My D2 axle swap thread

[Buckon37s]

Haters throw hate like rice at a wedding.

[Kyle_T]

got the caster set (cut and turn. pain in the butt...pipe cutter wouldnt fit... so had to carefully use a grinder cutoff wheel... ) 4* caster with the pinion at 16*.
got one front shock, spring seat done, it got to dark to snap a pic so ill grab one tomorrow.

[seventyfive]

Originally Posted by Buckon37s

Haters throw hate like rice at a wedding.

that's their job.

[Kyle_T]

[Kyle_T]

got it driving. Need to get the ABS sensor harness made, rear drive shaft isnt hooked up (flange issue) and i need to adjust the front a little more forward and get the pinion angle right, then do some trimming. also need to get the steering damper hooked up.
drives good, leans a little in the corners, but rides nice and smooth. swaybars might be in the future.

for some reason it sits a ton higher than before... more than just the tires...

brakes work a ton better, even with the D2 MC and booster.

Exhaust is jankafied at the moment though.

Ideas on how to retain the front springs? (with the shock in the middle....)

[Puffdragon]

Originally Posted by Kyle_T

Ideas on how to retain the front springs? (with the shock in the middle....)

You wont believe me when I tell you, but two high quality hardware store hose clamps is all you need to retain the front springs. Just replace them every year or so if you wheel it hard. I ran these on my D-90 out of desperation, and never changed it. They work great.

[Kyle_T]

wow, never thought of that. ill look for some next time im out at hd or someplace.

[uninformed]

Originally Posted by Puffdragon

As nice as that setup is I am sure, its not that "impressive". I was using 12" shocks on the front of my D-90 with a modded radius arm setup. And I used every inch of it. We also use 14" 2.5" airshocks on an Early bronco with basically stock radius arms. The EB uses most of that shock.

is the "mod" you speak of, where you cut and modifiy the axle end of one arm so the 2 bushes are closer together? rear of axle bush in stock location and the new one above???

Serg

[Puffdragon]

That's one of the better ways to mod the radius arms. I've done that setup on a few trucks to date. There are a few other options to. My d-90 had a hinged radius arm with removable pin.

[Buckon37s]

Originally Posted by Puffdragon

You wont believe me when I tell you, but two high quality hardware store hose clamps is all you need to retain the front springs. Just replace them every year or so if you wheel it hard. I ran these on my D-90 out of desperation, and never changed it. They work great.

That only works if you were using your shocks or your brake lines as secondary stops. If you had full range of motion with something more than a 12in shock you would tear the hose clamps up in a trip.

[Puffdragon]

Surprisingly, they were "bulletproof" for me on 12-13" shocks. I only used them up front. Pretty impressive what those little cheezy clamps can do. Again, everybody though I was crazy and though they would rip apart on every trail we hit, but they lasted a long time. Without them, my springs would unseat about 4" or more.

YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY!!!!! ALSO, GHETO GAYNESS FACTOR ONLY APPLIES IF YOU SHOW THEM OFF TO YOUR BRAH!!

[uninformed]

Originally Posted by Puffdragon

That's one of the better ways to mod the radius arms. I've done that setup on a few trucks to date. There are a few other options to. My d-90 had a hinged radius arm with removable pin.

how did you find the road handling? heavy braking?

any pass on of forces that wouldnt show up with stock arms?

any noticable difference because potentially the axle roll axis was different from the remaining stock arm to modded?

cheers,
Serg

[Kyle_T]

Originally Posted by Buckon37s

That only works if you were using your shocks or your brake lines as secondary stops. If you had full range of motion with something more than a 12in shock you would tear the hose clamps up in a trip.

i am planning on running straps to keep the shocks from stopping travel.

[Puffdragon]

Originally Posted by uninformed

how did you find the road handling? heavy braking?

any pass on of forces that wouldnt show up with stock arms?

any noticable difference because potentially the axle roll axis was different from the remaining stock arm to modded?

cheers,
Serg

Well, the hinged arm first.

