Opinions...Beadlocks, Lockright

[AlaskaToy]

ok. not like I have any experience living in and driving in Alaska.

[mousee]

ok. not like I have any experience living in and driving in Alaska.

:agreed: :dito: :yeahthat:

Oh and I didn't say open, I said one wheel drive. I personally love the roads like this in two wheel drive and a spool... I love to scare the humans :laugh:

[AK20]

I also don't mind the roads the way they have been lately, and in my Tacoma I hardly ever if at all use 4 wheel drive. I guess maybe because I grew up in Washington and the roads right now are what they look like there pretty much all winter, I'm don't know I guess I'm just used to driving on crappy roads in the winter...

And back to driving my chevy on the snow, I roll 18 inch wide boggers...believe me it can't really get any worse for this truck as far as winter driving is concerned!

[BIGRED]

If its only a trail rig your good! That thing should go anywhare!

[Kodiak Dodge]

If you are going with a full locker go with a Detroit. If you can afford it go with a selectable. ARB is great but I think the electrac is better.

Beadlocks are nice but how many times have you blown a bead? I might look into them after I do my axle swap.

[eraven]

Got frame braces? Steering box brace? Hydraulic assist? If not, a full locker will completely destroy everything inbetween your steering arm and steering wheel, starting with the frame, in short order. Especially with big Boggers. The Chevy frame WILL NOT take it unless it's heavily braced, AND hydraulically assisted at the very least.

[AK20]

It's braced up pretty well, I have x-over now...more mods to come later.

[ChevyKev]

Eraven said it best!

I first cracked the frame, and now have that it is braced I have gone through 3 PS pumps. And that was with crossover steering. I say Hydraulic assist is a must and should be my next mod after fixing oil leaks.

We need to do some research so we can do these ourselves and not have to spend a gross amount of money!

[eraven]

X-over solves the stock Chevy "lack of steering" issues at full stuff/droop. However, it greatly compounds the amount of lateral force put on the box, tie rod ends, drag link ends, steering arm, column and frame (even with lesser tires and an open diff). Without some "help", ie.- "hydraulic assist", you're begging for complete destruction. Been there, and done that multiple times (I'm a slow learner!).

If you're already running x-over steering, the hydraulic assist isn't all that expensive to do. The spendy part of the whole thing is getting the 2wd box, and you've already got it. The rest is just the ram, hoses and fittings. $250 from West Texas Offroad will get you all that. Just drill/tap your existing 2wd box, and install the fittings/hoses & ram. OR, go price a ram, Aeroquip fittings and hoses from your local hydraulic shop. You may find you can get everything you need locally for less, and avoid the shipping cost to boot. And there are simple ways to tweak your box to get more pressure out of it.

[AK20]

Sweet, thanks for a starting point to begin researching...I'm with Kevin, it's something that needs to be done...but I don't want to spend gross amounts of money to do it either, I will definetly look at WTO's kit and start shopping around.

[sevenslats]

Got frame braces? Steering box brace? Hydraulic assist? If not, a full locker will completely destroy everything inbetween your steering arm and steering wheel, starting with the frame, in short order. Especially with big Boggers. The Chevy frame WILL NOT take it unless it's heavily braced, AND hydraulically assisted at the very least.

:nopics:

Eric, you gotta post up your pictures/story. I feel a little bad asking for it, but you gotta admit, they're great pics.

[ChevyKev]

Just drill/tap your existing 2wd box, and install the fittings/hoses & ram.

I have a ram, I need to figure out where to drill and tap - as well as what thread to tap - pipe, bolt, taper, etc... where can I find info about where to tap?

And there are simple ways to tweak your box to get more pressure out of it.

your thread is kinda lacking
for the mods of which you're quacking
definatley need more info
so my cash I don't blow
Please inform the needy
So our rigs can be real sweet-eee
Yes we need more input
so our steering doesn't go kah-put.

[eraven]

your thread is kinda lacking
for the mods of which you're quacking
definatley need more info
so my cash I don't blow
Please inform the needy
So our rigs can be real sweet-eee
Yes we need more input
so our steering doesn't go kah-put.

Nice! Some "Old School white boy raps!"

Check out West Texas Offroad's website. They've got a step-by-step instruction with pics for "tweaking" your existing box to get more juice out of it in their "Tech" link. Trust me, it works! Just heed their warning about taking it slow, and going one step at a time. We blew the seals out of a CJ box by jumping ahead and going for the gusto. We got the gusto alright. All over the shop floor! :oops:

As for placement of the "drill and tap", I'll have to look for it. Give me a few.



Ok, here's a link with some pretty good instructions on where to drill and tap, for either an inside the frame, or outside the frame Saginaw box, including the drill and tap sizes.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista...index.html

Eric, you gotta post up your pictures/story. I feel a little bad asking for it, but you gotta admit, they're great pics.

Sorry, but I don't have any pics of the multiple Chevy frame snafu's I've had. Those were days before I even knew these internet 4x4 boards existed. The current CJ frame issues I'm dealing with were caused by something else altogether.

[ChevyKev]

thanks bro!

[eraven]

Any time! :allrighty: