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My 3/4 ton swap as it happens

scrappyk5

scrappyk5

1/2 ton status
Joined
Mar 17, 2002
Posts
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Location
virginia
I Have been trying to install my 3/4 conversion for about 2.5 years now
and i am finally doing it. with problems of not having a place to do it, plus getting married and all sorts of ongoings i have had to put it off this long.
I figured i would write my progress and costs as i go along if you guys/gals do not mind :D.

I picked up the 14bff up in maryland 21/2 years ago for 150.00 dollars from another member. ( cant remember his name ). it needed new brake parts and such which is not bad. so i loaded it up and started heading home. well on my way home, my s15 tranny flywheel broke and on the side of the highway i was.
my costs for a 14bff ,
14bff $150.00
getting it home via tow truck , $ 98.00
brakes, $ 44.00
seals and gaskets , $ 38.00
wheel cylinders , $ 24.00
paint, $ 7.00
gear oil , $ 7.00

pic of 14bff in progress

MVC-005S1.JPG

 
dont be stupid like me, shave the damn thing while you have it out!!! Hopefully I can do it this weekend when I do my shackle flip.
 
it was already shaved when i got it. its not as shaved as much as i have seen
on some others :eek1:. but just enough for me. :D
 
wayne said:
:waytogo: Hopefully we will wheel together again sometime. It has been quite a while.
Click to expand...

definatly so. its been awhile. i have been trying to get tha blazer wheeling worthy for a long time. the s15 i had back when you and i met, i got tired of fixing and sold it. now i am trying to get this rig ready. it is my favorite anyways. today i am going to do the other side in the front and do a little grinding to finish up. i dont have alotof time cause the wife has plans for me and her.
 
I know the feeling when it comes to time. I actually have more of it now with my new job because I only work 7 out of 14 days. Much nicer then the 6 or 7 days a week I was working. The only downfall to the new job is I am scheduled to work every other weekend but at least I know what weekends I have to work. You should come up and check out the Carlisle truck show this year.
 
wayne said:
I know the feeling when it comes to time. I actually have more of it now with my new job because I only work 7 out of 14 days. Much nicer then the 6 or 7 days a week I was working. The only downfall to the new job is I am scheduled to work every other weekend but at least I know what weekends I have to work. You should come up and check out the Carlisle truck show this year.
Click to expand...

i know about the work. except for this weekend, we have been working 6 days a week since the begining of the year. also, my wife and i are expecting a little bambino in the next two weeks, so i cannot go anywhere.
when is the carlisle truck show ? , i know i will be going to the corvette show at the end of august.
 
well today i finished up the front conversion all i have left to do is a little grinding. next weekend i will be installing the 14bff.
heres a pic of the passenger side all done.

http://coloradok5.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/13128/cat/500

sooo, the front is done and the costs were,

8 lug hubs and rotors and backing plates from a 1986 k20
i bought from anther member , $ 100.00
new rotors becouse the ones
i got used were bad, $ 64.00
new front seals , $ 9.00
new 3/4 ton lug nuts, $24.00


 
well the front is all done and good to go. i took it for a test run and all seems ok. the front rotors had a little bit of smoke after the first test drive, but when i did a second test drive, there was no smoke. they are not sticking so the smoke must have been from dirt and greese residue on the rotors. i will test drive again after i install the 14bff. i have the 14bff ready to install. i was
trying to lift it up high enough to just roll the 10 bolt out and roll the 14bff in , but i do not think i can get it up high enough and still be safe.
oh question can i disconnect the e cables somewhere under the truck instead of taking the drums apart? i do not want to cut them either.
 
You can try to disconnect them at the equalizer just above the driver's side forward leaf spring bracket but good luck getting the cables separated. There's a little coupler piece that attaches the forward cable to the rear cable assembly but it's usually so rusty and full of crud that you can never get it apart. You could cut the little coupler with a die grinder but I don't know how easy it is to get a new one (if you intend to put new cables on).

If you DO get it apart, then that's one cable. The other cable has a nut on a long threaded rod going through the equalizer bracket. If the threads aren't too rusty, you can back the nut out and remove the second cable.

Also, the trick to getting the spring-lock ends out of the bracket is to slide a 12-point box-end wrench over the spring tabs. Usually 1/2" or 12mm.

