Builds Stevo's 6BT60 Build Thread (6 Viewers)

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StevoJonesFJ60 said:
"Divorced" means that the transmission and transfercase are seperate. Any time that the trans and T-case are connected they are considered "Married".

I could machine a spud shaft and have a flange mated to the rear of the transmission but the extra amount of work required for that would take a while. It would also cost a lot of money.

People run divorced cases all of the time, and the interdediate shafts never change the angle they operate at so they last a long time.
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I stand corrected. A quick search gave me the info I need.

Looking forward to seeing it all together man, keep it up.
 
Yup no worries Johhny. I look forward to getting this finished as well.

There was some more progress today. The first thing I did was pull the old axle out from under the Cruiser. A note to everyone is be sure to put some antiseize on anything you bolt together. It makes removing them a whole lot easier. But after some heavy hammering with the aluminum hammer I made everything worked out well.

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I also realized once the cruiser axle was out that the leaf springs in the front will need to be outboarded to run the Dana 60. The center section on the D60 prevents the spring perches from being shifted towards the center of the axle.
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So I was thinking about possibly swapping the springs I will run up front. I liked the flex I got out of the stock cruiser springs, but I would like to have something with a thicker main just as a precaution with running the 6BT up front. I don't intend to take it easy on this truck and would not want to be replacing mains on the trail.

I have these springs out of the front of the dodge but compared to the cruiser springs they don't seem to have a lot of arch. The cruiser spring is on the bottom.

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The other options I was thinking of were some sort of hybrid pack using the springs I have already or go to a junkyard and pick up a set of 52" chevy springs.


While I was powerwashing the Dana 60, I figured I would clean up the NP205. I also swapped around the yokes so I can reuse the front driveshaft I already have or modify it to make it work. And I changed the input so I can use the current rear driveshaft to make an intermediate shaft.

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It was pretty filthy and even powerwashing didn't get everything off.

I slid the Dana 60 under just to get an idea of what it is going to look like. I think I like it. :D

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Since you are already having to move the spring hangers due to the width of the axle I'd go for longer springs than stock. I also agree that you will want thicker springs to help take the added abuse. If you do opt for something longer take some measurements of how much frame you have out in front from center of where you want your axle to be so that you don't run out of frame to attach the front of the spring to. I used a hybrid pack with a ford ranger mains (58" long) that has an offset center pin. Without the offset I would have run out of frame since I'm already at the end of it now.
 
boots4 said:
Since you are already having to move the spring hangers due to the width of the axle I'd go for longer springs than stock. I also agree that you will want thicker springs to help take the added abuse. If you do opt for something longer take some measurements of how much frame you have out in front from center of where you want your axle to be so that you don't run out of frame to attach the front of the spring to. I used a hybrid pack with a ford ranger mains (58" long) that has an offset center pin. Without the offset I would have run out of frame since I'm already at the end of it now.
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Yeah, thats what I was planning on doing. I might even bump the front axle forward a bit depending on how much I can based on my steering system. What is the thickness on those ranger springs?
 
StevoJonesFJ60 said:
What is the thickness on those ranger springs?
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Standard domestic thickness, which most seem to be thicker than the toyota stuff, at least from my JY hunts. For a real answer I'll have to go measure after work.
 
So I was looking at the rear springs on the D250 and there is no way I could run the full pack, being that it is 8 leaves with an overload. The dodge springs are 52" long and I also have a set of 63" chevy springs. My gameplan is to pull apart the chevy springs which I wanted to do anyway so I have spare mains for my rear.

The hybrid pack will probably consist of the following:

1st Main from the D250 springs
2nd Chevy leaf
3rd Chevy leaf
4th Dodge leaf
5th Dodge leaf

I like the idea of throwing a few half inch chevy springs in the mix. I also don't want the packs to be too stiff. The cruiser pack I had was 9 leaves and definitely on the stiffer side. I'll keep the other leaves around for later when I get some seat time and can decide if they need some tuning or not.

Another thing I like about the dodge leaf springs is that they have an offset pin. The split is 24/28 so I can flip them for a 4" change in wheelbase.
 
Some front axle goodies showed up today. :D

Crane Hi Clearance Arms:

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Diff cover and D60 swap kit from ruffstuff:

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These will hopefully be installed this weekend.
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you know my vote for front springs haha. Are you shackle reversed? I had to move my axle back a little. by the time I hit my compression my TR wanted to be behind my DL at the pitman arm. I moved it back a 1-1.5" but it all depends on the travel length of your springs. Its good your thinking about it where I failed. I8cuttingandrewelding what I just did.
If you SR your golden.
 
snowboardonsnow said:
you know my vote for front springs haha. Are you shackle reversed? I had to move my axle back a little. by the time I hit my compression my TR wanted to be behind my DL at the pitman arm. I moved it back a 1-1.5" but it all depends on the travel length of your springs. Its good your thinking about it where I failed. I8cuttingandrewelding what I just did.
If you SR your golden.
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As of right now I am not shackle reversed. I like not needing a super long slip joint in the front. Plus if I have my axle bumped forward a bit it should increase my approach angle enough not to need to SR.

You like those ford springs, but you are still SUA in the front right? I wonder how stock ford springs would flex in SOA.

I shouldn't have any issues with steering but I need to get the new arms installed before I can figure out where to locate my axle.
 
disassociative said:
Awesome resource! :beer:
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Yeah I know, I just spent a ton of time on that site.

I have been thinking a lot about the way to set up the front suspension. I am pretty sure that I am going to stick with the shackles up front. There really aren't that many rocks in Jersey so I am not too concerned about bending springs or hitting the hangers. And by keeping them up front I don't need to buy a long travel driveshaft which would cost a bunch of money.

So that being said, I was wondering if the angle the springs are mounted with each other has an effect on handling. I know typically springs are mounted in parallel but if they were outboarded in the front and narrower in the rear what kind of effect would that have on the springs?
 
StevoJonesFJ60 said:
So that being said, I was wondering if the angle the springs are mounted with each other has an effect on handling. I know typically springs are mounted in parallel but if they were outboarded in the front and narrower in the rear what kind of effect would that have on the springs?
Click to expand...

If your shackle pins/bolts aren't transversal to your springs, you're gonna chew through bushings if you don't break them first. Also, gonna be much harder to keep the leaves aligned well and may result in twisting on the primary leaf due to medial shift in load distribution at the eye.

No idea what that will do to your ride.
 
StevoJonesFJ60 said:
So that being said, I was wondering if the angle the springs are mounted with each other has an effect on handling. I know typically springs are mounted in parallel but if they were outboarded in the front and narrower in the rear what kind of effect would that have on the springs?
Click to expand...

Toyota's done that in the rear of the Tundra I believe...
Maybe helps with stability :confused:
 
disassociative said:
If your shackle pins/bolts aren't transversal to your springs, you're gonna chew through bushings if you don't break them first. Also, gonna be much harder to keep the leaves aligned well and may result in twisting on the primary leaf due to medial shift in load distribution at the eye.

No idea what that will do to your ride.
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True, I think I am gonna stick with keeping it as parallel as possible.

I also got the steering mocked up on the truck and bumping the axle to the point where the drag link is parallel with the axle front to back I have just over 25" to the front of the frame. I figure the dodge springs with the 28/24 split on the lengths should work out pretty nice.
 
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