D350 to D150 spindle/rear swap. Anyone tried it?

I love my '84 D350 single-rear wheel Crew Cab, and I'm changing it up a little for my intended use.

I plan to drive it mostly for cruising, probably won't ever haul anything heavy with it, very little towing use.

I've found that the wheel choices are very limited for 8-lug wheels, so I'm looking at the option of swapping in a 5-lug rear and 1/2 ton spindles. I want to lose the 4.10 gear anyway, so swapping in another rear is a no-brainer.

For the spindles, I don't know much about what the options are. I plan on keeping the pocketed lower control arms with 1/2 ton springs to lower the truck. Is a 1/2 ton spindle a direct bolt-in?

I don't have an answer for you about the spindles. Just a few questions. I understand what your saying about the 4.10 gears, but are you sure you want to do this just for 5 lug wheel options? Diesel trucks have been very popular lately and with their 8 lug wheels I have seen many options for wheels come to the aftermarket. Even if you used late model factory wheels surely you could find something? Now this is a heavy truck, will you be able to find brakes large enough to stop this thing if you use 1/2 ton type parts? Again I don't really know the answer to this, just thought I would put that out there....

Spindles may or may not swap. If you have the 4000# front axle, they don't swap. The lighter axles do.
If your inner and outer tie rods look the same you do not have the 4000# axle.

That said, for the size and weight I wouldn't swap.

8 lug wheel choices aren't that bad, what are you looking for?

watch bushing bolt size on LCA when you swap arms.

I wanted the pocketed control arms to lower my truck but not use the VAN lca swap.

I used the d350 lca with the large BJ so I could use a stock 1 ton swaybar on the front.

I had to drill the frame mount hole for the larger 3/4" 1 ton lca bolt. then drill the upper 1/2 ton spindle for the 1 ton lower BJ/steer arm 3/4" bolts.

bolt the lower 1 ton piece to the upper 1/2 ton spindle.

what I got was the larger 1 ton lower BJ in a 1 ton TRUCK pocketed lca with a 1/2 ton upper spindle/BJ

this way it lowers the truck, gives a big lower BJ for a 440 engine in a 1/2 ton chassis, uses a stock 1 ton TRUCK swaybar which is 2x the size of 1/2 ton swaybar.

you d350 is going to have the large holes on the frame/lca mount. you will need the correct bushing to bolt it up.

IMHO, I would do it keeping the d350 lower BJ/lca and drill a 1/2 ton upper spindle to bolt it up.

if you do not want it to lower it, then keep the 1 ton coil spring in there for correct ride height.

1/2 ton coils to drop it a couple inches.

any 1/2 ton 10 bolt or 12 bolt 5 lug will bolt in there and a c-body 8 3/4 is correct width for a truck if you want a 8 3/4

I have worked some 1/2 tons pretty hard and while not as strong as a 3/4 or 1 ton, for cruzing and no towing/hauling it will be fine

Use your stock LCA & drill the 1/2 ton spindles to fit the 1 ton steering arms
1/2 ton coils will only hold up a CrewCab if the engine is not in it put the engine in & the crossmember with sit flat on the ground with a small block

I don't get it...There are a hundred or so different 8-lug wheels on the market. Well, maybe only 55, but there MUST be one that you could live with.

So what's your real reason?

Another thing to contend with...trying to get a tire store to actually mount a tire if they see your truck..."Oh, I can't, that's a one ton, the tire you want doesn't come in Load Range E". Or, "this tire wasn't a stock size for your truck".

BTW, this one really torques me off. They act like they are doing you a favor by "letting" you buy tires from them. A$$holes!

So now I've told you a bunch of stuff and not helped a bit. I think I'd be looking for a lower tonnage frame to swap the truck cab onto. Probably be easier to pay for license as well.

R.

Some tire monkeys are real assclowns.
Maybe they deal with lots of stupid customers, but I stroll in looking like a legit blue collar gearhead and they still talk down to me sometimes. They spout crap like..."new tires always mount on the front" as if I'd run zero tread bald rear tires in snowstorms. "no tires mounted over 8 years old, NO exceptions". Screw them...I often go to the India/Pakistani places where they mount any tire that will hold air.
I'm tired of safety dorks thinking that they need to protect me from myself.

