Axle swap in "The Big Cheese"

[randyscycle]

All of the parts are lying about the shop now, and Grantshire deposited "The Big Cheese" aka his M715 with the 6.2 diesel.

The plan is for a GM Van 14 bolt rear with disc brakes, and and a Dana 60 front. 5.13 gears and a Detroit locker out back should round things out nicely. Also to be done is a hydro boost and powersteering conversion.

This thread will be updated as regularly as I can get things done, for those interested in following along.

The truck:



The axles:



First step is going to be total disassembly and regearing of the front to match the new gearset in the rear. all bearings, seals and such will be done as necessary, then preliminary fitting of the axles, perches, shock mounts, etc will follow.

I plan to take lots of pics too, so keep an eye out for updates!

[Ronner]

Is that Tom's second truck?
I don't remember the word Brush on the fender but that icecream color motif with a 6.2 is hard to forget.

[randyscycle]

Is that Tom's second truck?

Yup, sure is. I think he sold it about 2 years ago, give or take.

[M725baja]

I did the same exact axle/disc/gear ratio swap with 38.5's. Have a stout 4L60 with overdrive and converter lockup on a switch and couldn't be happier. 2300 RPM @ 65 mph, 4 wheel power disc brakes and a much improved turning radius.

[jlogan]

Will you be going spring under or over in the front?

[randyscycle]

I did the same exact axle/disc/gear ratio swap with 38.5's. Have a stout 4L60 with overdrive and converter lockup on a switch and couldn't be happier. 2300 RPM @ 65 mph, 4 wheel power disc brakes and a much improved turning radius.

Good news to hear! That is what we're looking to gain.

It will get a springover up front, and a shackle flip in the rear.

[ryanroo]

for some reason the pics don't work for me, but i have seen pics of the truck before, and i know what 14bolts and dana 60s look like.

are you going for the GM perch spacing in front or keeping the stock 715 wide spacing? i really like mine the way it is and recomend that also gives lets you use nicer GM springs for a better ride.

its good you are going for a deeper gear. i have 4.56s and really wish i had gone for more gear.

[randyscycle]

for some reason the pics don't work for me, but i have seen pics of the truck before, and i know what 14bolts and dana 60s look like.

are you going for the GM perch spacing in front or keeping the stock 715 wide spacing? i really like mine the way it is and recomend that also gives lets you use nicer GM springs for a better ride.

its good you are going for a deeper gear. i have 4.56s and really wish i had gone for more gear.

Pics were not working for a bit earlier today, but seem to be back up again. Maybe the guys at the hosting site needed an hour or two off for Labor Day?

The plan is to keep the M715 spring spacing. I'll let you all know how that works out. I'll definitely be removing a leaf or two for some improvement in flexibility.

[randyscycle]

Today was devoted to complete teardown and cleaning of the housings and associated parts for rebuild.

If you noticed in the first post second pic, there are three axles. The black one in the middle was rebuilt, but never run, so it had all new gears, bearings, disc conversion and seals. Problem was, it was too narrow at 67.5" WMS to WMS. The old housing with the drums was a GM Van 14 bolt, 70" WMS to WMS, and needed overhauling anyway. So, I pulled all the brand new good stuff from the black housing and then intend to install and set it up in the van housing.

With everything stripped and inspected it all got a thorough cleaning this afternoon and will get the unnecessary brackets and mounts removed in the next few days. Once everything is mocked up and perches welded on in the probper place it will all get painted too.

Here's a few pics of the clean stuff:

[Grantshire]

Today was devoted to complete teardown and cleaning of the housings and associated parts for rebuild.

If you noticed in the first post second pic, there are three axles. The black one in the middle was rebuilt, but never run, so it had all new gears, bearings, disc conversion and seals. Problem was, it was too narrow at 67.5" WMS to WMS. The old housing with the drums was a GM Van 14 bolt, 70" WMS to WMS, and needed overhauling anyway. So, I pulled all the brand new good stuff from the black housing and then intend to install and set it up in the van housing.

With everything stripped and inspected it all got a thorough cleaning this afternoon and will get the unnecessary brackets and mounts removed in the next few days. Once everything is mocked up and perches welded on in the probper place it will all get painted too.

Here's a few pics of the clean stuff:

Looking good Randy! Looks like that van 14 bolt cleaned up fairly well. It was of unkown quality but the price was right (free) so I took it. Glad it is going to work.

Tom did a nice job building this truck but he stopped short on the axles; front is stock gearing with Selectro hubs, and he re-geared the stock Dana 70 rear to 4.56. Not a problem as long as I did not lock the hubs and put it in 4WD. I tried really hard to use the nice, low mileage CJ10A Dana 70 I have but the 80" WMS/WMS was just too wide. The built 14 bolt was an ebay steal and never made it under the guys project.

I got a decent quote on my new wheels last week (20x9) but have not found my tires yet. I think I will have to wait until it comes home to put the tires/rims on it anyway or it will never fit on my trailer. In the mean time it will look funny with the SOA lift and stock little CJ10A wheels. FYI to everyone, game plan is to run 20"x9" MotoMetal skull wheels with 11.00R20 XZL's (43").

With the orange and black color scheme, SOA, skull wheels, big tires and other planned top secret modifications "The Big Cheese" is about to morph into "The Great Pumpkin". So stay tuned!

And BTW, in case you guys haven't noticed from his other posts, Randy does absolutely first class work! You should see some of the motorcycles he has built (not to mention his M715).