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72 Custom/20 on Rocks, new pics.

Built myself some new goodies this week. I made the spring perches 3" tall for a little more lift, also cut and drilled out a pair of spring plates out of 1/2'' plate.
Working in a single car garage things get a little cramped, so I try to make things as mobile as possible so I built a cart to roll the rocks around on.

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Spent most of the day disassembling the front axle and cleaning parts. A friend and I got the spring perches lined up and welded on.
I've rebuilt quite a few Dana 44's and a few 60's but this is the first time I've dealt with or even seen a Rockwell up close and the size of the components of this axle are just amazing to me.

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Well I had to change some things because the pinion brake wasn't going to fit and it wasn't going to be as easy as just flipping the diff around. I spent all weekend cutting the perches off, narrowing the housing, build new perches and welding them and the shock mounts on. It was a long weekend, I stayed up till three or four Fri and Sat nights. Oh and last week after work I tried my hand at building my own diff cover, I'm not really sure I care for the way it turned out. Mite cut it off and try again.

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nice work, why narrowing the axle?
 
nice work, why narrowing the axle?

I narrowed the axle for two reasons, the first is so the diff or chunk is far enough away from the perch to run a good sized pinion brake. With the perches on the stock width axle the pinion was only 5.5'' inches away from the leaf spring, after narrowing the housing its 8+ inches away. The other reason is I plan on running a smaller wheel, like a 15 or 16, with the housing narrowed and the hubs flipped the tires won't be sticking way out of the fenders like you see on some trucks.
 
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so, if I understand correctly, you shortened the right side which allowed you to center up the diff, which moved it further away from the left. right?
 
so, if I understand correctly, you shortened the right side which allowed you to center up the diff, which moved it further away from the left. right?[/QUOTE]

Yes sir, you are correct.
 
Little update and some how too that I picked up off another site.

When I tried to flip the hubs I found that they hit the spindle studs without the lug studs in. I started researching this and found several ways to solve this problem. One was to install regular bolts and shave down the the backs of the lug studs. I wasn't so comfortable with that so I went with another solution I found.
Counter sinking the bolts in the spindle flange. Here's some pics of what I did. The bolts are 3/8"x1" if anyone wants to use this method.

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Nice truck and I love the rear bumper man, I look forward to seeing how it looks on your truck.
 
Thanks man, the bumper is going to go on my dually now. I'm going to keep the stock bumpers on this one.
 
:woot:New parts came in. Plus the steering arm I made.
Found out that because I narrowed the housing and the large diameter of the Pats Parts pinion brake rotor I'm going to have to run the ram in the front and the brake in the rear of the axle. Kinda bummed on that one.
I also welded up the front spiders today and painted some of the new parts. I couldn't really find any color that went with the brown to off set all the black but I ended up settling for a dark gray metallic for some contrast. Its all going to get covered with mud eventually anyways.
I'll have more pics later this week as I assemble things.

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I've been slacking on my updates, so here ya go. I've decided to go back to my roots of big lifted trucks and I ordered a set of 53" Michelin ex military tires.

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A few more and the rear perches I built. Yeah there 9" tall but its going to have a sub frame and links front and rear.

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I was born and grew up in CO (and live here currently), but I spent most of the last 8 years in Idaho. Some up in Meridian, Caldwell, and other cities around there, and then spent the last couple on the east side down in Rexburg (where I went to college) and lived in Rigby (I think blazinzuk might be the only one on this whole site who knows where that is :haha:). But I like looking through your pics and seeing the backdrop around Boise...brings back good memories.

Cool seeing rocks going in a 72. We don't see that too much on this site. My brother put rocks on his 88 K5. He has a lot of good info on his build thread on pirate4x4 if you want to check it out. It's here: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/chevy/1105404-88-jimmy-hacked-up-tubed-rockwells.html.

It's looking pretty cool, but those rear perches you built, eventhough they are braced on the backside, need lateral bracing. But you said that you will be going links front and rear, so are you getting rid of leaf springs?? Either way, it's looking cool. Keep it up :waytogo:. Any updates??
 
Haha, I know where Rigby is. I will be keeping the leafs for now, there's going to be lower links to keep the axles in check, eventually I am planning on doing 4 links and coil overs all the way around with smaller tires. The pearches will be gusseted when there installed. I haven't been working on it much due to building a golf cart with long travel and a few added horses. Thanks for your comments and I'll check out your brother's build.
 

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