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Originally Posted by kipps
Also, if you're thinking of pulling an axle at a junkyard, the trickiest part is lifting the back of the truck enough to remove the axle without dropping the truck on yourself. On one axle I pulled, the truck was sitting on the side of a hill(reality in Virginia salvage yards!). I was lifting the truck with a handyman jack under the rear bumper. The whole truck kept scooching sideways, and threatening to pin me under it.
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Find some tires on steel wheels to use as cribbing under the frame or bring some actual 2' timbers to use as temporary cribbing. Timbers will be an operation to get to and under the vehicle.
I make sure it's supported underneath with some kind of cribbing so you can disconnect the propshaft and parking brake cables.
At least one of the yards I frequent has a double A Frame on wheels with an I beam between the A frames and a chain fall hoist. It's for lifting engines and transmissions out of a rig and into a cart. You can attach it to the frame with your own chains or straps and lift the whole shebang after you have the axle is free of the springs, propshaft, cables, and brake line. Then you pull it out using chains or straps without getting underneath.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kipps
The disconnect procedure is simple enough. On mine, the u-bolt nuts came right off with a large breaker bar. The driveshaft unbolts easily, and the shocks come loose easily as well. The brake lines and parking brake cables need a good sharp bolt cutters. A cable cutter would be better, but I didn't have one. Once everything is disconnected, then lift the truck, and roll the axle out from under it.
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If the parking brake cables are in serviceable shape I'd keep em. SoCal is unlikely to have the rust we have in the Northeast. If you're in the rust belt they're unlikely to be in good shape. If they are... Chah ching...
You can keep the T800 parking brake cables in one piece by disconnecting from the frame and the pedal cable. I usually nip the sheet metal disconnect cage in two and then pull the rear cables out of the brackets and wire tie them onto the axle tubes. You can usually slide a box-end wrench over the cable and turn slightly to fold in the ears to get the cables out of the holes in the brackets/frame.
It's more work but those cables aren't cheap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kipps
Take the driveshaft and the spring u-bolts along with the axle. They can all be reused to one degree or another.
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I usually go to a heavy truck spring and axle joint to get new spring pak U-bolts. Not worth re-using them unless they're perfect.
They'll ding you at the counter for the propshaft but it's probably worth getting as long as they didn't bend it with the forks on the loader.
Bring some tape to wrap around the Universal joint caps to hold them on assuming it's serviceable.
Assuming the U-joint yoke straps or U-bolts are in good shape, put em back in the yoke on your axle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kipps
Remove the spring perches and shock mounts, and clean up the axle tube. Purchase new perches and mounts from OffRoadDesign. Loosely assemble the perches on the axle, and bolt them to the leaf springs. Don't weld anything yet. Adjust the pinion angle until it's correct, then tack weld it in place. Get the new driveshaft shortened to fit(the driveshaft shop can tell you how to take the measurements), and install that.
Drive the truck gently up to speed to check for driveline vibration, and if all is correct, have a skilled welder lock the perches to the axle. There is some risk of warping the axle tubes when welding on the spring perches, so make sure the welder takes proper precautions.
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One more piece of shopping advice. Look on the Service Parts ID tag in the glovebox.
- A 2500 with an LQ4 engine will have the 10.5" 14bolt. The LB7, LLY, & LBZ will have the 11.5" 14bolt axle. You don't want the 11.5" AAM axle.
- G80 is limited slip on the T800 trucks. Useful information to have later on.
The other G code will be the axle ratio.
- GT4 : AXLE REAR, 3.73 RATIO
- GT5 : AXLE REAR, 4.10 RATIO
The other RPO code you'll be interested in is the Brake code. If you find a JBx or JDx it's a Disc/Drum truck. Not worth looking any further.
- JH5 : BRAKE, HYD POWER, 4-WHEEL DISC, 7200 LBS
- JH6 : BRAKE, HYD POWER, 4-WHEEL DISC, 9900 LBS