2003 Silverado Z71 solid axle build

[noJeepshere]

Good looking truck!

cent frum a smaert fone

 

[justcuz]

Nice work. If you are still running the 10 bolt rear axle I would suggest a semi float 14 bolt as an upgrade.
9.5 inch ring gear, no carrier breaks, bigger tubes and bigger brakes. For your body style they came in 1500 tow max packages. Earlier ones had 13 inch drum brakes. Same axle is used in light duty 3/4 ton trucks, but it can be found in six lug applications starting with the 88 trucks.
I like the coil setup for flexibility. I was looking at Nissan Patrols, Mitsubishi Monteros and Toyota 80 series Land Cruisers. They use a 2 bolt saddle mount on the axle and a panhard rod. No need for the 3rd or 4th link. The frame mount of the radius arms is similar to a twin I beam Ford. It allows some pretty serious flex as well with a slightly simpler setup.
It will be fun to see your pictures of the full size trucks on the trip.

 

[mccustomize]

Nice work. If you are still running the 10 bolt rear axle I would suggest a semi float 14 bolt as an upgrade.
9.5 inch ring gear, no carrier breaks, bigger tubes and bigger brakes. For your body style they came in 1500 tow max packages. Earlier ones had 13 inch drum brakes. Same axle is used in light duty 3/4 ton trucks, but it can be found in six lug applications starting with the 88 trucks.
I like the coil setup for flexibility. I was looking at Nissan Patrols, Mitsubishi Monteros and Toyota 80 series Land Cruisers. They use a 2 bolt saddle mount on the axle and a panhard rod. No need for the 3rd or 4th link. The frame mount of the radius arms is similar to a twin I beam Ford. It allows some pretty serious flex as well with a slightly simpler setup.
It will be fun to see your pictures of the full size trucks on the trip.

I know all about SF14 bolts and the like. For the type of wheeling I do with this truck I don't need it. The only failure I've had out of the rear end was a shoddy ring and pinion install by a "friend" who said he knew what he was doing. I was originally going to do a radius arm setup but with coils, shocks, air bumps and a sway bar it became a packing issue to keep the low ride height. Plus the 3 link flexes better keeping more of the contact patch on the ground and more traction allowing me to make the 10 bolt survive and make the dana 44 up front live as well. People suggest beefier axles all the time, however if they read the entire thread and intended use for the truck the plans do not warrant anything stronger than 1/2 ton axles.

 

[mccustomize]

I made a spread sheet at work the other day to put a methodical system in place for completing the list.

To Buy:
D ring tabs X4 $48.00
Front gears $202.00
U joints X2 $32.00
20ft 2x3 .250 wall tubing
10ft 2x2 .250 wall tubing
5ft 1.5x1.5 .250 wall tubing
20ft 3" 1/8th strap
37x12.50r17 X5 $1,411.55
Currie Antirok sway bar $387.68
Front pads $55.00
Rebuilt calipers X2 $112.00
10ft 6" 1/4" strap
CB radio $90.00
Antenna $17.00
Air tank $61.60
Pressure switch $8.00
Gauge $18.00
20ft 1/8" air line $15.00
Snatch block $22.00
Tree saver $18.00
Bed tie down rails $80.00
Power steering pump $75.00
Redneck ram assist $287.00
Body mount bolts $25.00
Air bump cans $70.00
Rear bump stops $35.85
Shock bushings $26.00
To Build:
Rear bumper
Recovery points
Rock sliders
Spare mount
Inner C gussets
Front truss
Rear truss
Sway bar mounts
Coil spring pads
Air tank mount
Air compressor mount
Rear shock mounts
Front shock mounts
To Install:
Front gears
Posi Lok
Front drive shaft
2001 knuckles
2001 calipers
CB radio
Bed tie down rails
Onboard air
Tools
Fluids
Oil pressure sending unit
Power steering pump
Hydro assist
Body mount bolts
Air bumps
Rear bump stops
Shock bushings

 

[justcuz]

It was just a suggestion for the future.
I've blown up every 10 bolt with a G80 locker I've ever owned and I am not hard on my rigs. The gov lock has a nasty habit of locking in when it should not and catastrophically destroying the rear axle. Some were salvageable enough that I just made a tight LSD out of them. The rest I replaced with a 14 bolt for a one and done repair. Plus I like the bigger brakes of the 14 bolt.
My plans are a Ford HP Dana 44 with 6 lug hubs or maybe a unit bearing set of knuckles like you did.
I may have missed it in your thread, did you install the later model dual caliper piston and if so what caliper brackets did you use?
Edit: saw post #73 about the Dodge front end with dual piston calipers, so I guess you are now running single piston calipers with GMT 400 rotors.
As I recall, IF you ever wanted to there are 2 applications for 8 lug 3 bolt unit bearings.

 

[mccustomize]

It was just a suggestion for the future.
I've blown up every 10 bolt with a G80 locker I've ever owned and I am not hard on my rigs. The gov lock has a nasty habit of locking in when it should not and catastrophically destroying the rear axle. Some were salvageable enough that I just made a tight LSD out of them. The rest I replaced with a 14 bolt for a one and done repair. Plus I like the bigger brakes of the 14 bolt.
My plans are a Ford HP Dana 44 with 6 lug hubs or maybe a unit bearing set of knuckles like you did.
I may have missed it in your thread, did you install the later model dual caliper piston and if so what caliper brackets did you use?
Edit: saw post #73 about the Dodge front end with dual piston calipers, so I guess you are now running single piston calipers with GMT 400 rotors.
As I recall, IF you ever wanted to there are 2 applications for 8 lug 3 bolt unit bearings.

