Have the front axle out of my '95 2500. Switch to manual hubs, CAD delete, new ball joints,axle u-joints, and seals. Wanted to mock up the steering to make sure my badass new B&M front diff cover would fit. Decided to set the toe-in on the bench, save an immediate trip for alignment.

This what I came up with. Drilled two holes in a piece of aluminum channel, exactly centered to fit over the grease zerks. Two more to suspend some 6lb test with nuts for weights, also centered just off the end of the axles. Now when the measurement from the plumb line to the C/L of the axle is the same both sides, the wheels are pointed directly ahead. Set my machinist rules to the spindles with strong little magnets and made the measurements the same. My worry was the adjustment sleeve would not clear the cover, didn't want to wait until I got it on the alignment rack to figure this out.

If you haven't upgraded your older Gen II 2500 to the heavy duty T-style steering linkage from the '99up 2500/3500s, I strongly suggest you do so. Really tight on full left turn, right turn interference right at the end of full lock. For now will extend the bump stop on the back of the axle.

 

Took me awhile to figure out the axle is upside down. I don't follow your method but if it works, go for it. I just scored the tires down the center, then measured the back and the front. Probably using your machinist rulers would work the same.

As for the T steering, if you don't have the puck version, you're gonna have a bad time. The tie rods "roll" or twist fore and aft before moving side to side giving you play in the steering wheel. Lots of talk of this in Jeep circles. See my thread on "steering saga as the wheel turns" for more info on this. T steer is not the cure-all, just a different means to an end.

 

Was never a fan of manual hubs since they left me stranded twice but that's a sexy axle of I do say so myself. I'm with Ramman don't follow your method but as long as you are happy.

 

Fixin' to hang this back under the frame.


This truck has eaten about 700USD worth of unit bearings over the years, a CAD vacuum pot, not to mention the extra fuel to turn the front differential in perpetuity and those brittle *** little vacuum hoses, the breaking of which left me shoveling this truck out of sand/gravel once about a 2hr walk back to the road. This has been one of my ambitions for some time.

 

And the rotors are still staked to the backside of the hubs? I would've though that would be a golden opportunity to use rotors that just slip onto the hub......

 

No, I pressed in the studs. Those rotors are 1.5in thick, hopefully they don't come off in my lifetime. Never thought about it really, they could be reamed out carefully. But, that assembly is so heavy, and the bearing fit to the spindle is so tight, easier to put together as a very solid unit.
Nobody noticed the ablation grooves are pointed the wrong way in my mind, have to swap hubs side for side.

 

Since we got on the subject of steering, I noticed awhile back the box actually flexed the frame just a bit. Had some 3/16 plate around, trimmed it and drilled it, plenty of length in the bolts. It's all about incremental change, it all helps.

 

Nice frame! Did you paint it? I seen the rotors but I'm pretty sure that is how my powerstop rotors are.

 

Thanks, yes, degreaser, citric acid, phosphoric acid and pressure washer, bit of scrubbing, epoxy primer, old school black enamel. Baked in the sun for couple weeks.
These rotor grooves look directional, should push the heat/gas to the outside as they turn, not into the hub. Just the way I look at it.

 

The idea behind the groves/slots/holes, is to give the gases generated by heating up the pads, a place to go, rather than causing the pad to 'float' on the rotor. Back in the day, they were actually useful, and did exactly what they were intended to do, but, with todays compounds, outgassing of the pads is a LOT less of an issue. The drilled holes have the unfortunate side effect of giving cracks a nice place to start.

That said, 'directional' really doesn't matter when it comes to high pressure gas. If the pads outgas, the gas WILL take any path it can to escape. The drilled holes will be far more effective than the slots/grooves in any event.