what's involved installing chevy rear end

[milesstarkey]

i've talked a little bit about this before, but am wondering what all is involved, how much work, fabrication, money, etc. if i go with chevy from tip to tail. is there anyway to make my ramsey winch still work if i use the chevy transfer case? if not, i'll have one for sale. any and all help, advice, pictures, write-ups, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

 

[milesstarkey]

looking for some help here. how hard is it to swap axles, and can you just hook up the brake lines, or what? please?

 

[TJDIV]

I feel your pain, I'm going through the same sh*t right now. It's supposedly pretty simple in logic, and a seasoned wrech turner can do it in a day.

My biggest problem is finding a donor vehicle to chop. If we get rolling on it this week, I'll let you know how much I hated doing it, but love driving it when it's done.

 

[TJDIV]

''wrench''

 

[godzilla]

What axles are you planning on swapping in? The biggest thing is narrowing them. Big Bucks. The whole process of modifiying driveshafts, no big deal. But if you want to swap dana 60's in, I priced them in my area, I wanted to run 42" swampers, it would have cost me in the neiborhood of $3,500. Thats with the narrowing done, gears and lockers. And the front axle couldn't be narrowed enough, so I would have to deal with the local freindly police. I'd spend your money on some marfeilds or longfeilds instead of the swap. But thats just my opinion.

 

[hammerhead]

1st - Did you read the centered rear diff options in the tech links?
2nd - You can PTO a chev tranny/t-case.

 

[milesstarkey]

what are marfields and longfields? are there any axles that don't need shortened? what about putting in s-10 axles? i looked at some of those write-ups but i don't know all of the terms so most of it didn't make a lot of sense to me. are dana 60's chevy axles? will MY ramsey pto work with the chevy t/case?

 

[woody]

D60's are available on some Chevy's in front, usually their 3/4 ton stuff in the rear is a 14-bolt. D60/14-bolt are recognized as the "top" for strength and size, many competitors use D60 front and rear with alloy shafts/CTM u-joints.

Longfields = http://www.toyotasuperaxles.com. I've been unable to break them after a year of hard wheelin with 38.5 tires and a 350 TBI.

An "easy" swap would be the D44 axles from a Scout, no narrowing needed, however your strength is questionably stronger over the stock axles.

S10's are weenie parts, do not use. You want a 78 F250 Ford with D60's front and rear, a 79 1-ton Chev with a D60 front/14-bolt rear, or something along those lines. Dodge also used D60 fronts/Rears.

Head to http://www.pirate4x4.com and read up their Tech section....Billavista did some nice work on D60 axles, worthwhile reading.

 

[milesstarkey]

thanks woody

 

[Medusa]

IMO, you first need to decide on what width is acceptable for your rear axle. There are a number of rear ends out there with both 30 and 35-spline axles that are in the range of 63" to 65" wide (WMS) in both semi- and full-float designs. In fact the most difficult problem is that there are so many possible options. You need to decide what you want and how much work (or $) you are willing to invest.

 

[milesstarkey]

i can put more elbow grease into it than money. and i want to learn how to work on my toy. here's the deal: i can get a barely used AA adapter, the bracket that mounts on the tranny for mounting the t-case shifting linkage, and the cross member for $280 plus $20 for shipping. also a rebuilt th350 for $250 locally. but i don't know if my t/case is good or not. that's my real worry. but even if i have to rebuild the t/case it sounds like that's the route to go. do you guys agree? or not?