The Hornet. 96 S-10 2wd to 4wd

From ECGS.JPG

Delivered from East Coast Gear Supply. 4.56 Reverse Cut ring & pinion Nitro Gears and a Yukon 29 spline double drilled yoke.
 
I had aspirations of assembling all of this myself. However, none of these parts came with instructions and I don't own a bearing press or pullers. Any and all of my bearing work has been done with a brass drift. I can't spend this much on nice shiny parts to just to half ass the assembly. I'm hoping somebody on here can suggest a quality shop around here (Shelby, NC). I've found the famous "ZUK" and he's able to assemble it all for around $300, but it's gonna cost me $100 to ship it all to him and another $100 for him to ship it back. I welcome suggestions.
 
BigSouth said:
I had aspirations of assembling all of this myself. However, none of these parts came with instructions and I don't own a bearing press or pullers. Any and all of my bearing work has been done with a brass drift. I can't spend this much on nice shiny parts to just to half ass the assembly. I'm hoping somebody on here can suggest a quality shop around here (Shelby, NC). I've found the famous "ZUK" and he's able to assemble it all for around $300, but it's gonna cost me $100 to ship it all to him and another $100 for him to ship it back. I welcome suggestions.
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pm @Jody Treadway He should be about 1-1.5 hrs from you.

Here is his website:
Carolina Axle & 4x4 | Fletcher, NC 28732
 
We charge $200 to set them up and can ship for about $18 each way. Or you could bring everything and we could ship it back to you. I love Zuk but even he would agree if you asked him that we should do it, just like if someone lived 45 minutes from him I would say to take it to ZUK. My wifes last baby was 65 lb toyota 3rd.........

Jody can certainly handle for you as well.

Project is looking good by the way.
 
Jody Treadway said:
Give me a call and we'll work it out. I'll be glad to take of this for you
828-755-1005
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Google maps only places you about an hour from me. I'll definitely give you a call on my lunch break today. I'm all about supporting local businesses. I know this is gonna sound dirty, but is there any way I can watch the assembly? Teach a man to fish kinda thing.
 
BigSouth said:
Google maps only places you about an hour from me. I'll definitely give you a call on my lunch break today. I'm all about supporting local businesses. I know this is gonna sound dirty, but is there any way I can watch the assembly? Teach a man to fish kinda thing.
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Doubtful as I'll have to work yours in. I'm booked solid about 4-5 weeks right now. But I can definitely find time to set yours up between jobs. Should only take me a day or two.
I'll document everything in your build thread like I've done for others on here.
 
Rear Crossmember Mockup 1.JPG
Rear Crossmember Mockup 2.JPG

Mocked up my rear crossmember for that snazzy carrier bearing from Carolina Driveline. Same material as my transmission crossmember. Tabs are from Ballistic Fab. Everything is 3/16" thick.
 
Rear Crossmember Welded.JPG

I'm still overkilling my welding (I hope!) and welding every joint inside and out.
 
Rear Crossmember Installed.JPG

All painted and welded straight to the frame. I want to go back and add some gusseting on all 4 sides. Maybe even some sort of skid plate to protect the u-joint. I'm planning on covering the entire bottom of the truck with either a steel belly pan or a piece of that poly stuff you see on the high dollar bouncers. Time and money will tell.
 
BigSouth said:
View attachment 241836
All painted and welded straight to the frame. I want to go back and add some gusseting on all 4 sides. Maybe even some sort of skid plate to protect the u-joint. I'm planning on covering the entire bottom of the truck with either a steel belly pan or a piece of that poly stuff you see on the high dollar bouncers. Time and money will tell.
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Incase you are unfamiliar, you still need a backing plate behind the plastic skids. AR plate is where its at.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Incase you are unfamiliar, you still need a backing plate behind the plastic skids. AR plate is where its at.
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I'm glad you mentioned that because I am definitely unfamiliar. I'll take all the advice you wanna give. Thickness of said backing plate? Thickness of poly? Great place to buy them both?
 
mcutler said:
No need for poly with ar plate, that shit is slippery as a buttery nipple. Build looks good.

Matt
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exactly... I put do 1/4" AR plate. If you want to do UHMW/HDPE, you would likely need atleast 1/8" steel or 1/4" alum backer plus 3/8-1/2" plastic.
 
BigSouth said:
View attachment 241013
Then I got out and looked underneath. PROBLEM!! My front shaft is at its maximum angle sitting at ride height. I have to admit that the boys at Carolina Driveline warned me about this and I told them to build it anyway. I absolutely refuse to clock my case down. The app on my phone measures that thing at 38 degrees. Long story short, I wanted to do a hi pinion front diff anyway. Now I get to. After hauling the truck down to Carolina Driveline for some extra special measuring, they're pretty sure that a hi pinion diff combined with swapping to a pinion yoke on the case will afford me enough travel with my leaf springs. Worst case scenario, I'll have to limit the droop on the passenger side.
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Been there with driveshaft angle issues before, I used the offset ujoints from Oliver's, vibrated like hell but functioned and never broke.
 
This make my whole week. Looks like I'll be riding again by spring for sure. Big thanks to Carolina Axle! You got a customer for life.
 
Headlight Old.JPG

Finally decided to do something about these old dim headlights. I picked up another set of Rigid Industries lights off eBay and I had intended on using them as reverse lights on my trailer. Long story short, that was a fail, so now they'll be headlights.
 
Headlight Bezel.JPG

Cut out a piece of metal to drop inside the OE bezel. That way I can retain the ability to adjust the beam if I need to down the road.
 
Headlight Bezel 2.JPG

After a little cutting and drilling, I put some spot welds around the frame and followed that up with a bead of silicone for good measure.
 
Headlight Rigid Installed.JPG
Headlights Finished.JPG

All done and beyond bright. If you add all the LED's together it's somewhere around 10,000 lumens. The diffused lens, in my opinion, is the best for trail riding.
 
mcutler said:
No need for poly with ar plate, that shit is slippery as a buttery nipple. Build looks good.

Matt
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AR400 Plate.JPG

I took your advice and picked up this from a local welding buddy. AR400 1/4" thick. I've got enough here to make a flat belly pan that'll run from transmission pan to rear carrier bearing.
 
BigSouth said:
View attachment 242546
I took your advice and picked up this from a local welding buddy. AR400 1/4" thick. I've got enough here to make a flat belly pan that'll run from transmission pan to rear carrier bearing.
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Just fyi, drilling it is a PITA.
 
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