they look good :thumbup
You may be right but the will be spread out so it may be ok, i guess we'll wait and see.
 
#166 ·
Hey silent one, glad to see your using that axle I sold you. Haven't been on here for a long time. I read your thinking about swapping to 8 lug outer's. Well I have a HD D44 out of a snow fighter with the 8 lug outer's if your interested, or anybody else if your not interested. Send me a pm, let me know. Project looks great keep up the good work and stop slacking:thumbup
 
#169 ·
Hey whats up, i have the stuff to do the 8 lug swap but that will be phase 2.

nice bro, glad your rig is coming along.............................:beer
Looking good Silent, like the skulls:rockon
Thanks guys, going to try and get the gears out of the ttb and start swapping them this week, sick as hell at the moment though.
 
#170 ·
Well i got lost on my journey and i have found a way back. Got the gears and arb in the axle now and started some put some things together and ran into a problem.

I installed the C's and the bushings and tried installing the lower spring cups, the passenger side fit fine but the driver side hole don't line up, there about a 1/4 or so off. I looked at both front caps and the one on the driver side is much thicker than the passenger side. So do i grind down the cap to make the same size as the other one, drill a new hole or find a new front cap.

D/S



P/S


Tried cup both ways



Any thoughts?
 
#172 ·
Well i got lost on my journey and i have found a way back. Got the gears and arb in the axle now and started some put some things together and ran into a problem.

I installed the C's and the bushings and tried installing the lower spring cups, the passenger side fit fine but the driver side hole don't line up, there about a 1/4 or so off. I looked at both front caps and the one on the driver side is much thicker than the passenger side. So do i grind down the cap to make the same size as the other one, drill a new hole or find a new front cap.

D/S



P/S



Tried cup both ways



Any thoughts?
What spring cups are you using, and why can't I see your pics?
 
#180 ·
This is probably correct as the cups that bolt on top are different as you know, which is why you get 3 bolts holes. I'd have to see if I have any old pics of what mine might show, but I'd agree it appears you have 1 incorrect cast cap. I can see the pics now....
 
#182 ·
I think you need to slow down for a minute....:toothless (that will be a tough request seeing as we're in full motion again after like 2 years).

Why is it that you apparently have 2 different caps? Did you buy this from someone or ????

I'm thinking you might not need anything new with the caps, so just slow down a minute.. With your 4 bolts lightly threaded in to bolt up the RA's is there any difference side to side, like for caster? If no, then why can't you just redrill one lower coil spring cup and retainer to fit what you have? What coils are you going to run anyway? Many of us had to modify the lower retainer with a wedge to have a nice straight coil anyway.
 
#183 ·
When i got the axle it came with rad arms, one was on and the other was off and one cap had a small ear on it like for a front shock mount but i ground it off.
here's the pic


I am using james duff coil cups with 6" dever springs and haven't seen anyone that has had to shim these. I tried lining up all 3 hole and they don't line up at all and if i where to drill and tap a new hole it would be very close to the old hole that is already there and afraid it will just blow out if i drill it. Since it not in the truck yet i don't know what the caster is and i would rather fix the issue now than take it all back apart when its all together.
 
#184 ·
So your issue appears to be that you got a non-matching set of C caps, so that explains that. I thought in the earlier pics those were supplied by cage.

so with the duff lower cups I don't believe anyone has used wedges, don't think there is a need, those are made flat and sit pretty good as is. Stock cups just don't sit right.

So to fix the bolt issue you have a choice of either finding another C to match one of those that you have (I'd hate to buy a pair here, new they aren't cheap, but I guess if you want a matching set meant for a 78-79 you may have to), OR can you drill another hole in one of the duff cups. It sounds like drilling/tapping another hole into one of the C's is a no go?
 
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