I usually just take the wheels. Saves a lot of time and nobody asks questions.

roll in with some 12" wide rims with 29x15x15 M/Ts on the back. cant mount it that wide. but they do 22" 24" bling rims all day.

and then a 19yr old frontend tech with the skinny fronts and fatty rear cant do this, cant set that, you need a bunch more stuff on it.

I found a little mom and pop shop, 67yr old tech that hung some lazers on the 4 rims and dialed it right in. on a lowered tubed truck no less. did my fattys on the floor by hand in a couple mins and had them back on.

I gave that man a 25$ tip that day just for his know how.

I also just bring in the wheels, but lately I've found a friend with a tire machine. Slick.

R.

The halfton brakes should not have a problem stopping the truck. Its Not a whole lot heavier than a Clubcab longbox and they came in Halfton 4wd with big blocks. I understand NOT liking Most of the "New" wheels out there.

I can agree with what you guys are saying about trying to mount different tire sizes at some of these shops. But He never said anything about wanting a different tire size. He said 4.10 gears were to low. So I would believe that he wants the same size or even taller tires with a gear change.

I was just trying to point out that if he runs 5-lug wheels on a 1-ton truck, the jackasses at "Sam's Tire World" or "CostlessUkrainiantireCo" may not want to do it.

It makes more sense to me to try to find an 8-lug wheel that is to his liking. I have been all over this subject and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of wheels out there that come in 8 lug style. It's not like there are only six available 8-lug wheels on the market.

There may be easier ways to get what he wants.

R.

Aren't the 1/2 ton rotors about 1 inch smaller in diameter than the one ton rotors?

Personally, I think the 8 lug axles are more durable than the 5 lugs axles.
A 3.54 geared 8 lug axle with an overdrive transmission would be another option for better highway driving.

I don't know how much the OP's truck weighs. It seems like a crew cab 4x4 I drove across the scales years back was about 6,000 lbs. That recollection could be wrong though. I think a lot of the 1/2 ton trucks have a GVW around 6,000 lbs. The point of these ramblings is that the empty weight of the crew cab might be fairly close to the GVW rating of a 1/2 ton truck. If these numbers are to close together, the truck will not be very useful.

dogdays, I agree with everything you are saying. I too believe that he should be able to find wheels that would work for him. I was the first to ask this question.... "Surely you should be able to find wheels in an 8 lug" It's at the top of this thread. Until he tells us what he wants its all speculation.

After reading the responses, I guess I can see the point of those suggesting I stay with the 8-lug wheels.

The truck IS heavy empty - and with four adults, a few coolers and some swap meet parts it would add up pretty quick.

I don't like the "bling" look of most of the 8-lug wheels the kids are running on trucks these days. I was leaning more toward a set of traditional 5-spoke wheels.

Maybe I'll just stay with what I've got, and run some 285/75s out back for a little stagger once I lower it...

I like the late model wheels you are using. I did just what you suggested and went with a much larger tire to gain some road speed and bring the rpm's down.

Old school slots would be nice, if you can find them in anything other than 16.5"

That truck is absolutely beautiful !! Maybe a set of wheels like the factory wheels on my 2004 Dodge would look good on it. They're 17" 8 lug wheels. I'm only guessing they will bolt on.

I have a set of those Chrysler 5-spoke 17 inch alloy rims. They have the same bolt pattern, the problem is they have quite a bit of positive offset, meaning the wheel might hit on a brake drum lip or suspension part.

I actually put them on a 1993 Suburban and they looked trick with the stock chevy hubcaps and lug nuts. I had to grind down the lip on the outer edge of the rear brake drums, and redo the IFS which still needed a spacer to get the wheel out far enough to clear the upper control arm on full jounce. I should have just sprung for spacers right away.

R.

I have the front shaft required to do a 518 swap into a LWB 2wd CrewCab
I got a solid 19 MPG hwy with my carbed Magnum/518 4.10 combo with a 31" tall tire in the rear + lowered CrewCab

Those are some good MPG numbers! For now I'm just doing the engine swap, if I swap transmissions I want a stick OD in it.

I got some 31+ inch 265/75/16s mounted on the rear wheels over the weekend, but I haven't put them on yet as I'm in the middle of relocating the rear shackle mounts and flipping the front spring hangers. Probably gonna end up with around 4" rear drop and 5" front, the bigger tires should help fill the rear wheelwells a little better. Can't wait to see how it looks!