94 GMC on Rocks and 54" Boggers

[TAWL_BOY]

I know the 54s aren't out yet, but I've already talked to Interco(I live just over an hour from there) and I'm gonna get one of the first sets for 17" wheels.

This is how she used to look:



But due to a series of unfortunate events leading to the ruining of my knee, I can no longer play college football. Therefore, I have a lot more time on my hands. The second I heard there was going to be a 54" bogger my mind was made up. My old axles, tires, and springs went up for sale immediately. The axels sold in under 12 hours...sorry....I should've asked more for em.

I found a set of rockwells for 850....the guy delivered em 10 hours to my buddy's shop in Houston for 1150. The axles are in Houston 'cuz this is where I live(I go to Rice) and my truck is in Orange. About hour and a half away.

I've ordered my springs from Carrier Spring http://www.customsuspension.com ....hands down the best place to get custom tall springs made. My old setup was from them. I used to run 14" springs with the 3" ORU hangers and a 3" body lift. (above pics) I just ordered 20" lift springs. The fronts are going to be 6" longer than a 73-87 Chevy front behind the center pin. This should give me a little more flex and a bit smoother ride. I really don't care about those things as this rig will only see 10 mile of road at a time to get to the local holes. This is a swamp truck. I just figured since I'm havin' 'em custom made why not.

I've built new hangers that give 7" of lift. I had already bent ORUs. With the rocks and 54s I needed stouter stuff so I build em out of 3/8" plate and boxed with 1/4" and gussested with 1.25" sched 40 pipe.


The rear hanger is made of 2x2x.25" and is gusseted with a combo of 3/8", 1/4", and Sched 40. I made it a crossmember because my plans are to use a divorced NP205 behind my NP241 and drop it down. SO they're will be no driveshaft issues with the crossmember.

[TAWL_BOY]

Here's the axles:



I tore 'em down yesterday.




They had plenty of good grease in 'em. The wheel bearing looked new. I think I'm gonna go ahead and replace the seals and get new one piece boots.

The stock shafts are so big compared to my dana 60:


But I still plan to upgrade to OEMs 2" 47 spline shafts once I save enought...I'm probably gonna have to build a few rigs for others. Any body in my area wants a truck built let me know....will fab for food.

I even got one of the driveshafts out of the deal:

[American]

"... will fab for food."

[lamoparpower]

are you going to interco to get the tires installed??? my house is only 15 minutes from there... id love to see the truckk...

[DIXIEDIRT]

what brake setup are you planning to run, pinion brakes, wheel disks, what bolt pattern do you plan on running 8x6.5? lockouts? locker? full hydro steering? check out some of the stuff superhawk put into his axles in his buildup to get some ideas.

[TAWL_BOY]

I'll be pullin' the center chunks on monday(my girlfriends makin' me go to her family reunion this weekend) and then shavin' the skid down.

I'm gonna sand blast the housing and paint everything with POR15...love the stuff. I'm gonna use pinion brakes, I just haven't decided what setup to go, probably toy calipers with mazda rotors or USA6x6's stuff(they have an ebrake kit which I'll use for a cuttin' brake on the rear. I'm gonna twinstick the NP205 so I can disengage the rear when I have to make a tighter turn, since I don't have rear steer....yet?
I'm goin' full hydro...input on ya'lls setup would be appreciated. I'm gonna go single ended ram. I don't need high dollar everything, but I want it to work and not give me any trouble.

How many turns lock to lock for a straight up mudder? I think my stock setup was 2.5.

I'd love to see cradles/mounts for divorced t-cases. I like the chucks trucks design, but if I can build it I do. I have a ton of metal layin' around...1/4" 3/8"...teflon coated drill stem....1.5" sched 40, 2" sched 80.

Oh yeah, do ya'll think I should mount the t-case centered between the front and rear axle so my driveshaft would be equal lenght....remember it's not street driven and will almost always be in 4WD.

Engine swap is in future plans and I'm lookin for advice their too. I'm gonna ditch the TBI 5.7...it's had the head polished and ported, throttle body spacer, chip and only has 20,000 miles on it. I had it built 6 years ago and for the last 3 years I've been in college and it was apart for a year of that.
It worked great with 4.56 gears and 35s...oh so long ago. But I can't expect to get more than 300 or so horse power out of it and all the chips and stuff is frustratin' I figure some crawler with a Jeep'll want it.

I'm thinkin' completely swap a newer 8.1 liter in and supercharge it a few years down the road. Or...what I'm leanin' towards is ditch all that computer stuff and go with a seriously built 454 with a holley truck avenger and try to get at least 500hp out of it.

So info on the pinion brakes and hydro would be appreciated.

[TAWL_BOY]

Wow, ya'll respond quickly. I will be the tires up from Interco. Anyone who wants to is welcome to come to my house or the shop in H town to lend a hand when I'm around or ride along once the truck is done.

I'm gonna weld the spider gears...and I'm gonna do it right(out of the carrier). This'll save me money and they'll be replaced the an OEM spool when I get my 2" shafts, probably not till the end of the summer once I can build a few rigs for others. I have a couple people in line for spring overs and SASs.

I'm gonna flip the hubs in and keep the stock rockwell lug pattern....oh yeah, I'm orderin' right handed studs. I'm probably gettin USA6x6 to build me some 17x12 nonbeadlock wheels. I'll run some Staun's later if I feel the need

Some of you may be thinkin' why 17" wheels?, why not 20s? that's a tall tire and the 20s are commin out first.
There are several reasons:
1) Less rolling' mass, which'll be easier on the stock shafts
2) Cost a little less for wheels and tires...believe me it adds up
3) That extra sidewall is a little extra suspension...less bone jarring
4) It make the tire look even bigger...I grew up in the 80s and I like the old school monster trucks...my tires I just yanked off were 46x15

[bad89chevy]

that things nice real nice, thanks for the ideas that i can do to my sas

[ElectricCTD]

This sounds like a fun project. I also got my front and rear springs from Carrier and even though they might take a little longerto build them, they are the best in customer service and quality. I don't think you'll have to worry about much flex from them though. They are gonna be big and THICK springs.

What are you using for Driveshafts? Even with toploaders I had some problems getting my front and rear shaft made. The are gonna cost some cash unless you have you existing ones modified.

[TAWL_BOY]

The guy had one of the stock driveshafts. I'm going to have it lengthened. Probably do it myself on a homemade jig, I'm not really worried about vibration since this truck may never get over 45 mph. We'll see how bad it shakes.


I can use the other rockwell yoke off this driveshaft for the other axle. I have a couple of old driveshafts layin' around that I might just lengthen and get 1410 yokes or I'll try to locate another rockwell driveshaft...shouldn't be too hard.

Anybody have experience with buildin' d-shafts out of square tubing? Just curious if it could work in my application. I can get plenty for free.

I would also like input about mounting the t-case for equal length driveshafts. I know its done on smaller rigs alot.