Hey guys,
new member, first post. I justs inherited a 95 1500 4x4 from my pops who bought it new. I'm trying to fix it up back to its former glory, but it's gonna be a long road. Anyways, the front axle was junk so I found a used one and today I found the strength and motivation to get the old one out and try to slap the new one in.

It's in there and most if it is hooked up, but I forget how the sway bar links go. Are the ends of the bar on the bottom side of the axle and the stud for the sway bar links point upwards, or do the ends of the bar come out high near the frame and the sway bar link is above the axle, and the stud goes down and through it? Because of a practically rusted on plow mount I can't get the sway bar brackets off without a lot of trouble, and I can't swing the sway bar up and over because it hits the part where the sway bar link bolts to. So yeah it's below now, and stuck there, just want to check that's the way its supposed to be before I put it back together, looks like it could possibly go either way to me.

Hopefully someone can make sense of what I just said, if not I'll take a picture tommorrow morning and post it up, but I'm pooped right now and dont want to look at that thing for at least 12 hours and 6 beers.

Other less pressing questions, I noticed the driver Ujoint for the driver side is bad on my replacement axle. Unfortunately it's bad on my old one too so I can't scavenge, but I can take that one apart as practice. Do I have to buy a whole new axle shaft? it didn't seem like that Ujoint was easily servicable to me.

And finally...when it came time to hook up the ABS sensors on my replacement axle I started scratching my head about where they go, cuz I didn't see a trigger wheel or anywhere obvious to bolt it. Checked against my old one and I didn't feel so dumb, cuz the new one has no provisions for ABS. The light was on for some reason anyways and I can live without ABS, but would it be possible for me to swap my ABS parts over to the other axle, or is there something different about the axle itself? I didn't look closely at whether or not it has the place to bolt the sensor, but it definitely doesn't have a tone ring on the axle, or any room for the sensor it looks like.

Sorry for all the questions guys, I'll introduce myself properly once I get this baby back on the road and back to its former glory as I said.

Thanks fellas
-Sam

 

after thinking about it a bit I'm 98% sure the way I have it now is correct, with the sway bar link coming in from below and the stud facing up, so I'll put it together like that first thing tomorrow morning unless someone advises me otherwise. And if anyone has an answer about the Ujoint and/or ABS it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
-Sam

 

On mine, (dana 60.... shouldn't be much different than yours) the sway bar sits below there the link mounts on the axle. I have a 'ball joint' type deal on the sway bar end, and a stud goes up through the mount, and is bolted in place there. (with appropriate bushings)

As for the ABS, you probably can just take the knuckles (separated at the balljoints) and transfer the whole assembly over to the 'new' axle. Have a look at the various pieces, and compare. You are going to be damn close to having everything off to do the u-joint anyway, and yes, it is serviceable separately. It is pressed in/out.

Side note: A 95 with Four wheel antilock brakes??? My 96 only has RWAL.....