Love seeing more SAS trucks of this bodystyle. Great looking rig with an awesome drivetrain and suspension.
CK5
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2004 Silverado Crew Cab Solid Axle Swap (LLY with ZF 6 speed)
- Thread starter r3dd0g
- Start date
Something about the rear suspension doesn't work with a 2 piece driveshaft. I killed the carrier bearing rubber surround already so I had a nice one piece made.
I also noticed that the lowering shackles I got had already destroyed their bushings. This was allowing the shackle bolt to contact the frame, so I ordered some new 7" shackles from DIY4X and swapped those in today. The poly bushings should hold up much better than the rubber.
I also noticed that the lowering shackles I got had already destroyed their bushings. This was allowing the shackle bolt to contact the frame, so I ordered some new 7" shackles from DIY4X and swapped those in today. The poly bushings should hold up much better than the rubber.
The Silverado got an upgrade again. I replaced the entire steering system when I built the truck, all new lines, pump, brake booster and steering box. I twisted a sector shaft on the first box I put in there and had to replace it once already. After the AZ Run the steering box was loose and the pump was pretty much shot. On top of the parts going out quickly, the truck had issues steering on the pavement and sometimes in the dirt (especially when aired down).
PSC makes a kit specifically for my truck running a Ford front axle so I ordered it and got to work. First I swapped out the pump with the new unit:
They use a Dodge steering box that's ported for a ram in their kit. For some reason they turn down the sector shaft so you can use a stock style Chevy pitman arm. I would have preferred if they left the splined section bigger and gave me a new pitman arm though. Every time I've twisted a sector shaft it's twisted in the splines.
I mounted a cooler up in front of the radiator (not included with their kit).
Then I made a bracket to mount the reservoir off of my air compressor so it would be right above the pump. I've had issues on the S-10 with the reservoir being too far from the pump and I didn't want to have that problem here. PSCs newer stuff all comes with -12 fittings and hose for the suction line instead of -10 like their older stuff.
The only thing left was mounting the ram and making up all the custom lines. The kit was designed to use the factory lines from the pump to the booster and from the booster back to the steering box, but the booster to steering box line wouldn't work. I picked up some fittings from SDHQ and made a custom line using Parker hose and Fragola fittings. I used the same stuff to make the lines going to the ram.
While I was working on the steering I had to track down a weird popping noise I was getting when I steered under load. Turns out I killed one of the unit bearings already... I swapped that out with my spare and I'm ordering a Dynatrac free-spin kit so I don't have to deal with that anymore.
We took the trailer out for a shakedown run with the new steering. It made getting the trailer positioned much easier! Hooray for upgrades!
PSC makes a kit specifically for my truck running a Ford front axle so I ordered it and got to work. First I swapped out the pump with the new unit:
They use a Dodge steering box that's ported for a ram in their kit. For some reason they turn down the sector shaft so you can use a stock style Chevy pitman arm. I would have preferred if they left the splined section bigger and gave me a new pitman arm though. Every time I've twisted a sector shaft it's twisted in the splines.
I mounted a cooler up in front of the radiator (not included with their kit).
Then I made a bracket to mount the reservoir off of my air compressor so it would be right above the pump. I've had issues on the S-10 with the reservoir being too far from the pump and I didn't want to have that problem here. PSCs newer stuff all comes with -12 fittings and hose for the suction line instead of -10 like their older stuff.
The only thing left was mounting the ram and making up all the custom lines. The kit was designed to use the factory lines from the pump to the booster and from the booster back to the steering box, but the booster to steering box line wouldn't work. I picked up some fittings from SDHQ and made a custom line using Parker hose and Fragola fittings. I used the same stuff to make the lines going to the ram.
While I was working on the steering I had to track down a weird popping noise I was getting when I steered under load. Turns out I killed one of the unit bearings already... I swapped that out with my spare and I'm ordering a Dynatrac free-spin kit so I don't have to deal with that anymore.
We took the trailer out for a shakedown run with the new steering. It made getting the trailer positioned much easier! Hooray for upgrades!
Glad to see an update to this thread! Was driving my 06 last night and wanting to do this in the future.
I've just been wheeling it. I really haven't had to do much to it other than the steering. Did you see the pictures from my overland trip?
I haven’t, I’ll have to go to the trip reports area and check it out
When we did the steering upgrades, we realised we had killed a unit bearing hub already. I threw a spare in and worked with Stephen at ORD to get a custom Dynatrac Free-Spin kit for the Ford axle that was drilled for the Chevy 8x6.5" pattern.
There's a lot of parts to the kit, but it converts it to use a standard Dana 60 bearing set.
Here's the new axle stub installed compared to the factory part.
Here's the drivers side fully assembled with comparison shots to how far the new hub sticks out compared to the Ford unit.
