I don't know why anyone would want to duplicate this. There doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in dropping a 350 in a T, or a SAS, but so far it has been really easy.
The 350 fits with a ton of room and a full width D-44 is within an inch or so of the rear axle width.
What i did today was install the saganaw steering. A normal SAS would probably be easier with the IFS steering gear, but since I installed the Chevy motor my choices were adapt the GM steering shaft and fab a sag gear mount or use the IFS box. Then I'd have to adapt the hoses to have two different ends and make a steering link with two different tie rod ends. Easy enough, but tough to find spares. Also I would still have to fab a mount since the stock gear sat to far back for the axle placement.
I used a gear and steering shaft from a 95 GMC 3500 2WD dually. The gear is mounted to the frame about 1/4 inch forward of the crossmember. The front bottom bolt is under the frame, with the rear bottom bolt through the frame. Both are sleaved with 9/16 ID tube. The top bolt is about an inch above the frame, also sleaved. I sandwiched the frame with a pair of 1/4" plates. The gear is held off the inner plate by 1/2" tall peices of 3/4 ID DOM tube. The plates are welded to the frame and the sleaves. The gear is held on with three 14mm bolts.
The steering shaft was fun to build. I used the GM shaft for ease of fit to the box, but I needed to adapt it to the Toyota steering column and lengthen it a bit. I used a chunk of 1" stock ground into a double D for a snug fit into the steering shaft end. i drilled the 3/8 hole through the stock hole and dropped a grade 8 bolt through. I had to turn the other end down to fit inside a chunk of the 3/4" ID DOM I had. I also had to turn down the Toyota column stub to 3/4, but that was just a tiny bit. I drilled both and welded in 1/4 round stock as well as welded the seams. I used the stock plate that went through the firewall, but I had to make an angled mount for the 3/4 pillow block bearing. That was a beeeatch to get just right.
I took a couple of progress pics and I can take some finished pics if anybody is interested, but like i said, i don't know anybody doing this conversion. Still, I had to post. You never know.
The 350 fits with a ton of room and a full width D-44 is within an inch or so of the rear axle width.
What i did today was install the saganaw steering. A normal SAS would probably be easier with the IFS steering gear, but since I installed the Chevy motor my choices were adapt the GM steering shaft and fab a sag gear mount or use the IFS box. Then I'd have to adapt the hoses to have two different ends and make a steering link with two different tie rod ends. Easy enough, but tough to find spares. Also I would still have to fab a mount since the stock gear sat to far back for the axle placement.
I used a gear and steering shaft from a 95 GMC 3500 2WD dually. The gear is mounted to the frame about 1/4 inch forward of the crossmember. The front bottom bolt is under the frame, with the rear bottom bolt through the frame. Both are sleaved with 9/16 ID tube. The top bolt is about an inch above the frame, also sleaved. I sandwiched the frame with a pair of 1/4" plates. The gear is held off the inner plate by 1/2" tall peices of 3/4 ID DOM tube. The plates are welded to the frame and the sleaves. The gear is held on with three 14mm bolts.
The steering shaft was fun to build. I used the GM shaft for ease of fit to the box, but I needed to adapt it to the Toyota steering column and lengthen it a bit. I used a chunk of 1" stock ground into a double D for a snug fit into the steering shaft end. i drilled the 3/8 hole through the stock hole and dropped a grade 8 bolt through. I had to turn the other end down to fit inside a chunk of the 3/4" ID DOM I had. I also had to turn down the Toyota column stub to 3/4, but that was just a tiny bit. I drilled both and welded in 1/4 round stock as well as welded the seams. I used the stock plate that went through the firewall, but I had to make an angled mount for the 3/4 pillow block bearing. That was a beeeatch to get just right.
I took a couple of progress pics and I can take some finished pics if anybody is interested, but like i said, i don't know anybody doing this conversion. Still, I had to post. You never know.