I made the G80 live for 60,000 hard miles, and only replaced it because I had the money to go with a Detroit when it was all apart, but I've never blown one up in any of my 3 trucks. I'm not easy on them either. The gov lok is designed to engage when wheel speed has a significant differential from side to side, piss poor design, but all of mine held together just fine. Aluminum driveshafts on the other hand, not so much, I've been through 3 and finally had a steel replacement made by Inland driveline.

My 10 bolt has 12" rotors and dual piston calipers, so braking in the rear is not an issue, but stepping down from my factory dual piston calipers when I was forced to use the Dodge single pistons has been an issue, point blank, the front brakes suck at stopping this truck. The only caliper upgrade is to find the 2000-2001 knuckles/calipers, or buy SSBC's aluminum dual piston calipers to the tune of $800, I went with the first option. The dodge unit bearing knuckles will not interchange with other 44s, the ball joint spacing is completely different and in short, the only way to get unit bearing knuckles is to use the dodge disconnect 44 housing.

8 lug unit bearings won't work either, the axle stub shaft won't work, a guy over on pirate tried it on a suburban, which is where I got the first info about using the GM parts on the dodge axle to keep it six lug. With all that said, swapping to a 14 boltSF, 8 lug unit bearings, etc... you still have a 44 front on a fullsize rig. The most important piece of equipment to use when you are out wheeling anyway is the 6 inches between your ears.

 

[justcuz]

Nothing wrong with a 44 front on a full size rig, Chevy, Dodge, Ford and International built millions of 3/4 trucks with them. I pmed Chris on Pirate when he was doing the Suburban and suggested the fix, but for him the supply up in his neck of the woods was lacking for the solution below.
Late model Dodge unit bearing knuckles may not swap, but early ones will and do have a 3 bolt 8 lug unit bearing.
Not impossible to find, but not as easy as a later 94 and up ones. They are off the early passenger drop front axles, before they went back to free wheeling front hubs and 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern on the 1/2 tons. Those early unit bearings were 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern for 1/2 tons and 8 on 6.5 for the 3/4 tons. They both used the same axles and knuckles, the only difference was the unit bearings, and brakes.
Question is, is it worth swapping unit bearings for a full floating axle and hub on a HP drivers drop Ford Dana 44? For most, no not really.
I saw cyclic post a photo of a caliper bracket and a dual piston caliper, what application was that in?

 

[expomazda]

That is a beautiful truck! I've been dreaming of sas mine.

 

[mccustomize]

Nothing wrong with a 44 front on a full size rig, Chevy, Dodge, Ford and International built millions of 3/4 trucks with them. I pmed Chris on Pirate when he was doing the Suburban and suggested the fix, but for him the supply up in his neck of the woods was lacking for the solution below.
Late model Dodge unit bearing knuckles may not swap, but early ones will and do have a 3 bolt 8 lug unit bearing.
Not impossible to find, but not as easy as a later 94 and up ones. They are off the early passenger drop front axles, before they went back to free wheeling front hubs and 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern on the 1/2 tons. Those early unit bearings were 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern for 1/2 tons and 8 on 6.5 for the 3/4 tons. They both used the same axles and knuckles, the only difference was the unit bearings, and brakes.
Question is, is it worth swapping unit bearings for a full floating axle and hub on a HP drivers drop Ford Dana 44? For most, no not really.
I saw cyclic post a photo of a caliper bracket and a dual piston caliper, what application was that in?

I think you are still missing the point of keeping ABS.

 

[cyclic]

My set-up is a completely different application.

McCustomize utilizes a drivers drop diff with off the shelf parts to keep his truck stock appearing to the vehicles computer. It's complete with ABS and the factory transfer case. And other than actually being a solid front axle the drive train behaves like a stock 03 Silverado.
IF I was going to SFA my Tahoe I would have used the exact front axle he did. Only real change is mine would have been slightly lower and use radius arms with coil overs.

Now my brake conversion is the BEST upgrade to older 6 lug GM straight axle rigs. It doesn't really apply to his as he's already running larger modern brakes with his SFA. The H3 rotors are slightly larger than the dodge/GM ones he has and the H3 uses 4 piston calipers. So, braking potential is greater with my H3 brake system BUT his would be more stable/consistent with the ABS system.

The best upgrades integrate as much modern tech as seamlessly as possible. With my finally dropping in a 04 Silverado rear axle, I have the best stopping solid axle Suburban possible. Ten total pistons squeezing on four large modern disks, the old girl stops like never before. I skipped the EXTRA weight, friction, and size of a one ton front and rear axle. I don't need it with only running 32 inch tires and driving like a sane person. It's a Suburban, not a rock buggy or rally fighter.

 

[justcuz]

Cyclic thanks for posting up the brake issue

 

[mccustomize]

Once I get these knuckles and calipers in my braking should be back to stock, which is all I want with 37" tires. The real progress starts this week on my truck, time to start ordering parts.

 

[mccustomize]

Worked on the recovery mounts for the front this weekend, Ordered some 1 inch thick tabs, 7/8" Shackle pin hole. I cut some 3/8" plate into 3"x4" plates

I ground the edges to a nice chamfer for welding

Decided on the final position

Then on to rounding the corners and drilling holes to bolt them up.

I need to pick up some hardware and give them a shot of textured black paint before bolting them on.

 

[mccustomize]

Got a chance to pick this stuff up for free, going to get it tomorrow, I know the trans is a 700R4 but no idea what transfer case this is? It's too dirty to find any numbers but it's an iron case and has a PTO output on the left side.

Also scored this 14 bolt out of a 2004 2500hd pickup, I was never planning on switching to one ton axles, but after we do the Ozark Challenge I will start looking for a AAM 9.25 for the front.

 

[cyclic]

You could just swap to the front dodge 8 lug hubs and rotors. Bolt right onto that 44 you have, the sensors should still work even.