Forget painting it. Start seting it up already! JK

 

Lol, I won't be starting the actual axle swap until probably mid-January with the way things are going. I'm going to try and get all the custom crossmembers and mounts made and installed in the next several weeks so it will all be ready and the axle swap itself will hopefully go smoother that way.

So just an update, I got the bushings and paint for my axle yesterday. I'm still working on wire-wheeling the parts but I'm not trying to overwork my air tools seeing as its so humid here the compressor collects a lot of water when its this humid and without an air dryer its hard to keep enough oil in my air tools when water is pouring out of them! But I am still shooting to have the parts painted by the end of this weekend so I can focus on the mounts and crossmembers.

One thing I thought I'd mention... I've been studying this article: http://www.utahwest.com/Truck/fourwheeling.htm

...and the guy mentioned in there that he pushed the axle an inch forward of factory and said if he could go back and do it again he'd push it another inch forward. So that got me looking at my truck and I can definately see what he is talking about!! The wheel sits toward the back of the wheel wells from the factory, but I came up with a better approach to the problem of centering the wheels. When I get it painted and put the radius arms back on with the new bushings, I'm going to position the axle on some jackstands how it will theoretically sit in the truck positioning it with the correct caster angle and then measure from the frame end of the radius arm to the center of the axle, and the radius arm angle, and draw the circle of potential motion of the axle in autocad. Then I'll draw chords on that circle that mimic the plausible height of travel and use autocad to tell me how far back and forth it will travel compared to how far up and down. Then, I'll position it in the truck so that when the wheels are tucked all the way into the wheel wells they are exactly centered in the wheel well.

 

Well, I know I originally said I was thinking 4.88s and 35s, but I finally got Microsoft Excel on my new computer to run the numbers in the chart I made a while back and I'm thinking 4.56s will be much better. They are already a little lower than my current gearing, which is what i want, but 4.88s are too low and would keep my rmps up too high on the interstate. Here is an RPM vs MPH chart of 35s and 4.56s for my truck with the nv3500 ratios put in the equation...

speedvrpm.jpg?t=1260580067

 

Neato. Do one with 4.88's and 37's.

 

With what transmission? I need to know the transmission's gear ratios also!

 

My 4500.


GM 93-94 First Gear 6.3 4 Second Gear 3.44 Third Gear 1.71 Fourth Gear 1.00 Fifth Gear 0.73 Reverse 6.34

 

i am so much on your side, warn locking hubs are the best invention in history. if you don't want to get out to lock them then you should be home taking knitting classes.

 

Here ya go skyshark:

speedvrpm2.jpg?t=1260596362

And here is your 4Lo crawl speeds assuming the 241 has a 2.72 also?

speedvrpm3.jpg?t=1260598965

That is one heck of a crawl speed in 1st gear 4Lo!!! 1000 rpm is 1.3 mph and you don't hit 5 mph until 3800!

mazda7475... +1 to that!!!! Lol

 

I believe it is 2.72. Id have to go look though. Thanks. That helps. That puts me right around where I want to be.

I still think I may end up putting in 5.13's due to cost. But even then it wouldnt put me past 2800 at 75, so Id be ok.

 

soooo...uhhh... update?