Finally Doing It! 1999 K3500 Crew Cab SAS Build Up Project

[ctchevy166]

Good Day, With the long holiday weekend upon us I figured it would be a great
time to make the executive decision to start on my solid axle swap on the crew
cab. The parts collection has been in the works for some weeks now. Boxes have
been showing up daily and after getting to know my fedex and ups drivers on a
personal level, I pretty much have everything I need to kick off this project.

My basic reasoning for doing this is the truck currently has 99,850 miles with
front axle shaft seals leaking and in need of a brake job and complete front end
steering rebuild. I decided to just be over with the IFS all together. Done
deal.

The Victim:

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I'm starting out with a 1988 Dana 60 King Pin from a Ford F-350 DRW with
trac-lok and 4:10 gears. Bud Hubs have been removed and converted to Warn SRW.
36.5" Spring pads.

The day I brought it home, cherry picker courtesy of my friend Jason M. Thanks again bud!

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All cleaned up:

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Current parts list:
Fabworx Offroad 3646 Solid Axle Kit
Skyjacker 2.5" Softride Springs
Chassis Unlimited 1 Ton Crossover Steering
3.5" drop Pitman Arm
Moog Tie Rods And Adjusting Sleeve
ORD Zero Rate Blocks And Shock Tabs
King Pin Axle Rebuild Parts From Quad 4X4
Napa Dual Piston Loaded Brake Calipers
Rough Country Add A Leafs (Rear)

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Axle nearing completion with springless steering arm set up.

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The plan is to stay with factory 4:10 gearing. The axle was in really good shape
so I'm going to roll with it for now. Shocks and Panhard Bar and other misc
items to come once this thing hits the ground again.:bowtie:

Update to come later today.

-John

 

[West Mi Mudder]

So jealous! Not only are you SAS'ing your truck, but your truck is drop dead sexy! Its definetly a pantie dropper! Im keeping track of your progress for sure!

 

[Justjoshiny]

Nice truck!! Cant wait to see how it turns out!!

 

[eg30.06]

Very cool good luck with it. Gunna look bada$$

 

[ctchevy166]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Started mocking a few things up today and picked up a cross member to replace the torsion bar cross member once its out. One problem I already ran into is the leaf spring bushings are a 1/2" too wide to fit into my hangers and shackles. So I ended up cutting them down .250 on each side so I am now at 3'' overall length. Also made some new sleeves while I was at it.

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Gotta work until late tonight so I need the truck to stay together one more day. Tomorrow I shall commence on the removal of the entire front end of the truck, really looking forward to fire off on this thing. After seeing many threads on here about people running SAS setups I have always wanted to do it.

 

[ctchevy166]

MID DAY UPDATE
Got a nice early start this morning. Rolled the truck in the garage (kind of) and put it on stands. Dad came to help which is pretty awesome I must say. By utilizing his knowledge and skills it will make this project go a whole that smoother and make it something special. I figured I would be going at this one alone. Anyways, got the whole front end stripped down before noon. Went really well so far. Just have to drop the exhaust down now and that should let us start locating brackets and hangers.

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COMPLETE CHEVY K3500 FRONT END WITH RANCHO 3 INCH LIFT KIT FOR SALE!!!

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Kind of nervous working on this now as it sits. Very strange to see it with nothing underneath.

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Going to hit the ground running again on the truck this afternoon. Update to come later tonight.

-John

 

[RyanMerrick]

Looks fun

 

[eg30.06]

Good progress. Put the lift for sale in the classifieds section. It will go quick!

 

[CrustyJunker]

Awesome looking truck. Props to diving in on the swap too!

 

[ctchevy166]

UPDATE

Despite good progress in the morning hours, this afternoon went painfully slow. Had to go track down some class 10.9 metric fasteners as the factory bumper bracket bolts were too short. The fabworx bracketry fit extremely tight and very close tolerance to the frame. Ended up getting the front cross member in after some minor persuasion. Also pulled the pitman arm so I can change it out for my new drop arm to go along with the crossover steering slated to be installed soon.

Drilling up the front hangers...

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Bolting it all up, quite the process

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My OCD started to kick in, must have measured this out about a dozen times, still not 100 percent thrilled but I think its going to work out. You only get one chance before you turn your nice beefy frame into some swiss cheese with all the holes.

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Got the springs swung underneath with all intensive purposes of drilling the rear shackle brackets up and bolting them down. More precision measuring to come for sure.

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I am pretty much calling it a day, still have a ton to do before I even think about sliding the D60 under it. Hopefully that happens at some point on Sunday. Probably will get a little later start as I have a prior obligation I need to complete early AM.

-John