1996 K1500 Build
- Thread starter djp73
- Start date
djp73
Active member
JUNE 2021
At this point I had been building the truck in my head for several years and always intended to swap to a solid front axle with leaf springs. The first piece of the puzzle popped up on craigslist. A 77-79 F250 Dana 44.
The use of a Ford axle has the following benefits:
Differential on the left, allowing the use of the stock axle
High pinion
The Chevy outers all swap over allowing you to put together a hybrid axle that gives you left side drop, high pinion and Chevy 6 lug. That's the plan.
At this point I had been building the truck in my head for several years and always intended to swap to a solid front axle with leaf springs. The first piece of the puzzle popped up on craigslist. A 77-79 F250 Dana 44.
The use of a Ford axle has the following benefits:
Differential on the left, allowing the use of the stock axle
High pinion
The Chevy outers all swap over allowing you to put together a hybrid axle that gives you left side drop, high pinion and Chevy 6 lug. That's the plan.
djp73
Active member
Next piece of the puzzle was coming up with a Chevy Dana 44 so I could harvest the outers the Ford axle to 6 lug and also getting a flat top right side knuckle that can be machined and tapped to accept a high steer/crossover steering arm.
All the trucks from the 70s and 80s had the u shaped steering arm on the left knuckle and used the front to back steering. This not only sucks but it won't work with he steering box in the truck.
The solution is crossover steering that uses a long drag link to cross over from the steering box to a steering arm on the right side knuckle.
Chevy D44:
old steering:
crossover steering:
All the trucks from the 70s and 80s had the u shaped steering arm on the left knuckle and used the front to back steering. This not only sucks but it won't work with he steering box in the truck.
The solution is crossover steering that uses a long drag link to cross over from the steering box to a steering arm on the right side knuckle.
Chevy D44:
old steering:
crossover steering:
djp73
Active member
NOVEMBER 2021
For the rear axle I elected to upgrade to a 9.5" semi float 14 bolt. This axle was used in F44 "heavy half ton" trucks and 6 lug light duty 3/4 tons. A 5 lug version was used in 454SS trucks. It's not as robust as the big 14 bolt full floater but it allows me to stay 6 lug and to keep weight down and ground clearance up.
This particular unit came from an old friend who now lives about five minutes from me. Also scored a few other small parts, some of which can be seen in the picture below.
For the rear axle I elected to upgrade to a 9.5" semi float 14 bolt. This axle was used in F44 "heavy half ton" trucks and 6 lug light duty 3/4 tons. A 5 lug version was used in 454SS trucks. It's not as robust as the big 14 bolt full floater but it allows me to stay 6 lug and to keep weight down and ground clearance up.
This particular unit came from an old friend who now lives about five minutes from me. Also scored a few other small parts, some of which can be seen in the picture below.
