ok... time for an update. We got the axle put in saturday and got it all runnnin good and smooooooooth...
It was really quite simple and i would highly suggest it to anyone who has access to tools like a welder and grinder (just so you can cut off the parking brake tabs from the old axle and weld it on the new axle)...
I will highlight some of the tiny issues we ran into though. The U bolts were a bit off. the problem comes from the new axle being slightly thicker than the old one. This pushed the u bolts out at an angle on top of the leaf springs. This means i couldn't use the top plate for the u bolts that sits on top of the leaf springs. pics:
I'm planning on doing a u bolt flip kit to rectify this odd predicament... but in case anyone was worried about that 1/4" gap between the u bolts and leaf springs, they have sinched up to the leaf springs...
the second pic also shows my new e brake cable. this was done because of this:
it's a good thing i found it because it was about to snap! and knowing my luck it would have done that on a hill out in the bonnies while i'm outside the truck taking a picture or something and that would be bad news...
better pic of it fixed:
We also needed a different brake line from the proportioning valve to the axle. We had read online about people just flipping the brake lines on the axle 180 degrees so the valve is on the passengers side of the axle, and we originally intended to go that route. but we found a place called "The House of
Hoes Hose" and just had them make me a new brake line. It costed about $30 bucks and was totally worth it! they had the perfect fittings. the real cool part of this is that the male tip for my old axle is slightly different than the one for this new axle... we only had the cable from my old axle with us and we forgot to bring the cable for the new axle so we could make sure it was the same fitting. when we went in the guy said he didn't have the
exact same fitting (this is looking at the old cable), but he had one that was pretty close. So i went with it. When we got back we were pleasantly surprised to find that the male tip that he put on was a perfect match for my new axle...
pics of the fitting tips:
and here we are! all installed an lookin purdy!
We also had to replace one of my u joints because it was worn, but besides that it all went well, and i now have a functioning e locker. Yota87Truck and i took it out to test it and I'll post the pics below...
