78 K10 with a 6.0L twist

Hansoloo

Hansoloo

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2023
Messages
84
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
Starting a thread to keep this moving.
IMG_8021.jpeg
Just picked up this thing off marketplace the second I “finished” my 4runner. Plans for this is to for now make it daily driver worthy with as few larger changes to its current state as possible. That means:
-Better brake booster
-disk brakes
- not dry rotted or semi bald tires
-crossover steering
-fix leaks
-little stuff like fixing the sized locks on the doors adding a sound system and other stuff
These are in no particular order.
Long term plans include doing a similar rear setup to all the spring over broncos with a raptor rear takeoff. I got some 3.0 2nd gen’s with the truck for $300 in great shape. Front will long term get a 3link and coilover conversion too. Also plan do stuff like sliders and skids beforehand so it can still do 4low stuff on leafsprings inbetween and have minimal downtime.
IMG_8004.jpeg
 
okay started looking for axles and it’s been pretty easy finding a Chevy 14bolt rear end for this but I’ve struggled to find a good matching passenger side drop D60 front to match. I guess what I’m asking is what front axle would be best to go with with 37s in mind. I’m fine with either the 8lug 14bolt pattern or the 6lug dana44/12 bolt pattern. if there’s a 1ton axle out there that’s already got spring perches that would be great. Excuse my lack of front solid axle knowledge lol.
 
Are you going to be crawling with the truck?
The current front axle can be swapped over to 8 lug easily to match the lug pattern of a 14ff.
A d44/10 bolt front can survive 37's with careful driving but binding it up in the rocks tends to break stuff.
Any gm 60f will bolt in, or pre 91 dodge dana 60 will go in, you just have to use offset bushings, but the dodge axle is slightly narrower than a gm version.
 
plan would be to probably crawl a little bit and yeah the problem is I usually don’t drive carefully and get carried away at least once or twice. If an 8lig conversion isn’t that much I’ll probably just leave the d44 for a bit and hope that an open diff in easier trails keeps the axle alive then find a d60 if I ever go through the trouble of coilovers and a 3link on the front. Just found a set of dodge d60s this morning for cheap on local marketplace so I might go that route unless I find a gm one between me and hammers.
 
8 lug is just a hub/rotor swap. I ran a d44 for a couple years in my k5 on old military surplus 37's. It worked but a dodge 60 was eventually swapped in for piece of mind. With dodge axles just make sure it's a d60f and not a d61f, they are harder to find gears for, or at least used to be.
 
yeah i just looked into it and the hub/rotor swap with nicer locking hubs and stuff is like 1700 in kit form so i might just deal with swapping in a dodge d60 at that point unless theres a cheaper way you know of for the hub/rotor swap and google just directed me to the most expensive one.
 
Nice to see more chevys out there!!!

For 37’s def go dana 60, a dana 44/10 bolt will handle 35’s with moderate stress you can always replace the axle shafts and u joints but still 37’s and crawling it a lot and you may end up fixing a lot of pieces on the trail

Keep us posted, restoring my 81 stepside myself
 
Orbot said:
Nice to see more chevys out there!!!

For 37’s def go dana 60, a dana 44/10 bolt will handle 35’s with moderate stress you can always replace the axle shafts and u joints but still 37’s and crawling it a lot and you may end up fixing a lot of pieces on the trail

Keep us posted, restoring my 81 stepside myself
Click to expand...
yeah as of now it's looking like building the d44 for the front will cost less than getting a chevy D60 as long as i'm on leafs which will probably be all of this summer I'll just stick with a refreshed and trussed d44 since all it'll see is lighter trails with my buddies closer to stock gen 1 tacos and a couple 4 runners. rear is getting a 14 bolt either way because a friend local to me had a 2005 2500 hd disk rear end with a locker in it already with matching gear ratios to my d44. As of now the cheapest D60s I can find is around the 2500 mark and I already have the gears I need in mine so spending the money (1600ish) on rcvs to have a warranty doesn't sound to bad since I cant see myself wheeling the truck hard in a situation where D60 beef is needed for at least a year or more. plus if I do an 8 lug swap already need to go through most of the involved parts anyways just to keep it rolling as is. Just to clarify, Im not bashing the D60 at all I just don't need one bad enough to pay the local going price yet.
 
ive never been keen on crawling, mostly pre run type stuff
Never had issues with my stock 10 bolt, i did go to chromoly axle shafts for the 12 bolt
And it has handled it well for what i did
 
yeah I think at first ill just do better u joints and a small truss if I have time on the d44 plus an 8lug conversion to match the 14 bolt. less unsprung weight up front will be better too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top