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Project Snow Bear K20!

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Debating now to start on the suspension and axles first or get the engine and drivetrain together and installed first.... I've got to do extensive cutting and grinding on the front and back of the frame rails and I think it all would be easier without the drivetrain in the way to do it. Although all of my swap parts should be here soon. Damnit.
 
Axles and suspension first then engine. Like you said more room with no engine at least for the front end. Might have to overlap some of each for clearance checking and such.
 
Yeah the drivetrain is out now, It's cold and snowing today or I would be grinding leaf spring mounts on the rear end. I measured the brackets and they will work just fine. I need to get some new spring perches for the larger ford axle after moving them in to fit the Chevy frame but other than that it should be easy peasy. I believe the stock shock mounts will even work if I inboard the upper shock mounts. Then order shocks to fit. If I have measured correctly, it should amount to about 4-5" of lift too, over the stock Chevy springs.
 
Truckman4life said:
Axles and suspension first then engine. Like you said more room with no engine at least for the front end. Might have to overlap some of each for clearance checking and such.
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This....
I wish I would have just pulled my motor to do all my stuff.
 
Got the axles and a couple Diesel engines home this evening. Front and rear from the 05 F350, complete rear suspension and all parts for the front as well, even the stock frame brackets. First thing I realized is that these SOB's are HEAVY. The axle tube on the front has got to be 1/2" thick. GEEZUS... I am going back to the salvage yard tomorrow to source some wheels and roller tires for these bad boys. Otherwise I can't move them around without a forklift.

Need to source or make some 3" wide spring perches, first order of business will be relocating the rear spring perches to match the Chevy frame. Get that all in there shouldn't take more than an afternoon. Then I'll start tackling the front. The rear will give me an idea on ride height, I am thinking it will be about 4-5" over the stock chev springs. I'll get some pics for you guys tomorrow in the daylight. Picked them up while running errands and had to take the girlfriend for dinner afterwards.
 
Fortunately I was able to get all the accessories. I even got the stock driveshafts thrown in for free. brackets, springs, trac bar, tie rod (with new joints)....everything. I will have to clean them up a little and have the rotors turned but other than that I think I can use all of it.
 
What are they out of? F250 or F350? Gas or diesel? I love those axles. I work on utility company trucks and we have mostly all Fords so I have done a ton of work on them over the last 4 years. I's like to put that exact axle and suspension setup under my 1990 F350.
 
Truckman4life said:
What are they out of? F250 or F350? Gas or diesel? I love those axles. I work on utility company trucks and we have mostly all Fords so I have done a ton of work on them over the last 4 years. I's like to put that exact axle and suspension setup under my 1990 F350.
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These are from an 05 F350 SRW. I believe it was a gas truck as it's 4.10 gears. They had a few other trucks there but they all had 3.73. The ones I bought also have limited slip in the rear. They were the only ones that were already out of the truck like you see them and just happened to be the set that I wanted anyway. Easy Peasy

The rear axle has a suspicious plug in the top of the housing, I'm guessing it's a speed sensor. NO WAY I got lucky enough to get one with the e-locker from the factory.
 
Not that lucky. That's for the tone ring. The front driveshaft is what I use for a rear shaft in my blazer. It's 1350 but the cv head appears to be broken in your picture. I believe the superduty tie rod end taper is the same as chevy that we use but the depth is a little different.
 
obijuank5 said:
Not that lucky. That's for the tone ring. The front driveshaft is what I use for a rear shaft in my blazer. It's 1350 but the cv head appears to be broken in your picture. I believe the superduty tie rod end taper is the same as chevy that we use but the depth is a little different.
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Yeah I noticed that when I picked them up out of the bed of the truck. I'll be using an NP205 transfer case with a u-joint in that location anyway. I was thinking, first off they were free...second that it might be cheaper to have these drive lines rebuilt than ordering new. They should be close, then again I have no idea till it's all in there and I can measure.
 
Some diesels got 4.10 gears also. I was just curious for your front springs. I would imagine the diesel ones are stiffer. And yes that is just the rear wheel speed sensor for the abs. They always break off in our trucks that see alot of off-road driving from getting hit by rocks from the front tires. Rear limited slip is pretty standard in the super dutys. Good score!
 
Truckman4life said:
Some diesels got 4.10 gears also. I was just curious for your front springs. I would imagine the diesel ones are stiffer. And yes that is just the rear wheel speed sensor for the abs. They always break off in our trucks that see alot of off-road driving from getting hit by rocks from the front tires. Rear limited slip is pretty standard in the super dutys. Good score!
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I know, I was just wishing out loud for fun with the speed sensor....LOL I was looking for one of the rare 4.30 geared trucks but didn't find it in my little salvage yard so I settled for the 4.10 gears. There is some ridiculousness going on with the rear leaf springs. Two spacer? Overload? Anyway I will likely get rid of the upper leaf and spacer. Unless you guys can come up with a reason to keep them on there.
 
The 4.30s came with the V10. If it was a tow rig dually then go with the F550 axles. They were all 4.88s but had weird 10 lug pattern and 19.5 wheels. No bueno for a normal pickup. The rear springs came in many configurations. My srw 04 F250 had just regular springs and no overload and I've seen the exact same truck with overloads. The cab and chassis srw F350s got a pack with alot more thin leaves and an overload, at least on the newer ones. Unless you plan on a shit ton of weight always and you don't like airbags then I'd just ditch the overload.
 
Truckman4life said:
The 4.30s came with the V10. If it was a tow rig dually then go with the F550 axles. They were all 4.88s but had weird 10 lug pattern and 19.5 wheels. No bueno for a normal pickup. The rear springs came in many configurations. My srw 04 F250 had just regular springs and no overload and I've seen the exact same truck with overloads. The cab and chassis srw F350s got a pack with alot more thin leaves and an overload, at least on the newer ones. Unless you plan on a shit ton of weight always and you don't like airbags then I'd just ditch the overload.
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I just realized one of the leafs on the passenger side pack is broken, luckily there are two more trucks in the yard that are exactly the same...LOL I'll get a replacement for it there. This truck had a regular bed on it, wasn't a cab and chassis truck. I do plan on doing some towing with it but nothing major. I'll pull that overload out when I am disassembling the parts. Sometime this weekend if the weather holds.

Oh and by the way....that tire in the picture. There's a 4BD1t Isuzu diesel sitting on it now. I took the pics before he had brought it out...LOL. I STILL REALLLLLY want to use it on this project. I did a little "let the gods decide" test and put both motors up for sale. Whichever sells first, I will use the other. Those little Isuzu diesels are tough little motors. I've done swaps with them before. I actually prefer it to the 4bt cummins. It just has a lot more potential in stock form. But hey, I'm a diesel guy. If the LS engine sells, then so be it. If the diesel sells it's getting the LS. I personally could go either way.
 
How do you adapt the Isuzu to the Chevy trans? I bet that's the engine they put in a lot of these crappy under ground coal mine Isuzu trucks.
 
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