- Joined
- February 16, 2001
- Messages
- 5,418
- Reaction score
- 25
- City, State
- 43°48′48″N 91°13′59″W
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 91 4 do'
OK well I am going to paste this from my Spring over conversion 101 thread since others have found it useful. Like I said 32 bucks
Parts included stock length ubolts but square and a set of axle perches.
Here is what you are going to do:
Dead Link Removed
Parts needed:
4 square u-bolts
2 axle perches
Here is a SOA conversion walk through. Like I said before. I only bought spring perches, shocks(Rancho 2.5" lift) and square Ubolts and it worked like a charm.
.
1 I took off the shocks
2 I took off the sway bar and junked it
3 We jacked the truck up and blocked it from the frame.
4 I then Worked the leaves out of each of the four positions. The rears came easy and each front developed a task so they both had to be cut at some point and punched out ( this could be because my truck saw 8 Wisconsin winters) Then I grinded off the old ubolts. Way easier and didnt need them. Through this whole step I put a floor jack under the diffy to hold it.
5 I grinded the new perches to fit snug, and lined them up exactly over the perches to "guess" the axle angle with some intelligence.
6 Refastend the leafs above the axle.
7 Put the existing shock mounts at the bottom of this stack like stock and assembled. The only difference is that the ubolts go side to side instead of front to back. Tighten this down making sure that all is lined up (drive shaft angle, axles evenly under springs)
8 Tighten this all up and then go to the brakes
9 I chose to remove driver's side bump stop which had brake line attached on the top, this bracket was bent to accomodate.
Also the emergency brake cable was ground out of the furthest back point and also rerouted to below the second to last point.
This all took very little time and the only thing I could not have handled being a novice was to get the stinking bolts out of the front of the leafs, the bushings more or less threaded the bolts, the mechanical stuff is all elementary. The other stuff took patience and muscle. Dont be afraid to pry apart the front mounts, they will clench back together.
To clear it up here is a big pic of what it would look like
So this is one of several ways. I have been running this way for like 6 months and like it, just check the ubolts after a few weeks, they do come loose. Some people wish to have their shocks higher so the option is to weld on a perch or use sway bar location, I dont mind them the way that they are for now.
****EDIT March 2008****
well, I can't believe I wrote this 7 years ago. I never changed the SOA and never once had a problem with it. I did put a much longer shock on the rear after I did my solid axle swap in the front but I ran a remote resi style and was trying to improve my ride. Here is a pic of the exact setup described with shocks designed for a Rancho 2.5" lift on a lift RTI.
ENJOY it, this is the cheapest way to gain 6" in the rear(results may vary) unfortunatly the front isn't as cheap.
Parts included stock length ubolts but square and a set of axle perches.
Here is what you are going to do:
Dead Link Removed
Parts needed:
4 square u-bolts
2 axle perches
Here is a SOA conversion walk through. Like I said before. I only bought spring perches, shocks(Rancho 2.5" lift) and square Ubolts and it worked like a charm.
.
1 I took off the shocks
2 I took off the sway bar and junked it
3 We jacked the truck up and blocked it from the frame.
4 I then Worked the leaves out of each of the four positions. The rears came easy and each front developed a task so they both had to be cut at some point and punched out ( this could be because my truck saw 8 Wisconsin winters) Then I grinded off the old ubolts. Way easier and didnt need them. Through this whole step I put a floor jack under the diffy to hold it.
5 I grinded the new perches to fit snug, and lined them up exactly over the perches to "guess" the axle angle with some intelligence.
6 Refastend the leafs above the axle.
7 Put the existing shock mounts at the bottom of this stack like stock and assembled. The only difference is that the ubolts go side to side instead of front to back. Tighten this down making sure that all is lined up (drive shaft angle, axles evenly under springs)
8 Tighten this all up and then go to the brakes
9 I chose to remove driver's side bump stop which had brake line attached on the top, this bracket was bent to accomodate.
Also the emergency brake cable was ground out of the furthest back point and also rerouted to below the second to last point.
This all took very little time and the only thing I could not have handled being a novice was to get the stinking bolts out of the front of the leafs, the bushings more or less threaded the bolts, the mechanical stuff is all elementary. The other stuff took patience and muscle. Dont be afraid to pry apart the front mounts, they will clench back together.
To clear it up here is a big pic of what it would look like
So this is one of several ways. I have been running this way for like 6 months and like it, just check the ubolts after a few weeks, they do come loose. Some people wish to have their shocks higher so the option is to weld on a perch or use sway bar location, I dont mind them the way that they are for now.
****EDIT March 2008****
well, I can't believe I wrote this 7 years ago. I never changed the SOA and never once had a problem with it. I did put a much longer shock on the rear after I did my solid axle swap in the front but I ran a remote resi style and was trying to improve my ride. Here is a pic of the exact setup described with shocks designed for a Rancho 2.5" lift on a lift RTI.
ENJOY it, this is the cheapest way to gain 6" in the rear(results may vary) unfortunatly the front isn't as cheap.