Superduty spring swap thread

[1971ford]

Boy, that sure looks more than 3.5 taller than mine. Seeing it, I thought I may have messed up measuring, so I went out to the shop and did it again, same thing. I guess it just looks like more.

Ya know, I would not be too scared about lengthening the driveshaft yourself. I have done that a lot on the front with no problems. Just take your time and do a really straight job, you won't notice it being a little off. You don't do a lot of long high speed traveling in 4wd do you?

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, sure as heck looks like more than 3.5" taller than yours but I guess one a little bit looks like a lot when lifting.

And that is my plan actaully, right after i mentioned having someone extend my driveshaft i decided i'm going to do it myself. Just going to re-tube the thing. the tube is 2.5, i was really hoping it was 2" because i have 2" .120 DOM in the garage. I could still use it kinda but it wouldn't slip over the yoke's insert deal that goes in the tube after slicing the old weld off. So i guess i'm just going to pick up 2.5" mild at work tomorrow and use that.

[smokey3215]

a old timer taught me a trick one time he said to empty a tube of grease in the driveshaft before you put the last end on that way if you happen to be off a little bit it will automatically balance itself. It works

[1971ford]

Stupid me i didnt do this when i had the 37's up front but thismorning i got this with 30's up front

You're at 42... and...

difference between 35's and 31's lift wise is 2", so add 2 to your 42" and you sit at 44" with 35's and your springs. Roughly. very roughly.
Which is just what mine would sit at if i put some air in the tire like i should.
Twins!

a old timer taught me a trick one time he said to empty a tube of grease in the driveshaft before you put the last end on that way if you happen to be off a little bit it will automatically balance itself. It works

Sounds like a damn good idea to me, i'm going to look into it a little bit

[1971ford]

I have a shocking update for today






3 Things left.
Add leafs to rear packs and new u-bolts (doing this tomorrow, because i get the new u-bolts from Alcan Spring tomorrow) to lift rear to match front
Re-tube driveshaft (doing this tomorrow as well)
Allignment (Getting this done first thing tomorrow morning)

Should be all finished tomorrow night!

[CrypticRacer13]

My brother an I where laying under my truck this weekend talking about doing this same thing when i do the rear end swap

[1971ford]

Nice, i wish you were a tad closer and i'd come help out.

[CrypticRacer13]

If you make up a matching one ill make a road trip up there haha

[1971ford]

I would but you'd have to have a matching flatbed to put the crossmember between

I'm sure i could fab something up that bolts to the top of the frame it would just be a little more work. I was lucky having my flatbed structure right there to squeeze a tube between

[1971ford]

Springs have now settled in.


Got the rear u-bolts today so i am doing the rear lift tomorrow.

Made a new driveshaft
original driveshaft is seriously paper thin... New driveshaft is about 1/4" wall thickness. I like to call it a skid plate now.

[robroy]

Good evening Ryan, it's looking superb!

Gosh, 1/4" thick is THICK for a drive shaft tube wall isn't it? That ought to be ultra durable.

Robroy

[1971ford]

yep sure is. It's not quite 1/4" thick, just under that, but it's THICK for sure!
Being that I am going to be doing several long trails trips in the mountains i don't want to worry about folding the old driveshaft and having to pull the driveshaft and trying to get out of the trail in 2wd. Being that this is a low pinion front axle the driveshaft is pretty exposed. If i had a high pinion axle in, I wouldn't have made it quite as thick.
Overkill is good though, right?

[CrypticRacer13]

Looks good Ryan

[robroy]

'Evening Ryan,

That makes complete sense! One less thing to be concerned with when you're many miles away from civilization. The speed at which you've taken the 4x4 frame and turned it in to a great-looking and fully functional truck, with the body swap and everything else, is totally amazing to me.

Robroy

[1971ford]

Went up to the mountains and did some great trails, now i have to sort through about 200 pictures

Truck did so amazing

[CrypticRacer13]

200 will do just fine