2007 Silverado - Buy Once, Cry Once: 1-tons, 40's & a Custom Camper

[Andrew_S]

What did you use to clean up and recoat the frame?

Just a really coarse cup and disc wire wheel and then hit with some rust preventative paint.


Thanks for all the good words above. I need to get you all to convince my wife this is a good idea...
Started mocking up some parts to see what I had and still needed

This was a disappointing start, all 3 retainer tabs were snapped out of the box on these hubs.

Hoping Warn steps up and will warranty this.

Received a couple of last-minute parts, bump cans & limit straps.

Finished up the front axle prep

Prepping the carrier and ring gear

This cheapo clam shell puller is worth it's weight in gold

How's this for a stack up to press on the pinion bearing

Splashed on a coat of por15

Started prepping the dana 80 carrier only to realize I have to drill out the holes for the ring gear to a larger diameter.

Pinion preload set @ 23 in/lbs

Started on setting up the carrier in the housing only to realize my case spreader wasn't big enough...

This is why you never throw away a good piece of scrap

Fixed***

Everything torqued down

 

[Andrew_S]

The first pattern was not bad for a total shot in the dark. Pinion was definitely too deep

After a couple more attempts, I settled for this. Pinion is still a bit on the deep side, but for the front diff this will be more than adequate.

There is something so satisfying about running this little copper air line. All plumbed up and ready for a leak test.

I always used to shy away from my torch but lately I've been more keen to pick it up and it's quickly becoming my favourite tool.

RCV's assembled.

Fitting up the axles

It's been a frustrating 2 days, a lot of one step forwards, 2 or 3 steps backwards.
Regardless, progress is progress.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Just a really coarse cup and disc wire wheel and then hit with some rust preventative paint.


Thanks for all the good words above. I need to get you all to convince my wife this is a good idea...
Started mocking up some parts to see what I had and still needed

This was a disappointing start, all 3 retainer tabs were snapped out of the box on these hubs.

Hoping Warn steps up and will warranty this.

Received a couple of last-minute parts, bump cans & limit straps.

Finished up the front axle prep

Prepping the carrier and ring gear

This cheapo clam shell puller is worth it's weight in gold

How's this for a stack up to press on the pinion bearing

Splashed on a coat of por15

Started prepping the dana 80 carrier only to realize I have to drill out the holes for the ring gear to a larger diameter.

Pinion preload set @ 23 in/lbs

Started on setting up the carrier in the housing only to realize my case spreader wasn't big enough...

This is why you never throw away a good piece of scrap

Fixed***

Everything torqued down

Hmmm. Could use a midnight's snack, let's see what's in the fridge...
-a loaf of bread
-a container of milk
-a stick of butter
-a rack of ribs
-locker from ARB
-some oranges
-left over poutine...

 

[ITTOG]

Hmmm. Could use a midnight's snack, let's see what's in the fridge...
-a loaf of bread
-a container of milk
-a stick of butter
-a rack of ribs
-locker from ARB
-some oranges
-left over poutine...

Yeah I wanted the ribs!

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Just a really coarse cup and disc wire wheel and then hit with some rust preventative paint.


Thanks for all the good words above. I need to get you all to convince my wife this is a good idea...
Started mocking up some parts to see what I had and still needed

This was a disappointing start, all 3 retainer tabs were snapped out of the box on these hubs.

Hoping Warn steps up and will warranty this.

Received a couple of last-minute parts, bump cans & limit straps.

Finished up the front axle prep

Prepping the carrier and ring gear

This cheapo clam shell puller is worth it's weight in gold

How's this for a stack up to press on the pinion bearing

Splashed on a coat of por15

Started prepping the dana 80 carrier only to realize I have to drill out the holes for the ring gear to a larger diameter.

Pinion preload set @ 23 in/lbs

Started on setting up the carrier in the housing only to realize my case spreader wasn't big enough...

This is why you never throw away a good piece of scrap

Fixed***

Everything torqued down

Honestly, man. Your skills and know how...I should have done things differently growing up! Kudos, sir

 

[Andrew_S]

Hmmm. Could use a midnight's snack, let's see what's in the fridge...
-a loaf of bread
-a container of milk
-a stick of butter
-a rack of ribs
-locker from ARB
-some oranges
-left over poutine...

