Got back to the rear hitch, so I could drag the car out of the garage. Most of my pics came out far too dark, but this one might show I have about 1 millimeter of clearance. Also, the ball mount is a good inch too far into the receiver. With a 2.3" ball, that clears by about 1/4".
'06 GMC C2500HD RCLB gasser 4.10:1, 4L80E, custom camshaft
'84 Trans Am 6.2 diesel, 700R-4, custom Class-3 receiver
'69 F350 dually. GM 6.2 diesel, turbo, 700R-4, NP208 all pending.
I decided i don't need a spare axle, nor do I need to make a jig. I gathered ruler, carpenter's square, speed square, bubble level, tape measure, vernier calipers, angle finder, white-out, red and blue Sharpies, notebook, pen, and the neighbor kid. We spent over an hour getting every possible dimension off the stock axle for the car. Also I ordered us a pizza and sodas.
That done, I put a new 4.5" by 1/8" cut-off wheel on my angle grinder ( safety guard removed ) and cut all 4 brackets off the weak axle.
Sorry no pics tonight, but I'm quite happy.
here's a teaser:
I'm down to just 5 minutes left on my phone, so I'll upload the other pics after I get more minutes.
But the axle swap is totally successful, it's all bolted in correctly.
BTW, that tire is a 225/60R16
Excellent results, considering it was more happenstance than researching axle widths and wheel offsets.
With a long afternoon's work, I was able to retain the stock torque-arm rear suspension. The axle seems exactly centered, side-to-side, at this static ride height, so I must have done well enough at positioning the panhard-bar bracket on the axle.
More soon!
Brakes:
The car is metric, the axle is not. Lots of research later, I figured out the correct solution. Not to promote any particular company or brand, let alone one I have yet to try, but the best help I found was at brakequip.com, they offer some "Male-Female Thread Adapters"
However, by those offerings, I must retain the rear hose for the car, then use 2 adapters, one for each hard line.
For the E-brakes, I think I'm adapting new replacement cables for the donor pickup, since I know the outer ends will be correct, and the rest seems very simple.
I am having a bit of difficulty with the attachment of my rear anti-roll bar, because the axle tubes are 3.125", rather than a more convenient 3.0"
And once that is solved, I don't yet have any idea if my car's original 24mm bar will clear this larger differential. ( base models had an 18mm bar )
I solved the metric / standard issue when installing late model disk brakes on my 67 Camaro by having a local hydraulic hose maker fab me some lines with standard fittings on one end to connect to the existing hard lines and metric on the other end to connect to the calipers.
Wasn't all that expensive and looked much better than stacking adapters.
Thank you. I'll continue to offer something other than the endless stream of late-model pickup trucks, as long as this car remains a car.
These little details are the least glamorous, least interesting parts of this project, but I'm not going to cut corners on these necessities just because I'd rather be hitching up instead.
As for hybrid brake lines, not only are they costly, and not only do I not care how adapters look ( if so, I would have cleaned and painted the Dana 60 ) but hybrid lines are a fail at one end or the other, whether you use SAE line or metric line. No, adapters are correct, for that exact reason. The only more-correct alternative is to replace every bit of brakes on the car with SAE, and that rules out all the big-brake possibilities for the front.
Your Camaro is only having to stop 4,500 pounds, worst case scenario. So losing your rear brakes wouldn't be too bad. Mine may have to stop as much as 15,000 pounds, worst case scenario, with a much higher percentage on my rear axle.
The weight added, so far, is barely under 200 pounds, plus the difference in axle assemblies. For both sets of sub-frame connectors and the custom roll-cage, that could be another 300. However, removing the rear hatch to use the gooseneck will save 50-100 pounds.
The Firestone airbags in the rear coils, plus the roll-cage padding, weight isn't even worth figuring for such light details.
Quote: As for hybrid brake lines, not only are they costly, and not only do I not care how adapters look ( if so, I would have cleaned and painted the Dana 60 ) but hybrid lines are a fail at one end or the other, whether you use SAE line or metric line.
Can someone please translate this word salad into a coherent thought?
Hybrid brake lines work fine, thousands of vehicles use them. (For that matter, I think Liz's GN might have them on the rear.)
John and Elizabeth (Liz), with 3 nutty cats
My beloved St. Bernard, Marm, lost him 1/2/12
Current rig:
1992 International Genesis school bus conversion
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