Yeah, I mangled the lines pretty bad when I first put this motor in a few years back. No hard kinks in them though, but they sure do look terrible. I should probably get a new set to replace them.

I'm still planning on using the knuckles, I'm just waiting until I get gears and lockers to do all the axle related work at the same time. I know there is a guy locally that had a set of flat tops for sale recently. They weren't quite as clean as the ones i have, and I think he was asking 150. If you wanted(and he still has them) I could get pics, and probably snag them for you for a little cheaper than that

 

I have the flat top passenger knuckle on the D44 under my K5 now that I could have machined, but figured I'd put it out there if you didn't end up using them and were looking to sell them. I really don't know how much money I want to put into the D44 I have. I already have all of the components to change it over to 8-lug outers to match the 3/4 ton 14BFF axle I have, but I am planning on a D60 at some point for the front.

 

That would be a nice set up, corporate 14 bolt/ Dana 60 combo is about as solid as you get without stepping up to 2.5 tons. Someday I'd like to have the 14/60 combo myself.

Well, I've taken it pretty slow the past few weeks, weather's been nice so I've taken advantage of it to get some ride time in on the quad and do some hiking. But I did make some progress this past week.

My buddy hooked me up with a np233 to replace my 236 with. So after welding some bolts to the drain/fill plugs that were stripped out on it, I was able to drain, and then split it apart.



Pulled the front output shaft out of the np231 I had kicking around and swapped that Into the 233. Got a new front output shaft seal also(had to get the one made for the 231) and reassembled it.


I removed the encoder motor from the t-case and left it off- I decided to save myself a wiring hassle (because of the 236-233 swap) and bypass the last vaccumn operated 4x4 component....I'm going to make a linkage/lever so it's a manual shifting 233.

Also got the t-case installed in the truck..Now I'm ready to set my pinion angles and weld my leaf spring perches to the axle finally.

My buddy that hooked me up with the T-case also dropped me off some other goodies... A full set of good door panels(a couple of mine are cracked) some spare tail lights(for next time I break a set offroading haha) and also a Jimmy hood...I like the look of the Jimmy/noma hoods a lot better. It needs some body work...But that's what I do so no complaints (especially for free)


Also got some little things buttoned up on the engine side of things.....Torque converter bolts in, starter bolted up, temp sensor installed, etc.

Realized I hadn't disassembled and ported my head for the RT side yet(thought I had for some reason) so I got that pulled apart, and have been picking away at it with a die grinder whenever I have an extra few mins. Hoping to have that head all set by the weekend so I can finish assembling the engine before next week.

 

I am trying to find a Jimmy hood locally with not much luck. All of the ones of at the local u pull yards are smashed.

 

ChevyRider, if that dude still has them flat top knuckles, let me know! I've still been looking for some!

 

If you can find a Sonoma one, they fit also from my understanding. Look for people parting them out on Craigslist too. I know there's always a bunch on there for parts up by me in NY.


The set of flat tops I saw before are gone now, sorry. If I come across a set I'll definitely let you know though!

 

Got my new driveshafts today! ....Now I just gotta make them haha


Going to set my pinion angles and fab the driveshafts this weekend...And get my engine assembled the rest of the way too.

And got some new wheels


...Okay so I didn't really get new wheels. This is off of a 2500hd I'm working on, and it's just sitting there lol. Too much chrome, and too big of a rim for my taste... Definitely going In a way different direction than that.

 

She's coming along nicely, had to get our driveshaft done on last Wednesday. Broke omw to Florida

 

You're not using square tube for drive shafts are you? Heard doing that is a bitch to get it balanced

 

DonL that's no fun, how far into the drive were you when it happened? Hope you got it fixed at a fair price with no highway robbery type prices.

Awesomeamerican1 I am using the square tube for driveshafts-its only a temporary solution, my goal is to bring it to an off-road event near me in mid June, so this is a way to save me close to a 1000 bucks so I can bring it out and wheel it.

From my understanding, if built properly, people are getting up to around 50mph before having vibration issues. That will work for me temporally, since this thing will only be seeing mudholes, technical trails, and rocks until early next year when I put it back on the road. This way I can still make it to off road events this year, and put the money elsewhere in the rig that it could be better served until I have a driveshaft shop make me some nice ones