Putting in a new rear axle

So, one of the guys I work with came up to me one day and offered me a full floater Corporate 14 bolt rear axle for $50, it was off of an '87 g30 1 ton chevy van. Like I said before, all chevy parts pre-1988 are interchangeable. So i took him up on his offer, by the way incase you don't know, it is a limited slip rear axle with a 4:10 gear ratio. This means i'll get more torque and acceleration, but less of a top speed. Basically all i got was the rear axle, no tires or rims or anything

What tools you'll need:

• First, you are going to need a few days that you don't need your truck
• An oxy-acetelyne torch
• Sledge hammer
• Wrenches
• Sockets
• Pry bars
• Impact gun/sockets
• These will get you started, you will probably need different tools compaired to what you have access to

Parts you'll need:

• Unless you get lucky, and get a rear axle with tires, you need 8 lug 16" rims and tires to match accordingly
• You will need a conversion U-Joint, just go to your nearest auto parts store and tell them the truck you have and the rear axle the truck is off of
• You need new lug nuts
• Axle grease 80W-90
• New/Used 3/4 to 1 ton 4-5leaf  leafsprings, the shackles you don't need to worry about unless they're visibly damaged
• New bolts
• U-bolts ( just buy really long ones from your nearest auto parts store and custom bend them )
• Depending on your truck and the driveshaft length, you might need a new driveshaft
• Brake line/fittings
• *IF NEEDED* new drums and shoes, if you look and they aren't bad just leave them because they're a pain

Removing:

• First, take the tires off the old rear end
• Remove the brake lines 
• Take the bolts out of the shock absorbers




U-Joint


• Take the U-Joint out with a u-joint tool (any auto parts store will have one)
• Tie up the driveshaft so it doesn't dangle
• Then take the long bolts out of the shackles holding the leaf springs in, you might have to heat these up
• MAKE SURE that befor you take out all the shackle bolts that nothing is underneath it and if you are on a lift, put somthing under the front of the truck so it doesnt tip off the lift
• If it doesn't fall out right away, make sure nothing is holding it to the truck anymore and pry on the knuckles on the leaf springs untill it falls

Prepping new rear axle:

• First, you wanna put the tires on it so its mobile
• Then you want to bolt on the leaf springs to the axle ( look at how everything is lined up on the old axle and try your best to make them look the same)
• With the U-bolts, unless you don't mind spending a bunch of money on legitament factory U-bolts, you're going to want to just go to your nearest parts store and buy genaric u-bolts (get the longest ones possible)
• You are going to want to heat up the U-bolts with an oxy-acetyline torch and bend the u-bolts around the axle untill the holes line up for the leaf spring brackets
• After you get that done, take your new/used leaf springs (if you are putting in a different rear end than beofre the shackles aren't going to be the same so you have to disconnect the leaf springs from the shackles) and bolt them to the rear axle. MAKE SURE that everything is the same way as on the old one
• Hammer on the U-Bolts as tight as they go

Installation:

• With your truck looking like this, roll your prepped rear axle under the truck
• Make sure everything is lined up
• SLOWLY lower the truck onto the leaf springs, MAKE SURE that the leaf spring knuckels go into the shackles, it might take some dicking around because they don't always like to just slide in, so don't give up hope
• Once you get the leaf springs in their designated spots, put new Grade 8 bolts in the shackles and crank them down.

• If your shocks look like this or are just over-all completely shot     

                         BUY NEW ONES

• Or you will screw up your new leaf springs and be really upset
• Bolt the shocks back onto the axle
• Put the new conversion U-Joint in (you might have to pull the drive shaft out a little bit if it's a 2piece but don't worry it doesn't hurt)
• Tighten the U-Joint shackles
• Go around and make sure everything is tight
• Let it down all the way and make sure she holds
• Tie up the breather hose somwhere
• Fill ur rear axle with 80W-90 gear oil
• I wouldn't test drive it just yet unless you didnt have back breaks to begin with, because now you're going to have to run back breaks, i will descuss this in a later post.
• If you drove it without back breaks to begin with, you'll be fine to test drive it
• Hop in, start her up, and take her for a spin