mazdamama's fullwidth 79 f150 sas build

[mazdamama]

nevermind cast wedges will probably be in the way. gah!

 

[Bennybooster]

cut them off

 

[mazdamama]

I wish.... The problem is, cast wedges are the actuall tube , they are hollow on the inside. If they were welded wedges then they could be cut off.

 

[Josh40601]

Cut them off, then retube the axles

 

[Shran]

Cut them off, then retube the axles

That would be an awful lot of work, especially since the outer C is cast as part of the wedge piece. He would basically need to find another C from a 77-prior axle (and then, why not just use THAT axle?) or have the cast C cut down and machined out to fit a replacement tube.

 

[Josh40601]

They don't sell aftermarket C's?

 

[Shran]

They don't sell aftermarket C's?

Offhand, I am not aware of any? They definitely do for D60 stuff. A five minute Google search didn't lead to anything other than aftermarket knuckles.

Here's the problem. Say you spend the time and money cutting all that stuff off, drilling the plug welds out, stripping the housing down, jigging it up and putting it all back together correctly. You STILL have a Dana 44.

A much better option is to find a '77-down axle that has the weld on wedges, and spend 20 minutes cutting them off. It's basically the same end result as retubing a 78-79 housing, just a LOT easier and probably exponentially cheaper.

Otherwise, you are really better off skipping the Y link altogether and buying the wristed housing kit from BC Broncos, and modifying the factory radius arms for heims. That will allow for more suspension travel while not going through a whole lot of extra work.

Good option:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Dana-44-Inner-C-Knuckles-/350568730634

 

[Josh40601]

Hey, no one said anything about it being cheaper... I was just throwing the option out there. :flipoff2:

 

[Shran]

Oh yeah, I know. Work smarter, not harder though.

I am a big fan of getting full potential out of factory parts. My truck has a lot of suspension travel in the front and the only thing aftermarket is the springs. Factory style radius arms are a really good option, the only thing that really limits suspension travel is the axle itself.

 

[Josh40601]

Must be nice... I have a lot of binding issues with the yellow one. A little with the Ex, but not as much

 

[mazdamama]

Yeah, considering both of those options I would probably just get a 77 and swap gears, but then in back at the argument of wether wristed arms or y- links flex better, personaly I think I would rather build y-links but I might look into writing my arms as well.

 

[Josh40601]

Both are proven designs. You see more jaheeps running the Y, more EB's running the wristed arm. personally, I like the Y. Always have. If I had a 77 axle. That's what I'd be using

 

[Shran]

I'm not talking about wristed arms, I'm talking about the wristed HOUSING kit you can get.

http://www.bcbroncos.com/frontsusp1.html

A guy I know has it and it works great...highly recommended.

You would also not have to switch housings at all.

 

[mazdamama]

Yeah I like y- links better also but hey if there's a kit for writing arms I'm definitely going to look into it. Thanks

 

[mazdamama]

Oh, wristed housing? I'll have to look into that,