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$Smokin_Duradog$

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Joined
Jan 26, 2009
Location
Goshen
Hello to everyone that reads this and/or posts to this thread. I am new to the forum.

I have a 2005 Chevy Crew Cab 4x4 duramax. When I first got the the truck I purchased a Fabtech 8" lift kit for it and a 3" body lift. The truck has 11" of lift total and Im running 38"x15.50"x20" Nitto mud grapplers on 20"x12" KMC Chrome Rockstars. Im also running Road Armor bumpers front and rear. The motor is fairly stock air intake and EFI Live programming give it a nice added boost. Im running 4:56 gears.

Now to my question. I would like to convert to a straight axle in the front becasue I break steering parts and halve shafts almost everytime I put the damn thing in 4wheel drive LMAO:wtf: What is the best Year, type, etc... straight front axle for my application?? I was told by a few people I know that I would want to run a 78-79.5 Dana 60 High pinion front axle. I just want to run leaf springs on the front no crazy 4 link stuff. I drive the truck on the road alot and pull my friends Duramax to sled pulls. So I want to stay with the same size tires and wheels. Wouldnt mind it sitting a few more inches in the air. So if anyone has any suggestions on what axle, size of leaf springs and any pros or cons as to what axle I should or shouldn't use please feel free to post here. Thank you for your time :)
 
If you wanted to keep it cheaper for the time being, you might want to look into tie-rod sleeves or even HD ends. Go to www.thedieselplace.com for some vendors that carry those. As for the half-shafts, it sounds like the torsion bars are up too high if you're breaking them easily, but that EFI program isn't helping out any.

Anyway, if you have deep pockets, I'd suggest having a new front axle built and spec'd to your truck. If not, you've got to buy the axle ($900-1200 average depending on who's selling it), rebuild, re-gear, brakes, and also steering arms. You also have to have someone to cut the C's off and reweld them to the proper position. Also take into consideration any driveshaft and steering mods you want to do. ORU offers a straight axle conversion kit to use leaf springs, and that's fairly expensive too.

Basically, you're looking to spend around $4K at the very minimum to do this swap unless you do a lot of the work yourself.
 
My cousin converted an '06 Chevy Duramax using a Solid Axle Industries front 60. Too rich for my blood, but it's sexy. I got some photos of it at home; if you're interested I can post 'em up.
 
I'm also gonna SAS my duramax since my 8" fabtech is no longer big enough or strong enough. I'm on dieselplace.com and have been reading through ever post and thread I can find on it. There's a lot of good info if you just search SAS or SAC. Check out offroadunlimited.com also.
Josh
 
Thanks for the response guys :) On my DMax atm I am running tierod sleeves and billeter center link. Most of the time when I break stuff it is on pavement hooked to another truck. What usually happens is the actual tierod either sheers off in the steering nuckle or it will actually pull the ball part of the outer tierod end right out of itself. LMAO! So lame! AS far as my torsion bars go they are barely doing anything. Ive owned enough IFS trucks with torsion bars to realize the ILL effects of that. I also have napa HD pitman and idler with cognito heim joints to keep them from wallering out.

Whats seems to be the issue with sled pulling or pulling truck to truck is that when the weight tranfers to to rear end the nose gets light SO the natural thing for the truck to do is make the suspension travel down! This starts all kinds of problems in my world.

1. The steering is no longer long enough to keep the tires straight.
2. The half shaft angels start getting bad.
3. Finally putting those 2 elements together and fact that u are laying down 500hp and 1000lBs of torque it will pull the front tires in to each other until it breaks the tie rod end off in the knuckle. Then the half shaft has no way of limiting how tightly it it turns since the front tire is now a limp noodle so it binds until it breaks :(

I have looked at the ORU kits those seem like a great way to go and sounds like a DANA 60 78-79.5 model year is the way to go so that the spring perches line up with the frame on my truck? I think I would rather find a used axle and rebuild it than to buy one already done. Maulcruiser u said I would have to cut the C's off and reweld to the right position. Could you explain to me what that means. Im a noob LOL:)
 
You have to cut and rotate the inner c's (part that the knuckle attaches to) to get the correct caster angle. If you dont you will end up with DW (death wobble).
 
i think some are converting using the american axle out of an 03 up dodge truck. i think i saw a conversion in either 4wheel and offroad or fourwheeler magazine. the axle worked really good because it had the same type of abs sensors that chevy uses. the truck would ride a lot better with coils versus leafs.
 
