landy_andy

Got the steering link bent up and trimmed, just needs final welding now.

Picked up a couple more brake rotors & redrilled them for my use. Next to make up the steering link out of 1.5” x 0.25” wall DOM tube.

Some bling arrived today 🤩 Can now see how the front inner axles will sit with the new stub shaft bushings. Axle seals are a nice piece and quite reasonable too. Also picked up the Freddilink after getting it machined. Plenty of clearance now for the drag link TRE with & without the dust boot. Next to make up the steering link and buy some more parts.... $$$

The Dodge knuckles are a bit thicker where they mount, if it binds I’ll get the back faces machined down a bit.

New reamer arrived & I modified the knuckles for the Chevy TRE’s. Will use some rubber sheet to make the dust seals. The ‘Freddilink’ arrived and wouldn’t fit the stock Chevy drag link, even though it’s advertised as being for it... so, reamed it out deeper too and am getting the back machined for clearance.

So nice to be able to start assembling stuff 🙂

Was looking around for other parts & found these specifically designed for the Chevy Moog TRE’s that lots of people use in HD steering here... 😁

Back onto the front axle to work on the steering. After looking at the two options of tie rod ends or heims, I decided to use the common Chevy 1 ton TRE’s for ease of replacement if necessary and tube bungs are widely available. Also, it keeps the steering looking more ‘factory’. So, I think they’ll make a definite upgrade over the stock LR ones 😉 The Chevy TRE’s are the same taper (1.5”/ft) as the Dodge ones but are a larger diameter, so the knuckles need drilling out to 5/8” for the thread & the taper will need reaming out to allow full engagement. Steering link

Made up & welded on some bosses for the brake lines, time to give it a good clean & coat of paint now ready for final assembly. Little transport trolley works great and will make swapping axles over easy.

Whilst waiting for parts, made a moving frame using some of the spare axle assembly jig parts. Just need casters to arrive to finish it off now. Will make moving them around under the truck much easier come time to install.

Axles I picked up for $65 each on Amazon... just got relisted at $194 each.... 😁

Axles I picked up are 4340 CrMo, around 1.5” in diameter, will just need the end cleaning up to cut the 35 splines & polish a section for these inner axle seals.

The WMS-WMS of the axle is actually 3” wider than stock, the inner C’s and knuckles are ~12” from end of axle tube to wheel mounting face compared to ~8” for the LR axle. Main reason I’ve had to mount the spring perches partially onto the top of the inner C, makes the case really short. Have to remember these are off 1 ton axles that are around 75-80” WMS-WMS depending upon make & model, mine is 64.5”.

Assembled up the front axle with the new spindles to get a rough length for the inner axle shafts. However, am now thinking I’m going to have to buy the drive pucks to set the correct location of the outer drive shafts to get the centre line of the UJ on the knuckle steering axis centre line. Did ‘eye ball’ it with a steel ruler and measured both short & long side. Unfortunately, neither are ‘stock’ lengths from the lists I got off Pirate 🙁 Couple of options, buy custom ones out of the US at $400+ a set or get some Super Duty ones cut down & resplined. Whilst searc

Got the front hubs completed apart from a lick of fresh paint. Waiting on a set of Trail-gear HDPE spindle bushes before I can mock-up and measure the inner axle lengths. Am hoping that we can find some stock ones that’ll fit rather than going custom. First parts for the rear third have arrived, spool and a 3.50:1 ring/pinion set. As the exchange rate to the US sucks, having to shop around on EBay and use not ‘made in USA’ parts.... to be honest, I don’t really care as long as they perform and for what I’ll be doing, they’ll work just fine.