M715 Texas Build

[Barrman]

There are closed knuckle Dana axles and there are Toyota Birdfield axles. Two different things.

I have a Detroit locker in my stock rear axle. I have pulled my front axles apart and put in new grease. Other than that, my axles are 1967 stock. I have driven my truck through some pretty crazy obstacles at off road parks in Texas, Tennessee and other places.

Yes, anything can break. But I have had my truck standing on the trailer hitch while I was hammer down on the 396 with the big XZL tires hoping and bouncing all over the place and the truck just sitting at the bottom of a dry water fall.

Same basic thing by a bunch of us in the Texas Hill Country back in 2007. Multiple stock trucks climbing rock stair step ledges.

Pretty much if you don't go full lock with the steering and floor it in low range 1st gear. You have to work hard to break the stock axles. Yes, open knuckle axles have larger diameter shafts inside. But, a stock truck doesn't really have that much power either.

I also like disc brakes. I would suggest you plan to take each wheel cylinder apart, clean, lube and adjust. Even if they work now. If the truck has been sitting for a few months there is probably at least one seized wheel cylinder piston. A properly functioning M715 brake system is really very good. I have swapped to a dual line master cylinder with power brakes. It will lock up all the tires with a toe twitch.

[eightydeuce]

I've also dealt with Hillbilly, always been good to me.

I did do the CUCV axle swap converted to disc, 318 engine, NP435 tranny, and the NP205. I never drove a stock rig to compare, but I do enjoy my truck and easily cruise down the highway at 65. The NP 205 was unnecessary, I ran it with the stock 200 for a few thousand miles without any problems, although it is much quieter now. I also kept it spring under. But my truck did need to be totally disassembled to make it road safe, looks like you bought a runner.

You got yourself a good looking truck, good luck!!!

[kwai]

The stock truck does fine for all you spec'ed. Brakes are great with a dual reservoir master cylinder. And highway travel is good, just don't expect to go above 65 mph.

And you don't need a windshield mounted rear view mirror at night as the whole windshield doubles as a mirror at night.

[gonz]

I put window tinting on my rear hardtop window and it made a huge difference for night driving.

[benjamintx@gmail.com]

Y’all are great, gave me the confidence I needed to keep the axles.

I’m going to re-gear to 4.56 with that kit from Bjs, give the brakes some love and add a dual line master and call it good on the axles.


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[teking]

Originally Posted by benjamintx@gmail.com

Thank you, I will definitely be at those events when the world returns to normal!

I've made the dive into the axle swap threads and whew! Great info, I've moved up the learning curve pretty quickly.

I've been on the phone with some pull apart yards today and it looks like I'm a little late to the game, seems guys have been on the Dana 60 and 14 bolt train for a long time.

I found this set on Craigslist:

https://austin.craigslist.org/pts/d/...269487029.html

I have followed venominjected's build and I know his axles are from much older year model Fords but I'm wondering if anyone can weigh in on the suitability of these? I know I'll face the switch to the NP205 because of the drop handing. I think these are ball joints but so is my 2019 F-250 daily driver so how bad can it be? That's a serious question, how bad can it be?!

My other question is, if all else fails on sourcing axles and I have to go to last resort, I found this guy:

https://www.hillbillywizard.com/comp...t-refurbished/

Anyone have thoughts on this? I expect it will be pricey but scarcity drives prices! If you are more comfortable sharing your thoughts on this in a pm please message me.

Thanks!

I bought a set of axles from hillbilly wizard got a set of 4.56 standard GM 8bolt Kingpin 60 front and Dana 70 rear with Detroit Locker in 4-wheel disc. Absolutely beautiful set of axles and you can set the WMS to WMS to whatever you want thereby eliminating the need for spacers. Im running military hummer wheels with double bead lock inserts. The only double bead locks certified by DOT for highway use. You ask and he'll build it to whatever specs you need. Yes pricey but then you get exactly what you want and they're essentially new.

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[Kaiserjeeps]

What a great looking truck. You will have a lot of fun with it I am sure. It looks straight and nor real rust to speak of. Do yourself a favor. Save all the OEM parts you take off. If you ever decide to sell it or get a wild hair to restore it to original, it will have higher value if those parts are still with the truck later.
Modified is fun, but Original trucks are getting more rare every year.

Barrmans comment on discussing how weird the rest of the world is cracked me up.

So nice truck. Post up the work you do!

[benjamintx@gmail.com]

Can anybody help me figure out what this hose was doing? I would think that the tube it goes to is the crankcase breather but I’m not sure now because I can’t guess what it would have hooked to on the end closest to us. It has a ring clamp like it was connected to something.

Any ideas?




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[txleadfoot]

Yes, it's the crankcase breather hose. The upper end connects to the bottom of the air cleaner.

[benjamintx@gmail.com]

Ah, thank you. It’s like an early PCV setup. I thought they were just releasing to the atmosphere but this makes way more sense.


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