Rock Krawler does make a kit for a SAS. However, it is a coilover and 4 link set up. Not that it's bad. Just a little more work involved than swapping in some leaves. Ok maybe a lot more. Pure performance also does a coilover set up.
Josh
 
If you build an axle to handle that kind of power, having a new axle built right from the start might be the best way to go. other than the housing itself, which is hard to find, everything else will be replaced.
 
if you are hooking up trucks on pavement...you are gonna break stuff...thats a not great practice to begin with.
 
LOL point well taken SkyHik5 :) Its usually only happens when my ego gets bigger than my truck or when people wont stop running there mouths then I have to show them happy crappy my IFS truck is ROFL! Its not hard to fix last time I broke I repaired it in the ditch along the road that was the only place I could get with it broke. $60 dollars for the tierod end and about an hours work and your off to the shop for an alignment and a new half shaft. Those are really cheap after youve had them replaced with Napa ones since they carry lifetime warranty:driver:
 
Whats seems to be the issue with sled pulling or pulling truck to truck is that when the weight tranfers to to rear end the nose gets light SO the natural thing for the truck to do is make the suspension travel down! This starts all kinds of problems in my world.
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With 8" of lift, I guess so! I've not seen many lifted GM's doing that great on sled pulls. Most are usually stock height and they zero out the torsion bars before pulling so that when it does "lift" the front end, the half shafts go from a negative angle to virtually parallel so that they're in their strongest working area.

Maulcruiser u said I would have to cut the C's off and reweld to the right position. Could you explain to me what that means. Im a noob LOL
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As amajeepman said, it will help with the caster angle. You're basically cutting the inner C off the ends of the axle housing and repositioning them to compensate for the angles you're creating with the lift. It will also help out with the pinion angle with that much lift. You will basically point the pinion at the t-case.

You said that you've been hooking to trucks on the asphalt? How's your t-case holding up? Has the clip broken in the case and is allowing the pump to rub a hole through the housing yet? Keep an eye out for that!

What kind of mods have you done to the Allison? If you haven't done anything to it, save your money for a SunCoast transmission before doing the SAS. You're gonna need it if you're putting 500 HP through it!
 
Pics of the aforementioned Solid Axled Duramax... It was a 2x4 that he converted to 4x4. Not really my cup o' chowder, but it's pretty. I guess.
 

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Its spelled "Chowdah" unless you are thinking of that crappy tomato soup with clams that New Yorkers pass off as clam chowder.

Nice truck. I'd love to something like that back to Boston and try to drive around JP.
 
can't say i condone truck2truck either except under well regulated conditions and then only by professionals.

but, if that is your intention, i think you ought to consider losing the lift and addressing the suspension needs before you start beefing up weak links.

when ever you beef up a weak link, the force just gets transfered to the next weak link. If you don't do something about the physics described earlier your just going to be chasing your truck down a nasty rat hole and you'll come out the other side broke as hell and still have a truck that breaks...or was that brakes....dammit...where the hell is rickey.


on the other hand.....this sounds like an application for rockwells.
 
I think the saying "To each their own" fits this situation nicely.
 
BigRedB2 said:
"careless and wreckless" unless done in a competition environement.
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Just to play devil's advocate, how is one supposed to only compete and never practice?

Don't get me wrong, I think its dumb as hell but as long as he's not doing it on public roads in traffic then I think its not that big a deal.

I'm just a little shocked that a person could simultaneously be smart enough to make enough money to afford to keep replacing those parts and dumb enough to think that it's a good idea to keep breaking them.
 
Archdukeferdinand said:
Just to play devil's advocate, how is one supposed to only compete and never practice?.
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i would imagine that to practice it you would do so in the same controlled environment as the competition, not outside the local burgerhut when your buddy starts bragging.


don't get me wrong, no one is shitting on this guys hobby. i think it would be fun....in the right environment. just like wheeling...in the right place is great.
 
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