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97 King Cab DS-Ton build - Rock Jock 60 and shaved 14

Since my last post, I've just been taking it easy on the S-10 so I don't break anything. Lot's of camping and dirt roads with a few small rocks here and there while I collected parts. A 14 bolt here, an AAM there, then at KOH I picked up a part so awesome I had to build a special cart to put it on:
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A couple months ago I started working on the rear axle. I collected a pile of parts, robbed some from my Blazer and moved the 14 bolt to the axle stand. It was already shaved, so that saved me some time.

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I cleaned up the axle housing and installed the Ballistic Fab truss:

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Then I forgot to take pictures... But I installed the ARB with a new set of shaved 5.13:1 Yukon gears, Superior (RIP) chromoly shafts and new bearings and seals throughout. I originally planned on using the newer style AAM disk brakes, but the company that made the adapters doesn't make them anymore, so I ended up going with Caddy calipers again.
 
With the rear axle 90% ready to install I moved to prep the front axle as much as I could. Here's the pile of parts waiting to be installed:

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ARB installed with Yukon 5.13:1 gears. Unfortunately, this was as far as I could go on the front axle until I could get it sitting under the truck to set the pinion angle:
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I picked up the new tires and threw one on the beadlocks I stole from the Blazer. 37x12.5R17 General Grabbers on TrailReady Beadlocks:

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Here's the last shot of the S-10 on 1/2 tons and 35s:

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Rear axle out:

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Through the magic of a couple days work and no pictures taken, rear axle reinstalled:

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I still need to finish up a couple things, but the rear axle is 99% done.
 
On to the front axle, I turned the truck around and yanked the front axle out (it fought me, one of the radius arm bolts was seized in the sleeve):

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Then I got the new housing set up at approximate ride height to set the pinion angle and figure out where to set the caster in relation to the pinion:

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After fighting with the C's quite a bit I finally got them on and set at the appropriate caster angle and burned them in:

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High zoot parts going in everywhere (Reid knuckles and C's, Reid bronze bushings, ARP studs, Sky arms and a Howe ram):

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After looking at the old wheels I decided the beadlock rings were beat up too badly and picked up some new ones from Trail Ready:

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Then I started working on the ram mount (gratuitous shot of my new tube notcher):

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Of course I had to try out the dimple dies I picked up at KOH, this was the perfect place:

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I had originally purchased a fabbed diff cover for the front, but the ARB I had to buy (all gears are thick cut in a high pinion 60) came with a free diff cover, so I swapped that in:

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After a few weeks of work on the front axle, it was finally time to get it attached to the truck. I started out rebuilding the radius arms fabbing up some new brackets from 1/4" plate:

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With those tacked in place I drilled and tapped the passenger side arm for the drag link, fabbed a double sheer bracket for that and an axle side panhard mount:

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I used the old panhard and drag link for mock up (they're too short):

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Then I bent up some 1.5" .250 wall DOM to use as the permanent pieces, this shot is about 6" further than full droop, so I'll be able to go with longer shocks in the future without worrying about binding:

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I pulled the axle back out from under the rig to finish welding and boxing everything in. Since half of the passenger side bracket is welded to the cast section of the Diff, I added a large brace to tie it in to the tube for additional support:

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This is how the truck is sitting currently, I'm hoping to have it driving by the end of the 3 day weekend.

The steering is going to be "different". I'm going with a 4500/4600 class style setup where I'm using a double ended ram and a steering box. To protect the steering box from stress and pressure, I'm pretty much removing it from the equation. I will be installing a Sweet Mfg. Servo inline with the steering column to run the ram:

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I have a history of twisting sector shafts and over-pressurizing steering boxes, so this should eliminate both of those issues. Pressure will come from the pump and go into the servo with the return line going through a cooler back to the reservoir. Two high pressure lines will go down to the ram for left/right steering. The box itself won't be pressurized at all, I'm just going to put a small reservoir on it with some fluid to keep it lubricated and happy, the only force it will see is whatever I can muster with my arms.

This weekend, I'll start off by fabbing up a new double sheer pitman arm. The current one hangs down too low and I can get another inch or two of uptravel by redesigning it. Once I have that mocked up I can figure out where I want the suspension to stop and fab up the shock mounts on the axle, I'll also have to notch the frame to clear the new pitman arm.

Other than that, I need to modify the y-pipe on my exhaust to clear the driveshaft, button up a few things on the rear axle, paint, assemble and fill the front axle and I'll be ready for a test drive. I'm hoping to get some dirt under the tires by Monday...
 
There are other big changes planned for it too, but we'll talk about those once the one tons are in.
 
I can't see any of your pictures?
Are you at work? I've had people tell me my site gets blocked by their web filters sometimes... Not sure why, it's just truck pictures. I'm assuming it's because other people use the hosting service for "other" types of pictures...
 
Are you at work? I've had people tell me my site gets blocked by their web filters sometimes... Not sure why, it's just truck pictures. I'm assuming it's because other people use the hosting service for "other" types of pictures...
Yep sure am, All I can see is an "x" and IMG. Must be my stupid work computer. I'll check it on the mobile app later on my phone and see if I can see them. Thanks
 

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