Oh, and it IS possible to get the cables out of the drums without disassembling the entire braking system (you still have to pull the drums off but that's no big deal). It's not easy but I did it on mine.
But unless your 14bff brakes use the same style of cables (mine were different), if just makes more sense to disconnect them at the forward mounts.
 
goldwing2000 said:
You can try to disconnect them at the equalizer just above the driver's side forward leaf spring bracket but good luck getting the cables separated. There's a little coupler piece that attaches the forward cable to the rear cable assembly but it's usually so rusty and full of crud that you can never get it apart. You could cut the little coupler with a die grinder but I don't know how easy it is to get a new one (if you intend to put new cables on).

If you DO get it apart, then that's one cable. The other cable has a nut on a long threaded rod going through the equalizer bracket. If the threads aren't too rusty, you can back the nut out and remove the second cable.

Also, the trick to getting the spring-lock ends out of the bracket is to slide a 12-point box-end wrench over the spring tabs. Usually 1/2" or 12mm.

Oh, and it IS possible to get the cables out of the drums without disassembling the entire braking system (you still have to pull the drums off but that's no big deal). It's not easy but I did it on mine.
But unless your 14bff brakes use the same style of cables (mine were different), if just makes more sense to disconnect them at the forward mounts.
Click to expand...

yes , my cables are also different on the 14bff. i just wanted to diconect the cables so whei pull the 10bolt out, its one assmebly and ready to re-install in somebody elses vehicle if need be. i do have to still figure out whaty cables to use when i do hook up the e cables for the 14bff.
 
when I did my 3/4 ton swap I no intentions of doin it at all. I actually planned on trying to keep my half ton stuff but one day I was sittin in the yard admiring the 14bff under my parts truck. In 4 hours I had both axles a transmission and transfercase out of the parts truck and had the rear axle in my truck. course it took nearly 6 hours just to do the front. didnt plan on doing it but the mood struck me and once I started doing it I couldnt stop. dang glad I did it too cause now I have no fears of breaking that rear end.
keep up the good work. If I would have spent more time on mine I prolly wouldnt have had to put wheel bearings in on the side of the road.
 
I also lifted mine high enough to roll the ten bolt out and the 14 bolt in. prolly not real safe cause I had to lift it 13 inches just to lift the springs up off the perches but my rear fenders are cut so it didnt take that much for the axle to be able to move in and out just couldnt get the springs off.
 
scrappyk5 said:
yes , my cables are also different on the 14bff. i just wanted to diconect the cables so whei pull the 10bolt out, its one assmebly and ready to re-install in somebody elses vehicle if need be. i do have to still figure out whaty cables to use when i do hook up the e cables for the 14bff.
Click to expand...

There's a company that makes custom e-brake cables but I'll be damned if I can find the link. No idea what it costs.
I'm thinking about going with a driveline parking brake instead of wheel brakes.
 
well come sunday morning after i went out and got my wife some
mcdonalds breakfast ( pregnancy craving :rolleyes:) , i started on the 3/4 ton swap in the rear. the 14 bolt was ready. So i went ahead and disconnected everything so i could take the 10bolt out. that went pretty smooth. hardest thing to was the ubolt nuts. they were a bear to loosen. once the 10bolt was on the ground, i pulled it out from under the blazer. it was pretty light compared to the 14bff. well then i placed the 14bff underneath the blazer with my trusty floor jack and put it into position to bolt up. everything went smooth on that part also. i checked to see if the original driveshaft ujoint would hook up and it looks the same size but the orginal ujoint has "c"clips and it wouldnt fit. so i guess today i will go get a conversion ujoint. i also need to bleed and adjust the brakes.
i was amazed at the time when i got done. it only took me about 31/2 hours to do the swap, just me and my floor jack and some boards in my gravel driveway :D.

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MVC-037S.JPG


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MVC-039S.JPG
 
please let me know if this is correct.
my driveshaft ujoint that hooked up to a 10bolt had internal c clips to hold it in once in the yoke. even though the caps look like they will fit in the 14bff yoke, the c clips are in the way. also , the 14bff yoke has these little
prongs on it that look like they are there to hold the caps in , so there is no need for c clips. is this correct?
so i need the #447 conversion joint right ?
 
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