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2002 Chevy 2500 Solid Axle Swap - Solidify Your Front End6 Inches, A Solid Axle, and 37s From the August, 2007 issue of 4Wheel & Off-Road By Jerrod Jones Photography by Jerrod Jones
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Our '02 Chevy 2500 was going... Our '02 Chevy 2500 was going to go from puddle master to trail killer in hopefully just a few days. Of course it would take us longer to install this kit than it would for a normal customer, since we were also designing and prototyping the kit while installing it. We'd also be doing our install without the use of a lift, just as you would have to deal with in your garage or driveway. If you've never noticed, we're not into redundancy. Seeing the same old truck builds gets kind of tiresome. Don't get us wrong; tried and true hard-core suspension, engine, axle, or whatever buildsare killer, but we're in the business of bringing you new and innovative ideas and products, so we intentionally seek out and promote the next big idea. So what has been on our minds lately? Solid-axle swaps for IFS 4x4s. But this is nothing new, and especially not for fullsize IFS Chevys. At least a dozen companies offer leaf-spring solid-axle conversion kits. Yet, how many coil-sprung kits are there? The only solid front axle vehicles currently built in the U.S. are coil-sprung frontends, so why would you take your newer truck and put an old-school leaf spring on it? The simple answer: It's easier. But what if it wasn't easier? What if you could bolt on a coil and radius-arm kit in just a weekend, and have it completed enough to drive it to a muffler shop on Monday? We'd been looking at CAGE Off-Road's radius arms and solid axle brackets for some time and wondering how easy it would be to get a do-it-yourself kit like that together. We gave Jim Cole at CAGE a phone call and quickly learned that he'd been thinking the same thing, but didn't have a truck to build a kit off of. Funny he should mention that.... A few weeks later, we were in Oregon with a guinea pig Chevy to spend a few days prototyping and installing what will be a really neat and affordable coil-spring solid-axle swap kit for both the 1/2-ton and 3/4-ton '99-'06 Chevys. The IFS deletion started with putting our truck up on jackstands and making sure that they were secure. You'll have to have some tall jackstands (go buy some if you don't have them; don't stack concrete blocks or anything dumb like that) because the truck is going to be sitting nearly a foot taller when you're done. We loosened the torsion-bar keys, pulled out the torsion bars, removed the torsion-bar crossmember, unbolted the CV shafts, upper A-arms, lower A-arms, and threw it all into a pile (remember to disconnect the ABS lines and wrap them up-you won't use them anymore either). Cole benchpressed the differential down to the ground, after first remembering to disconnect the 4WD electrical harness. You can tuck that up and zip-tie it out of the way now, because you'll never use it again. Lots of stuff has to be cut off for a solid-axle swap. Both front and rear lower crossmembers for the IFS have to be cut off the frame, and the outer horns for the upper A-arms need to be removed as well. You basically want clean, rectangular framerails without anything protruding from them. The biggest pain in the butt of this entire solid-axle swap is the grinding. If you have a plasma cutter, use it. If not, then buy a lot of grinder wheels.  To get the steering off, Cole...  To get the steering off, Cole also had to plasma-cut the original pitman arm off (arrow). We do not recommend or condone this in any way, but Cole is very good with a torch and he was able to do it while we were looking the other way. The pitman arm should normally come off with a puller, but for some reason ours was almost welded onto the sector-shaft splines. The original steering box is going to stay, but you'll be bolting on a new CAGE Off-Road drop pitman arm with the kit.  One thing you'll have to have...  One thing you'll have to have before you start installing is the solid axle. A Dana 44 from a '78-'79 fullsize Ford will fit perfectly, and absolutely no welding would have to be done for this kit. Unfortunately, these axles are not always readily available. If using an axle other than this, make sure to use one from a fullsize vehicle with a driver-side differential, such as the '91 F-350 kingpin Dana 60 axle we found in the classifieds for $1,500. This axle was the perfect width, but we had to cut the centersection on the driver side right next to the plug welds to make enough room for the radius-arm axle brackets. We also shaved all the factory brackets and mounts off the axletubes to make room to weld.  CAGE's new radius arms are...  CAGE's new radius arms are the same ones sold for Broncos, but are pictured here with the solid-axle brackets in front to weld onto a non-C-bushing axle. The radius arms pivot off of high-quality FK rod ends with 1-inch holes and 1 1/4-inch shanks.  Assuming you do not have a...  Assuming you do not have a '78-'79 Ford Dana 44 (in which case no welding is required), the axle welding is the only part you might not be able to do at home. If you don't have a welder, mark off where you want the axle brackets to sit on the axle and take it to be welded up. Make sure to account for axle caster because once those brackets are on the axle there is no turning them. While you're at the welder's, you'll also want to remember to get the track-bar bracket welded on, as this is the only other thing that has to be welded in place.  The radius-arm brackets bolt...  The radius-arm brackets bolt on right behind the transfer-case crossmember. There is a 1-inch hole already in the frame on each side that allows you to bolt the brackets in the correct place before you start drilling the rest of the holes without any measuring. Easy! Once the brackets are tightened onto the frame, install the FK rod-end side of the radius arm, and push a 1-inch bolt through i  Since we were prototyping,...  Since we were prototyping, it wasn't just "hold it up and bolt it up" for us. CAGE had to measure, design, and build while we went along, stretching our install time into the wee hours of the morning on more than one shift. We had already weighed the truck at 3,500 pounds in the front (this is a 6.0L truck). Believe it or not, this is not that much more weight than the front of an outfitted Bronco. Therefore, CAGE knew the static length of the coils when loaded and designed the kit to take Ford Bronco coils for easy, off-the-shelf purchase possibilities for customers.
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