LOL @ the left over poutine!

Don't let the photos fool you, I mess a lot of things up, which results in a lot of "we do it nice because we do it twice!"....

It's been another frustrating 2 days of metered progress.
Managed to get the ARB ring gear holes opened up to 9/16" and this is one task that could have went wrong in so many ways but it worked out perfectly.

Playing the fun game of "Where does everything go?"

and why the heck do I have 2 different inner pinion bearings?

After getting that sorted I started working on setting up the pinion, this took far to many tries. Pro-tip, don't forget to check for shims stuck to the outer bearing.

Finished the night with a coat of paint on the 80

Frustrating start to this am. I went to mock up the rotors only to find they didn't fit at all - what gives? I double checked that I purchased 8x170 rotors and 8x170 unit bearings, for the same year F-350 at that. Turns out the timken unit bearings had a second set of holes for an 8x6.5 bolt pattern and I'm the unlucky guy that happened to get not one but 2 of the wrong ones...
Easy but time-consuming fix, pressing out 16 studs and pushing them back in.

After far too long, I had one side mocked up.

These big dust seals are an absolute pain to get on without a proper press set up and the tool required.

Back on the 80, first try was a bit to deep, shallowed up the pinion .005" and I managed to get this pattern on the second try. I'm not totally content, might pull a couple thou out and give it one last shot before I call it good.

Hoping to have both of these complete and ready to roll under the truck by the end of the week.

 

[xleratin]

looking forward to this, I've been missing the updates to your other thread!

 

[Andrew_S]

^ thanks, hopefully this lives up to the expectation
Quick evening update: These inner knuckle dust seals are an absolute pain to deal with.

one axle fully assembled, one more to finish up.

 

[Copperhead14]

Nice work. Your attention to detail, will pay dividends in the long run.

Do you still have the other truck?

 

[ITTOG]

Those axles look good. It is always a shame to use them when they look that good. But the memories are always worth it.

 

[Kingsize24]

Nice work. Your attention to detail, will pay dividends in the long run.

Do you still have the other truck?

Two pictures up, background.

 

[Andrew_S]

Nice work. Your attention to detail, will pay dividends in the long run.

Do you still have the other truck?

Yup, no plans to get rid of it. Playing with the idea of flat towing it behind this truck. It will likely still be our hunting rig for the tight trails and tough-to-get areas, and this will be our home base.

Those axles look good. It is always a shame to use them when they look that good. But the memories are always worth it.

No kidding haha, they'll look well used after a hunting season.

A bit more progress to end the week, one of the last pieces of the puzzle arrived, WFO builders kit sway bar links for the front.

Time to take the leap and cut these Yukon chromoly axles to length.

Homemade wet saw. Worked a treat, zero heat went into the bar.

One and done, glad to not make any mistakes on these.

Added .002" to the pinion for the 80, really pleased with how this pattern turned out.

Air line shaped, it looks close but there is plenty of clearance and it's super rigid.

New e-brake bits. I've messed with a lot of different styles of e-brake systems, but this is hands down the easiest, almost enjoyable.

Buzzer beater, I hit the end-of-week timeline, and I'm happy to say these are both sealed up and ready to go. I just need to bend up the brake lines for the rear and tack in the leaf spring perches and shock mounts.

 

[frojoe]

This is going to be one of the best cat eye NBS's ever assembled. Can't wait to follow along!

 

[Andrew_S]

^ Here's hoping it's up there.
There are a quite a few really bad *ss wfo trucks floating around.

Started back on the dirt job of prepping the rails again.

It doesn't look like much but that was easily 3 hours of effort.

Took my time and stitch welded the plate in to place

Shock tower tacked into place

Then started on the driver side, almost ready to go, a bit more clean up to do.

Pulled out all the brake lines in the truck. I'm so glad I'm doing this at the same time. Makes cleaning up the driver side a dream.

 

[yamaha225]

I am decidedly not a GM fan, but I’ll admit when a build is cool and this is certainly cool! Helps a lot that you’re getting rid of the worst part of GM trucks (the front suspension) in my opinion!