more of a "rebuild"

So Friday night, about halfway through the gear change on my front axle, we found out that the new ring gear was drilled for 7/16 bolts and that my carrier and install kit were for 3/8. A call to ECGS monday morning, and new bolts were on the way. I stopped by the shop on my way home from work to drill the carrier holes out, and snapped a couple of photos. Hopefully it will be finished and I can get it installed soon. Is there an app to remove your feet from photos? someone could make a killing with that technology...

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Def an interesting build. Have you thought about using a sf 14 Bolt rear instead of the 12 bolt?
 
Redneck92 said:
Def an interesting build. Have you thought about using a sf 14 Bolt rear instead of the 12 bolt?
Click to expand...
It would be too big. I seriously doubt if I ever go over a 36" tire, so I decided I didnt want anything bigger than a dana 44 to get hung on. The isuzu 12-bolt is a 3rd member type axle, not much bigger than a toyota mini-truck axle. The 2 reasons I went with it instead of a mini-truck housing is the factory 4.56 gears and factory disc brakes.

I'm interested how those plans for a 500 caddy engine are coming along. I just picked one up a couple of weeks ago for a friend to put in a '61 caddy. Those things are monsters. I did not fully understand how big they are until we started measuring the engine compartment. Its not going to be an easy fit at all.

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Stock those caddys are a torque monster, built and well you get some un-ruly hulk thing under the hood.
 
another question about the 12 bolt, do the calipers clear 15" rims? or what size rims are you running? backspace?
 
wow, late response. yes to the 15" rims. not sure about the backspacing, but its somewhere in the 3.5" ballpark.
 
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It doesnt look like much, but hopefully it will get the job done.
No real progress in months, just collecting a few parts, and trying to get motivated....
 
Not much progress here, but I was able to get in the shop and help set-up my ring and pinion. The only experience I have inside one of these is lock-rite installs, and setting the backlash after changing a carrier (installing a tru-trac). Getting the pinion depth was something I had never even thought about doing, and turned out to be just as hard as I imagined it would be. Thank God for set-up bearings. I didnt actually do most of the work, just helped, but I think I learned enough to do it myself the next time. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I can have all fout tires on the ground for the first time in over 2.5 years. I also have that propane system to install (and a few other secret parts/ideas that I have to keep hidden from my buddies) and then it will be on to the brakes and shocks.

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So I got the axle thrown under the jeep yesterday, finger-tight of course, and it came out a lot lower than I had expected (compare it to the stock 'yota parked behind it). But I like it. I am going to re-stack the rear springs to try and level it out some, I also have new spring pads to install that will push the axle back 2 more inches. Up front I am going to have to relocate my shock hoop and find a shorter pitman arm. The tie-rod loads from the top side of the steering arms on this axle and apparently the arms themselves are a little longer than the dana 30 steering. Now my pitman arm is almost against the tie rod, there is definitely not enough room to install a draglink. I will be looking for a blank pitman arm that I can cut to length and drill out myself. Any good leads?

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