2wd king pin axle to 4wd king pin axle ?

[sweetk30]

so i might want to make 1 of my 3500-hd trucks 4wd and the axle is ULTRA RARE to find and about useless to try and find .

so i have the idea of make my own axle for the front like guys have been doing on buggys and such now for years . i have a question tho .

does the king pin width need to match from 2wd I-beam to 4wd width wise ? or is the narrower width needed for the 4wd stuff ?

these 3500-HD trucks use a 33" width center pin to pin spacing and our old trucks are 31.5 and newer fords mid 80's are 36.5 but same wms to wms so cant just shorten easy .

next is i can do a 14ff front or i have a few trucks local getting parted out that have the dana 80 rear still in them and matching ratio so that would help . then i sould just slide in a set of cut off 60 tubes & inner "C" ends and weld up and have shafts cut and install .

let me know what you think and info that can help me . . . i might say screw it and just go newer rear 8 lug and std 60 front and mod the spring pad width and SRW it out over DRW setup .

 

[rksjd8420]

The spring over 3500HD conversions sit really high. I have 2 of the Monroe spring under conversion trucks and even those are pretty tall. If you want to come all the way to Texas, I will sell you a rolling chassis or complete truck.

If I was going to build a front axle for one, I would order a new differential housing from Dana/Spicer that comes in the new 4500/5500/6500 GM and International trucks. They are only like $375. They use a 4” axle tube and have the cast in mount for leaf springs. They also use the new 10” ring gear and the fat 28 spline pinion shaft. For knuckles I would use F450/550 2wd inner c’s and knuckles. They are the same as 4wd but you can buy them really cheap in wrecking yards. The 4wd F450 unit bearing is 10 on 170mm bolt pattern. It would be really easy to have a spacer/adapter to go from 10 on 170mm to 10 on 7.25” pattern. Oem F450 axle shafts are really cheap and have 1550 axle joints instead of 1480.

 

[rksjd8420]

Part number for the housing is 10055852.

Dana Super 60 M256 Front High Pinion Center Differential Housing 4.000

Product Details: Dana Super 60 (M256) front high pinion center casting differential housing Requires 4.000" diameter tubes Bare (no carrier, no gears, no cover, no seals, no yoke, etc) Painted black LH side top leaf spring mount 2017+ style with the "short pinion" Required additional parts...

downtofab.com

 

[Truckman4life]

@85k5witha6.2 might know some front axle building stuffs

 

[USSkoval]

I don't have anything to add here, just in to see how this plays out.

Are you thinking of swapping the 8.1 truck?

 

[b454rat]

Talked to a buddy last week, said he went to a yard and they had 3 of the 70 fronts outta these HDs. Gonna see what yard had em n give em a call. Doubtful tho, said it was last year.....