you make your own spring perch? should have just hacked off the old one and moved it. just measure measure then measure again. i measured every corner, side to side, crossways front to back and after it was all said and done the axle was still off by like a 1/4 inch lol. cant really tell but still

 

i figured by making my own i could measure from the old ones, center hole to center hole, and take care of the driveshaft angle without the need for shims.. turned out to work great, few coats of paint and it'll be ready

 

sorry i havent been posting, been working a lot after school
crossmember is bolted up
tomorrow afternoon:
gotta re drill leaf spring center bolt to center the front rear better in wheel well.. no biggy
hang leafs in front
mount tires on 6 lug rims
bolt in rear
pick up u bolts for front
wire fog lights
re run brake lines front and rear
pick up shocks from friends house
cut and weld new shock mounts
.. we'll see just how much of that i get done. pics tomorrow night

 

what axles are you using

 

Those spring perches scare me...... on or off road
X2 on smokin the old ones off and movin them.
Actually instead of inboarding the springs , you shouldve outboarded them and positioned your hangers to hold the spring so it will get as wide on the axle as possible(within reason, you dont want it touching the drum or anything). Your spring hangers in the rear scare me also. Dont take any of this the wrong way , I just dont want you to hurt yourself or anybody else when that stuff comes apart . Even from the factory the K5 springs are outboarded. You coulda got out really cheap by getting a frame and burning the rivets out of the old hangers and retro fitting them to the S10.........

 

okay so just got back from a small vacation
u bolts for front come this week, should have front rear in and steering sorted out just as long as i get my oxygen bottle filled.
thanks for your concerns, i did listen.. i have a 6 lug to match the front and i am cutting the old perches and simply moving them in while also adjusting driveshaft angle.
as for the shackle, thats been that way since i bought the truck, no problems yet but i do have the gussets already cut out, waiting to fire up my welder for one big job.
looking for tires and rims now on craigslistm thinking about something between 35-37"
started to paint in the down time waiting for parts, blacked out the front and frame rails (pics below)

so how do you guys feel about heating the steering arm up with the oxy acetylene and bending it forward so there is no longer a "u" shape ? where it sits now it actually reverses my steering wheel and right goes left, lol. any ideas ?

 

you can swap in a astro van gear box junkyards are full of astrovans. its a direct bolt in. lines and everything. thats what im running the pitman arm faces forward and swings the way you need it to. only problem is you will have to get a pitman arm or just ream the hole bigger depending on what tie rod ends you use in there. i went with the k5 blazer ends. beafy suckers.

ES2027L
ES2026R

are the part numbers i think. they are the ones that go from the steering box to the steering arm. the actual tie rod ends dont have as much mobility

 

any pictures of the gearbox ? so i know what im looking for ?

 

it looks identical to the one your taking out. it just has a different selector shaft so it can fit the opposite facing pitman arm. like i said its a direct bolt in. now that i think about it. your gonna have to cut that front crossmember out too. the drag link is gonna hit it. shouldnt be a issue since you made a new one up front anyways. heres all the pics i got

heres the stock 4x4 steering gearbox. the pitman arm faces the back of the truck



heres the astro van box. see how it faces forward. i just took the pitman arm off and dumped it off at a machine shop and had them ream it out for the k5 ends. you can do heim joints too if you want

 

seeing how quickly this project of yours has come along, it really m akes me want to jack my '98-oh how i hate that i've found this build! hahahahahaha!!