sas (straight axle swap)

wow thats insane...if you pre-heat and weld it at a low temp it should hold for a while. ive welded up rearend housings on tractors and other cast parts and never had another problem out of them. i wish you luck

well i solved the problem with the front bearing retainer! i removed it from the trans cleaned everything with a wire brush on a 4" grinder. then i inserted a 17mm 1/2 drive deep socket into the throw out bearing tube, then sat that in the retainer. i sat it in the floor as my bench cant be seen go figure! anyhow i fired up the arc welder and got some nickel rods started making tacks 180 degrees from one another. this heated the cast part just fine and gave me something to work with, then i removed my socket (snap on is kinda expensive to weld up) i run a good hot bead from one tack to another then skipped to avoid warpage. continued this till it was welded up. i wraped it in a welding blanket so it would cool slow and not crack. then after grinding it with a grinder i took assorted files to it to get it just right. put the motor back in and the clutch is the best its ever been in my truck! i think if i had it to do over id tig it less work grinding. im currently cleaning the shop up to make room for my frame, and to locate all my stuff thats been missing awhile so the frame build is next. anybody know how to post pics on here? ive got a bunch of good ones of this fieasco.

glad you've got everything going your way.

tex are we the only wheelers on this site? anyhow i got the shop cleaned and the frame is now sitting on jackstands! been waiting to see that for awhile! im gonna talk to a buddy of mine, see if i can get some pics posted and get the build going my way.

lol i guess so man. ive got the fever bad to be working on my truck right now but i cant. on a good note i won custody of my daughter and will hopefully be divorced soon. ive been looking around at some coil springs to see what i want and havent decided yet, but i have decided to coil the front and rear so i can have some fun on the trails. gona drop down off those 38x12.50 tsls as well and get some 35x16x15 super swamper boggers

im glad to hear your not gonna be going through the mill! sounds like you get to keep your business too. its funny im tryin to go bigger your tryin to go smaller, lol. i think i can get enough articulation out of leafs, ive got a couple of sets layin around a set of 4" lift springs out of a full size dodge (all 4 corners), a front set from a f-250 (too stiff), a rear set from a yota, and a rear set from a s-10. im thinkin bout usin the set from the yota and take the top leaf out of the full size set, same on the rear just use the stock mitsu leaves. kinda make my own set. but a buddy of mine just bought a bronco to cut up so springs and links could be done too.
idk im torn in which way i wanna go. how high are your is it from the ground to the bottom of your bumpers? we have a lift law here, cant be more than 34" total and thats with a modafied sticker (royal pain in the wasoo). but in a couple of years i can run a antique plate (25 years here) then i dont have to worry bout inspections anymore. politicians cant live with em, cant shoot em so what do you do?

yup i got custody of my daughter and get to keep my business. youre gonna want to use the shortest top leaf you got unless you want a crazy amount of spring sticking out of the front. my front springs came out of the front of a straight axle 2wd 54 ford truck, the top spring was real short and the stack is pretty thick, ill upload a pic so you can see my truck flexing on the front of and oldsmobile lol. im not sure on how high my truck would sit at the bumpers cause it doesnt have any. i know the back is higher than 34" but i dont know where the front bumper would come down at. when i get the coil springs put on the truck ill more than likely put a front bumper back on it. anyways ill get some pics uploaded. hopefully youre buddy can get some up for you

here's a couple pictures of my truck when i was having alittle fun at my friends shop. the oldsmobile front end was about to go to scrap and i couldnt help myself. i had some pictures of my truck sitting ontop of a 76 ford 4 door car and a 79 lincoln but my exwife ended up with that shyt on the computer we shared and she deleted everything, including every build picture for my truck

NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKIN BOUT!!!!! ive been movin boxes welders and stuff around for the past week between work and my shop, so havnt had much time for the computer. yea he said it was no prob to get some pics posted i just gotta find a time when the two of us can get together so he can show me how. more to come

found a pretty interesting suspension set up on a truck in town. im gonna try to catch him around again and get some pictures. looked like TONS of flex