Swapliftication of the '89 Burb

[bftank]

getting cabin fever so i went out to my "garage" and started the 3/4ton swap and lift.

plans

front: 6" massaged bds springs dana 44 external hubs 4.10 gears, (needs balljoints but holding out on spending money on 44 so that i can get a 60 to spend money on)

to be replaced by kert's b52, rear shackle hanger and 9 leaf 56" spring in a couple of weeks.

rear: sky's offroad design shackle flip, got it yesterday. (picked this one because it gives me choices as to where to mount shackle) ord 6" shackle, old 56" springs to be replaced by new 9 leaf springs, 14 bolt 4.10 gears.

dana 70 from a van in the works w/ detroit for the rear.

first pic: 6 in springs
2&3: shackle flip and shackle
4: "garage"
5: motivation shot w/ 35" bfg

am i on the right track?

i figured i'd post this in here since it has been slow and we need motivation!

 

[bftank]

got my 1-1/2"x.375 tierod, and sway bar disconnects from ord today. ooh pretty!!!

 

[BlackBourbon]

Sweet man. I'm goin freakin' crazy waiting for all my parts to come in for my Burb build.

 

[bftank]

dood i hear ya! i got so itchy to do this i tore the frontend apart before i realised i still had 3/4 of a tank of gas to get rid of to do the shackle flip. when you get your parts; pics and more pics! and a build thread. once i get the lift on i will link this to the muddysub thread so we can add on to a great idea.

 

[bftank]

installed new ord 1-1/2" x .375" wall tie rod, shocks and brakelines. springs are attached in the front loosely. i need to drill out the hole for the centering pin in the axle. pin is slightly to big.

36x12.5 swamper sx for my offroad tires; courtesy of tdawg1, thanks man!

-should i go with 16.5x10 chrome mod or should i go with the 16x7.5 steely with fresh white paint? kinda leaning toward the stocker.

question
-i have read online that it is bad to reuse ubolts - why? are they prone to breaking or stretching?
-i have some ubolts for the 44 that i tightened down on my other truck that the springs came from but never drove or moved it. does that put these ubolts out of comission?

 

[imiceman44]

Technically Ubolts are not supposed to be reused, but I have reused some so many times, and never had probles, I think the bolts have a big margin in strength that they seem to do fine after reuse.
I have never put any bigger than 37" tires so maybe if you are going big the weight and strain put on the bolts would be a problem.

 

[bftank]

thanks, 36's are as tall as i am going right now, so i guess i should be ok.

 

[GNERGY]

Yes, you can reuse U bolts.
That color on your burb looks kind of familiar.

Tarey

 

[bftank]

yeah, they do look similar. the darker part is actually a dark grey or silver. my parents had one with the same paint as yours though. i like your stance, is that an 8" and 35's?

 

[GNERGY]

8 in the front and 9 1/2 in the rear on 37's. i went with a 3 1/2 inch block in the rear instead of the 2 inch it came with so if I load it to go camping it won't look stupid.
Tarey

 

[bftank]

nice, thanks

 

[bftank]

found this under the burbafter a couple of days hope it's not from a crack. it seems to be coming from on top of the tcase adapter.

 

[bftank]

phase 1 is done in the front end. still need to torque everything down, cotter pin the drag link. springs ended up touching the tie rod, so i need to put in a degree shim to fix that and account for the six inch shackle in the back. i'm thinking about a 3 degree shim.

just heard about work slowing down alot. bunch of lay offs in the gas field, no bueno por mi. just became a more budget oriented build.

next is space down the tcase 3/4 inch. and move to the rear. time to test out the new 4-1/2 inch dewalt grinder!

 

[throttleissues]

next is space down the tcase 3/4 inch.

I'm curious why you want to do that? I haven't seen that be necessary on a 'burb with only 6" lift. The one in my yard has 8" lift and no driveline issues other than they're getting to be alittle short, but they still don't pull apart at full droop.

 

[bftank]

the springs in the front have a lot of droop available due to leaves removed and aluminum spacers. when the axle was hanging it did so only being restricted by the drive shaft. so i am giving the front a little more travel.

in the back of the tcase it has a slip yoke and with past experiences 4" or above experienced a vibration on the highway due to the shaft being pulled out to far. when dropped vibration went away.

this is only a temporary solution until i get the rest of my drive train ready, 4bt, ranger splitter, sm465, and doubler. then i will get some good long travel shafts.

i appreciate the insight and comments, and looking out for me! most likely i will try running it w/o dropping it and see how it goes.

thanks again

 

[bftank]

got the axle swap completed, it's alive!!! now it's just the little stuff. like replacing the bleeder screw that broke,figuring out where the atf is coming from, etc.

measured the lift on the front and pass side is an inch higher than driver side. sounds like bent springs. so i guess i get to order some 6/1 leaf 56's and install the b52's.

it has 6" shackles and no degree shim which has caused some rubbing on the tierod pass side. no bueno. both upper ball joints are shot. probably the lower ones too.

the 14 bolt is leaking out the pinion seal, spot welds on diff and the pass side wheel seal. that's ok i've got my eye on a dana 70 from a van at the salvage yard!

now if only a dana 60 would fall into my lap so i could quit wasting money on the dana 44. scratch that, that would hurt, how about magically appear in my backyard/garage?

 

[bftank]

forgot the pics

 

[bftank]

been driving it around for a week looks like crap with the van tires on it i know. need to get the swamper mounted.

kinda lost some motivation. rear springs are wasted. has a reverse arch to it. front springs are rubbing on tie rod which makes for some funky steering. need to put in a degree shim to make up for the 6"shackle.


there are some 1/2 ton 63" springs at salvage yard.

would they hold up the back of the burb? or should i just wait to get new 3/4 ton ones?

 

[jonathon]

Are you running the tie rod from your old 10b? If so that's your problem...

We hashed it out in my crossover thread, but basically the options are zero rates or 67-72 TRE's from a 4x4 since they are stepped. The downside to the zero rates is more lift..

The downside to the TRE's is you would need a new tie rod.

I think it's rare to find a set of 52's under a burb that aren't worn out. Looks like you could get 56's and move your shackles back and it'd be a good angle...

You shouldn't need to drop your t-case at all either, and it'll hurt more than help, at least for a Suburban. Your wheel base is long enough that you should be able to shim the axle to point the pinion at the right angle. If you drop the case, you put more angle on the front shaft.. and that's where you really can't afford it on these trucks.

 

[bftank]

no this tie rod is for the dana 44 but it's 1-1/2" thick .375 wall, essentially to big. i've got a 6" shackle inthe back so i've thought about shimming it to get the clearance and caster back. but i would need like a 7* shim. is that too much? or should i just go back to the old shackle and zero rates?

weird part of this suburaban with it being 1/2 ton is that it already has 56"s in it so i hesitate to put another set of 1/2 ton 56"s in it. does anbody know how rough the 3/4 ton 56"s ride?

did't drop the tcase, haven't experienced any vibration either, i think the extra pinion length of the 14 bolt helped with that. there is a whine coming from the back though. would that be because the pinion is tilted up to high for the gear oil to get to it, or do i have a time bomb?

ps got a lead on a dana 60, crossing my fingers it pans out.

pps thank you for the feed back and input jonathon, all help is appreciated with this build.