When pinned, it drove stock. Everything was basically in stock form at this point. When unpinned, I got horrible understeer, and funky floaty body movement that you would expect from a slinky crawler. Unpinned on the street was not dangerous, but certainly was not optimal for inexperienced drivers. Thats why it has the pin though. Offroad, the hinged arm was excellent. It did have a few funky characteristics while climbing under power. This did require slightly different lines to keep her stable. The hinged arm is a good all around mod that is uber cheap and makes for a very capable little wheeler


Now to the modified bushing radius arm

Well, in my opinion, this was a sweet setup. Travel was very controlled and smooth. The increase in travel was fairly large. On road manners were excellent with proper spring rates and valving. Almost unnoticeable to even seasoned LR drivers. Offroad, you could use the truck like a rally truck, or a fairly serious crawler. In my test track, it proved to be much more stable than the hinged arm, and didn't require crawling under the truck to remove a pin. It does require more loading to flex the truck, and would benefit from a rear axle sway bar. The fab work to do this is fairly minimal, but certainly more involved than the hinged arm. If I had a daily driver/Crawler LR, this would be my first choice to mod the suspension.

[franko]

How did you work out your steering, was it pretty straight forward....

[Kyle_T]

Originally Posted by franko

How did you work out your steering, was it pretty straight forward....

Me? Yes. Lc tre at axle chevy at box. Panhard is Lc at the axle a slee adjuster and the disco end at the frame.

[red90rover]

Originally Posted by Puffdragon

Well, in my opinion, this was a sweet setup. Travel was very controlled and smooth. The increase in travel was fairly large. On road manners were excellent with proper spring rates and valving. Almost unnoticeable to even seasoned LR drivers.

With all of these were you only using the later wide, three shell bushings or did you ever try the earlier narrow bushings? Not that I've measured, but I'm guessing from seeing trucks drive the same lines that the narrow bushings allow double the articulation to the wide ones.

[Puffdragon]

Most of my mods were with the older style narrow arms. Never cared for the newer style arms and bushings.

[bigbluelunchbox]

With the narrow arms and bushings, were you still using the stock RA mounts? (width wise, I know you moved the upper mount on some) The old arms are what 8mm narrower?

[Kyle_T]

my RA's are for sale... well used and super flexy.

Got 3 of 4 abs sensors wired and good, 4th I goofed up the splicing or something because it has a fault for just that one sensor (wiring OHM too high or low fault) so I need to redo it. they are crimped right now, but since it worked, i am going to go back and solder, shrink wrap them. have a few parts from ballistic coming to make it more adjustable and push the axle farther forward. somehow my lower link is about 2" too short and I dont want to run too much thread out on the joint.(other end was notched and welded bushing) swapping that for a insert and threaded ballistic bushing housing.

[Puffdragon]

Originally Posted by bigbluelunchbox

With the narrow arms and bushings, were you still using the stock RA mounts? (width wise, I know you moved the upper mount on some) The old arms are what 8mm narrower?

Stock frame side, but the axle side mounts changed, as well as one arm had the bushing separation changed dramatically. This is what increases travel. I have also done with with two heavily modded RA's but the axle wrap presents an issue and was a bit more complicated.

[bigbluelunchbox]

I've got a set of narrow QT arms. I need to adjust the axle end to fit the narrower arms. I can't decide how I'm going to do it yet. Especially considering the return on time investment.

Hijack temporarily off.

[uninformed]

Originally Posted by red90rover

With all of these were you only using the later wide, three shell bushings or did you ever try the earlier narrow bushings? Not that I've measured, but I'm guessing from seeing trucks drive the same lines that the narrow bushings allow double the articulation to the wide ones.

double????? so you could fit 20inch shocks to the narrow version......

[Kyle_T]

Originally Posted by uninformed

double????? so you could fit 20inch shocks to the narrow version......

No he means you get 8" instead of 4"...

[red90rover]

Originally Posted by Kyle_T

No he means you get 8" instead of 4"...

Pretty much.... The narrow ones will use the full stock 8" shock in articulation, and a bit more. The wide ones come nowhere close to using even the stock shocks. YMMV...