Unfortunately when I pulled the passenger side axle, the inner axle seal stuck to the shaft and ripped apart (it's one of the 2 piece seals that spins with the axle). This meant the entire front end had to come apart including pulling the carrier to replace the seals. When I originally built the front axle I screwed up one of the Spicer seals installing it and grabbed a no-name one from Autozone/O'Reilly or whatever. Never again... On the bright side it was apparent that the drivers side seal had been leaking a bit, although that could have happened when I pulled the shaft to do that side hub swap...
Broken seal compared to the new Timken seal:
On the bright side, you can remove the entire hub assembly by removing the 4 nuts that hold it to the knuckle. You could even replace the u-joint like this or the inner shaft, if you pulled the lock ring off the axle shaft you could swap out the whole shaft.
After installing new seals everything went back together pretty quick. We're going to be doing some work on the camping trailer so we temporarily moved the tent to the truck, it's the first time we've had it on there.
There's a lot of parts to the kit, but it converts it to use a standard Dana 60 bearing set.
Here's the new axle stub installed compared to the factory part.
Here's the drivers side fully assembled with comparison shots to how far the new hub sticks out compared to the Ford unit.
Unfortunately when I pulled the passenger side axle, the inner axle seal stuck to the shaft and ripped apart (it's one of the 2 piece seals that spins with the axle). This meant the entire front end had to come apart including pulling the carrier to replace the seals. When I originally built the front axle I screwed up one of the Spicer seals installing it and grabbed a no-name one from Autozone/O'Reilly or whatever. Never again... On the bright side it was apparent that the drivers side seal had been leaking a bit, although that could have happened when I pulled the shaft to do that side hub swap...
Broken seal compared to the new Timken seal:
On the bright side, you can remove the entire hub assembly by removing the 4 nuts that hold it to the knuckle. You could even replace the u-joint like this or the inner shaft, if you pulled the lock ring off the axle shaft you could swap out the whole shaft.
After installing new seals everything went back together pretty quick. We're going to be doing some work on the camping trailer so we temporarily moved the tent to the truck, it's the first time we've had it on there.
That's cool how you can just pull it all assembled and not have to mess with the grease and bearings. I've always ran OEM Ford seals and front axle parts on all the company trucks. I never mess with the parts store stuff. Sucks you can't get those neat little ramps that go in on the outside of the seals. I guess someone could prob 3D print some up maybe. The new design seals do have a little ramp to them though.
Yea, one of those plastic ramp things got destroyed when the seal stuck to the shaft (long side). I actually ended up pulling the short side one out and put it into the long side.
Pretty cool unit. Again, your Ferd axle is 05+ correct?
I thought about doing the same free spin kit for my 99-04 Dana 60. I'll be watching to see how everything holds up.
Again, nice work and great write up!
I thought about doing the same free spin kit for my 99-04 Dana 60. I'll be watching to see how everything holds up.
Again, nice work and great write up!
Yes, my front axle is the '05 and up. The only concern I have is that the tone ring for the front wheel speed sensors are not sealed. I'm worried about the dirt/mud building up in there and killing the pickups.
You can see in the cutaway picture that there's a gap between the back of the hub and the spindle.
You can see in the cutaway picture that there's a gap between the back of the hub and the spindle.
Hmmm, that is a little odd. For me that's not an issue, I am no longer running ABS.
I've seen plenty of semis and off road trucks with tone rings packed clear full of mud and dirt and they still function just fine. I bet you will be ok especially in AZ where you won't be mud bogging this thing every trip out. Is it pretty protected by the rotor hat?Yes, my front axle is the '05 and up. The only concern I have is that the tone ring for the front wheel speed sensors are not sealed. I'm worried about the dirt/mud building up in there and killing the pickups.
You can see in the cutaway picture that there's a gap between the back of the hub and the spindle.
Yes, the whole hub and spindle end up inside the rotor hat.
I realised a couple weeks ago that I had blown out my engine mounts. The engine was moving around so much that it busted off the vent fitting from my P/S reservoir. I did a little research and ordered up a set of Merchant Automotive mounts. When we got the old ones out, we discovered that both were completely broken, which explains why the shifter moved around so much...
Bonus sunset shot from last Sunday at the lake, this is what makes all the work worth it.
Bonus sunset shot from last Sunday at the lake, this is what makes all the work worth it.
Just want to say that this is a badass build! Love it!
Thanks!
I have a couple cool new photos to post. This is just a shot with the tent mounted on the truck and Roosevelt lake in the background:
This is the March 2018 Four Wheeler magazine article on the WFO SFA swap! I wasn't sure if it was going to make the printed magazine or not, but I'm pretty stoked that it did!
This is the March 2018 Four Wheeler magazine article on the WFO SFA swap! I wasn't sure if it was going to make the printed magazine or not, but I'm pretty stoked that it did!
