Heavychevy4x4
New member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2025
- Messages
- 4
Que pasa everyone!
I'm not much of a writer, so bear with me here. I've got a 1996 Chevy C1500 Extended Cab that's been through quite the transformation - what started as a bone stock 2WD truck is now running a solid axle swap (SAS) with a full 4x4 conversion.
The Beginning
I picked this truck up a few years back for about a grand. It was going to be my daily driver since I didn't have anything else to get around in. When I bought it, the thing was completely stock - still had the original push-in cigarette lighter and was in pretty decent shape overall.
The Itch Begins
Once I started making a little extra money, I got the itch for an OBS prerunner build. Keep in mind, this was still a 2WD truck at the time. I knew I wanted to hit the dirt, but I had no idea how far this build was going to go.
Junkyard Wars
I started hitting up junkyards looking for lift components and spending way too much time on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp hunting for parts. Slowly but surely, I found some fenders, lights, upper control arms, lifted springs, and just started slapping parts together. It was starting to look like something, but it was still far from flying through whoops and jumping sand dunes.
The King of the Hammers Moment
I drove it like that for a while until I heard about King of the Hammers and decided I had to go check it out. When I saw what people were doing out on Chocolate Thunder, I told myself "I'm going to do that one day." That was the day I decided I needed 4x4, and the hunt was on.
The Tahoe Chapter
I ended up buying a 2006 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 and threw a Rough Country 6-inch lift on it with some Patagonias. Pulled the sway bars off and started hitting the trails with The Dirtnation offroad crew. I was having a ton of fun until I broke an axle out at TDS in Ocotillo. After seeing how rowdy people were getting out there, I started really looking at other rigs and realized that Tahoe just wasn't going to cut it for what I wanted to do.
Going All Out
That's when I decided to go all out on the '96 Chevy 1500. If I was going to do this right, it was time to build something that could handle whatever I threw at it.
The Real Build Begins
I started with the suspension, knowing that "leaf springs party harder" (shoutout to Loose and Lost) and they'd be more budget-friendly and possibly easier to install. I knew I needed tons and 40s to do what I wanted to do. After doing research, looking at images of other builds similar to what I had in mind, and spending time on forums, I decided on '99-'04 Super Duty Ford axles. Being driver-side drop meant minimal modifications - seemed ideal for what I was trying to accomplish.
The Junkyard Score
Hit the junkyard again and started looking. I found a matching set of axles front and rear off a 2000 F250 Super Duty and pulled them. The front axle is a high pinion Dana 60 with 30 spline and stock gears, and the rear is a 10.50 Sterling with 35 spline axles, open diff, and stock gears.
TO BE CONTINUED..........
I'm not much of a writer, so bear with me here. I've got a 1996 Chevy C1500 Extended Cab that's been through quite the transformation - what started as a bone stock 2WD truck is now running a solid axle swap (SAS) with a full 4x4 conversion.
The Beginning
I picked this truck up a few years back for about a grand. It was going to be my daily driver since I didn't have anything else to get around in. When I bought it, the thing was completely stock - still had the original push-in cigarette lighter and was in pretty decent shape overall.
The Itch Begins
Once I started making a little extra money, I got the itch for an OBS prerunner build. Keep in mind, this was still a 2WD truck at the time. I knew I wanted to hit the dirt, but I had no idea how far this build was going to go.
Junkyard Wars
I started hitting up junkyards looking for lift components and spending way too much time on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp hunting for parts. Slowly but surely, I found some fenders, lights, upper control arms, lifted springs, and just started slapping parts together. It was starting to look like something, but it was still far from flying through whoops and jumping sand dunes.
The King of the Hammers Moment
I drove it like that for a while until I heard about King of the Hammers and decided I had to go check it out. When I saw what people were doing out on Chocolate Thunder, I told myself "I'm going to do that one day." That was the day I decided I needed 4x4, and the hunt was on.
The Tahoe Chapter
I ended up buying a 2006 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 and threw a Rough Country 6-inch lift on it with some Patagonias. Pulled the sway bars off and started hitting the trails with The Dirtnation offroad crew. I was having a ton of fun until I broke an axle out at TDS in Ocotillo. After seeing how rowdy people were getting out there, I started really looking at other rigs and realized that Tahoe just wasn't going to cut it for what I wanted to do.
Going All Out
That's when I decided to go all out on the '96 Chevy 1500. If I was going to do this right, it was time to build something that could handle whatever I threw at it.
The Real Build Begins
I started with the suspension, knowing that "leaf springs party harder" (shoutout to Loose and Lost) and they'd be more budget-friendly and possibly easier to install. I knew I needed tons and 40s to do what I wanted to do. After doing research, looking at images of other builds similar to what I had in mind, and spending time on forums, I decided on '99-'04 Super Duty Ford axles. Being driver-side drop meant minimal modifications - seemed ideal for what I was trying to accomplish.
The Junkyard Score
Hit the junkyard again and started looking. I found a matching set of axles front and rear off a 2000 F250 Super Duty and pulled them. The front axle is a high pinion Dana 60 with 30 spline and stock gears, and the rear is a 10.50 Sterling with 35 spline axles, open diff, and stock gears.
TO BE CONTINUED..........
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