in have a dane 60 king pin axle sitting out back an was planning on putting it on my 96 when the wheel bearing goes that way i will have manual lock out hubs and king pins instead of ball joints has any one ever does this or has pics of this i know the diff is on the other side of the truck and that is what im trying to figure out no to worried about he gear ratio ill just swap the ring and pinion thanks for any help

 

What are you going to do about the diff on the other side of the truck?

 

Why not swap the inner knuckles instead? Then you don't have to monkey with putting a leaf sprung axle under a coil sprung truck, or t-case swapping.

 

i was thinking about just taking the axle tubes out of the diff and them changing them out, then just cut the brackets off to mount them under the coil springs that way i can loose the vacuum motor to lock in the hubs since i will have the regular hub locks but i guess i will need to see it the splines will interchange with the carrier and i guess i could do just the knuckles and wield the vacuum motor collar in the locked position what do u guys think i should do ?

 

Hook the vacuum line to the CAD so its always engaged. Thats what I did with my truck. Only downside is the 4x4 light is always on.

 

never thought of that thanks guys

 

did a axle swap on mine. its a dana 60 out of a 78 f-350 punkin on driverside fabed up my own perches switched to leaf springs. alittle measuring and a day or two...

 

I am correcting parts now to put Ford spindles out on my 96. That way I get rid of the unit bearings and get manual lock outs. I will also be able to have 2wheel low for backing a trailer.

Floyd

 

what did u guys use for steering linkage

 

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=874442

this mite be more cost effective in the long run. i believe this is what Tate was talking about

 

well one of the reasons i wanted to do it was to get rid of the ball joints and unit bearings but i finished it all up on thurs day morn turned out very nice but it was time consuming and making the steering linkage fit want not fun. i have pics but i dont know how to post them

 

Thats the outer knuckle swap. The inner knuckle (or Inner C) was what I was talking about, then you can swap in the king pin C's and get rid of the ball joints entirely.

 

yes i put the inner c in and welded them to the axle tubes

 

this is a little bit more complicated then i thought it was. though i supposed it u wanted it to survive anything and be easy to work on ud have to biuld it yourself. the industry isnt interested in makin your life easy anymore.

the set up that you just biuld is more off road orientated?

 

i dont intend it to be, i saw on tv they did a spintech convertion that just gave u lock up hubs and got rid of the unit bearings they said that gave them 2 more mpg but the cost was 1300 for that i look at it as the unit bearings last 2 years and cost about 200 per side ball joints dont last as long as king pins and i dont have to worry about the vacuum actuator that costs 100$ to lock up my 4x4 im saving 2 more mpg wheel bearings races and seals cost 50$ per side and last a long time and i can grease them and ill probly never have to replace the king pins in my life i mean ya it was alot of work but i think it was all worth it for sure