i Am New To Dp And Find This Site Very Informative. My First Major Mod I Want To Do Is Install A Solid Front Axel. Im Looking For Info That Will Walk Me Thru. I Am A Welder Fabricator And Have All The Equipment Needed For Such A Job. All The Cutting And Welding Wont Be A Problem. I Plan On Buying Everything I Need And Have It On Hand When I Start This Project. So Any Of Ya's That No Were I Can Find Any Info It Would Be Greatly Appreciated . Thanx

off road unlimited.com

There are may threads on this stemming back since 2003.

A quick search for "solid axle conversion" gave me this:

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/search.php?searchid=4101820

Here's another one:

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/search.php?searchid=4101835

Many threads to choose from.

Thanx Unit453. $17,000.00 +. Lol I Will Live With What I Got For Now. I Will Start With Some Engine Mods, Then After Breakin A Few Front Half Shafts, Then I Might Try It. Thanx Again

hahhaha.. Im starting my SAS On my 2007.5 LMM Duramax soon as norcal nick get my axle in the shipped to him! I cant wait... This will be my first SAS'd Chevy....

you can do a SAS for less than $17,000. if you go with leaf springs instead of 4 link coil over. yeah the coil over rides better, but if you go with the right leaf springs and a mild lift it will handle great!!

A lot less that $17K. One of these days I'll have time to prove it but until then I just keep saying it :o:.

check this out... $3000 plus cost of axle, that includes steering.You can use an 03 or newer dodge axle which is a hell of a lot easier to find than the D60. Already made up, just cut and weld. When i do it, this is what i'm doing with. Its coil over, no leaf sprung.
http://www.pure-performance.biz/

Joe

you know you can do the tie rods and the center link for much cheaper and your front end could hold up to alot of abuse.... any sfa for our trucks will be about 7k by the time your done with the set up.....

Look at Rockkrawlers solid axle swap kit...Seems well engineered and I have heard great things about all there other lifts...This is the swap I am going to be doing once I get out of college. www.rockkrawler.com

Its really not that much when you break it down. An axle, springs, hangers, crossmember, shackles, steering, and driveline. I'm not sure if the dmaxes all have the auto trac or whatever where you need the special piece for the driveline, but either way, it's not THAT much.

If you are a welder and fabricator it shouldn't be that hard, just build a link suspension and run coilovers, you could easily do it for $5k. Poly Performance has everything you need except a Dana 60, which runs about $1k plus a rebuild. If you can't cut out the IFS, stick a solid axle under it and build some link mounts and coilover hoops, how are you going to build it?

pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204893

Download the 4 link calculator so you know how your suspension will react, thats harder than actually building it.

Look at Rockkrawlers solid axle swap kit...Seems well engineered and I have heard great things about all there other lifts...This is the swap I am going to be doing once I get out of college. www.rockkrawler.com (http://www.rockkrawler.com)


This is the one Ill be going with... rockkrawler sas

ya i think you are going to see more and more going to this type of SAS because of price and the fact that the axles are easier to find

Thanks For All The Info

I Am Gonna Go With The Leaf Spring Set-up. Well Thats The Way Im Leaning Now, Ill Do Some More Research Before Doing It

After doing tie rods twice, cognito braces on the idler an pitman arm, and still having play, besides the fact bump steer will always be an issue, I am done with the chev frt end.
Stick a fork in it, its DONE!

I just need an AMM 9,25 dodge frt axle, where are the guys finding these new axles?

check out carpart.com you can search for the specific part that you need. put out a wanted ad. i found mine through a referral from a dp member.

Thanks!

Whats the minimum amont of lift you need for clearances? I'm looking into the swap too but I really don't want Alot of height.

Smallest I heard was 4". But I could be wrong.

I would like to find a leaf spring conversion that had only a leveling kit and no lift.

Is there anyone out there that sells everything to to do a "solid axle conversion" (ie differential,leaf springs,bracketry) as one kit? If not, someone should offer it.....

I would like to find a leaf spring conversion that had only a leveling kit and no lift.

i don't think that would be possible you have to raise the truck up enough to have clearance for the differential you would have to have custom oil pan the lowest i have seen is right at 6"

I have 4" springs on the front of my 92 (see garage). ORU told me that 4" was the smallest I could go and not have issues. I didn't really want to go too big with that truck and the 38.5s fit pretty nice so I stuck with the 4" springs / 2" from kit / 3" body lift.

At one point I bought stock 73-87 springs to put on the front just to move the truck in the driveway. Believe it or not, I hooked up the GM tie rod / center link steering up to the Dana 60 just to move it. So the truck "functioned" with stock springs...course you wouldn't want that setup forever, but you get the picture.

I'm sure that my truck could be lowered, i.e. done the same way with maybe 2" springs with decent results. Keep in mind that the conversion itself give 2" of lift, so you're still staring at 4" of total lift. You'll be hard pressed to make this work without something similar to that but who knows...I've seen crazier things done!

I went to ORU home page and they are running an advertisement on their home page for their new 4-link suspension and it includes a new Dana 60 in the kit. Interesting..

I went to ORU home page and they are running an advertisement on their home page for their new 4-link suspension and it includes a new Dana 60 in the kit. Interesting..

Yep for only....$15,999 until March 31 and then its back to $17,999.

Yep for only....$15,999 until March 31 and then its back to $17,999.


DAMN Thats alot! hahaha

ya i think i would pay the 6k to do the rock krawler kit instead and hey you keep that abs and everything

Rock Krawler will get my $$$$ if they ever have a 6" kit.

With ORU's kit, you are getting a brand new dynatrac pro 60 ($6500 axle) with 35 spline outers, warn premium hubs, and dedenbear knuckles. Yeah it's expensive, but the dynatac 60 is nearly unbreakable(and upgradable to 40 spline if you manage it), twice as strong as the aam 9.25. (Anyone into 4 wheeling knows this) This is a custom made axle built for abuse, not something conceived by penny pinching automakers trying to make the cheapest 3/4 ton axle out there. Granted, MOST guys do not need the dynatrac 60 b/c it's overkill, but it may be for those who really want to beat their rigs or run huge tires. Most guys don't need the SFA at all, which is why IFS kits selll so well. Depending on what you want to do with the truck is going to dictate what you will spend on it and it may have been said in the thread already, but you get what you pay for.