Budget S10 build: Senior Project

TeeterBuilt · Nov 4, 2012

Well I've been driving an 87 2.8l 4wd for almost 2 years now and have been collecting parts ever since. It started out with a 3 inch body lift on 29's and will be goin up from there. i'm 17 years old and a senior in highschool and to graduate we have to do some sort of project relating to what we wanna do later on, so i figured i'd sas my S10

Its gonna be a budget build and somewhat slow since i'm still in school so bare with me.
Specs: I found a D30 for 100 bucks out of late grand cherokee with 3:73s to match the rear 10 bolt for now.
I've got a set of rear s10 springs and early ranger springs, probably gonna use the ranger top spring at least for it's length and axle position.
pretty much fabbing everything up myself.
Been working on it for a week or so and here's what i got so far.

Totalled · Nov 4, 2012

Don't see pics?

JesterFab · Nov 4, 2012

What size tires are you going to run? Pics are not working...

TeeterBuilt · Nov 4, 2012

weird, they're working on my computer, are you on a phone or something?
but i'm running 36x14.5 radial tsl's on 15x10in rims

TeeterBuilt · Nov 4, 2012

Before

Heres my front axle

cut all the ifs crap out, painted the grinds

my replacement crossmember made out of 2x4 1/8th inch wall steel so i can cut out the old ifs crossmember

ma welds

spring hanger crossmember

front fixed spring hanger tabs

popcancherokee · Nov 4, 2012

Why are you using low pinion and not a high pinion dana 30

onefatguy · Nov 4, 2012

popcancherokee said:
Why are you using low pinion and not a high pinion dana 30

prob because he will have the same problem i am having finding a hp dana 30 with 373s in it

TeeterBuilt · Nov 5, 2012

Yeah just time and money. I want to end up with a waggy 44 in the front, but until I can find one of those this will have to do, I'm turning the C's for castor anyway so pinion angle won't be a problem and the 36's will make up for ground clearance.

1982cj7 · Nov 5, 2012

Someone in the swap meet area has two sets of waggy axles for sale pretty cheap.

JesterFab · Nov 5, 2012

I went with hp dana 30 with 4.10 gears. Matched the rear gears and my speedo was dead on... I dont know how the 2.8L will like 36s.

Dain Bramage · Nov 5, 2012

I don't even think the 2.8 likes 31s. V8 swap in the future?

TeeterBuilt · Nov 5, 2012

Yeah, in the far future haha.
But im mostly worried about strength over hp vs lp. Since it does have the cv joints instead of u joints should it hold up to the 36's just as well as the waggy 44?

WA-Wheeler · Nov 5, 2012

TeeterBuilt said:
Yeah, in the far future haha.
But im mostly worried about strength over hp vs lp. Since it does have the cv joints instead of u joints should it hold up to the 36's just as well as the waggy 44?

:eeek::corn:

boardbysled · Nov 5, 2012

I've heard those CV's suck; they're weak. But luckly, its a pretty easy to swap in u-joint shafts. Could even find a D30 with the bigger 760x joints.

I bet it will hold up if ya stay open on 36's.

Boonie Buster had a similar rig, maybe he'll chime in.

And I also started my build in highschool, and its been never-ending since. Looks like a good start.

JesterFab · Nov 5, 2012

boonie buster, i am pretty sure he was running a d44 ...
My dana 30 held up because it was open and all the strain was on the rearend because it was locked.
I honestly dont think you can make that LP work because of driveline angle. Mine was real bad even with a HP. Just keep posting pics and questions...

TeeterBuilt · Nov 6, 2012

Well I guess i'll figure out axles as i go, but got more fab work done today
got the spring hanger fabbed up but not welded in

with the bumper on

this is with full weight on the springs, I might move the spring hanger forward an inch or two because i can only trim the front of the fender not the rear and it seems to sit a little towards the rear as it is now. Thoughts?

stance

boardbysled · Nov 6, 2012

Move it as far forward as possible. Also, what are you gonna do for steering (mainly the draglink, leafs are probably right in the way)?

TeeterBuilt · Nov 6, 2012

Well technically when we had the 2.8 rebuilt because the crank was toast and it just needed to be gone through, we had it bored a little and put a gm3.1 crank it so now it's around a 3.3l haha :redneck:

zuk88 · Nov 6, 2012

boardbysled said:
Move it as far forward as possible. Also, what are you gonna do for steering (mainly the draglink, leafs are probably right in the way)?

I was looking to change my S-10 to a straight axle too and every one I talked to said move the front axle 7 to 12 inches forward to get proper clearance.

CHOP SHOP · Nov 6, 2012

Put that hanger on the front of the frame, not under it. Gte that axle way out there or you will have clearance issues and horrible driveline angles.

Use a backwards facing armed AstroVan steering box. It will bolt right up to that crappy frame just fine.

Good luck. Build a VERY nice truck and SELL it while it looks clean, cuz it will be a worthless problem ridden frame busting POS wheeler. Use your loot form the sale to build a user friendly wheeler.

But it will look great cruising around. :awesomework:

For the record, EVERY person I know that has built an S10, NOW wheels something different.