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Tighter turning radius in a 2wd 3/4-1 ton.

Burning oil

Burning oil

LeroyDiesel.com
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I have a 96 CCLB and the turning radius sucks. I was thinking about making it a short bed/ shorter wheel base = tighter turning radius, but not sure how much that would gain me. My brother and I were looking a 1/2 ton spindles today and it seems to be the only difference in the trucks. Its a small difference., but the 1/2 tons have a much tighter turning radius.
Question is:
1. Can anyone confirm if the spindle swap will work?
2. Are the rotor diameters 1/2 vs 3/4-1 ton the same? If not then the brakes wont work. Im pretty sure the 1/2 ton uses the same caliper and pad, but if the diameter is different the swap may not work or I might have to go to 5 lug wheels. 5 lug up front and 8 in the rear is not going to work.
3. Was their a 6 lug 2wd GMT400?

Maybe the combo of a 1/2 ton spindle and short bed would make it nice. I would like to try the spindle first as it is much easier to do. Im not a suspension expert so are there any other tricks to a tighter turning radius? like Smaller diameter tires.....??
 
I have seen 6 lug 2 wheel drive GMT400 trucks. I guess they are a heavy duty 1/2 ton.
 
Yup they are rare but there are 6 lug 2wd's in diesel and gas. Would the 1/2ton spindles be weaker? I always thought 3/4 and 1 tons were HD all around.
 
6.2 turbo said:
I have seen 6 lug 2 wheel drive GMT400 trucks. I guess they are a heavy duty 1/2 ton.
Click to expand...

Good news (maybe) I keep a better eye out for one.

tanman_2006 said:
Yup they are rare but there are 6 lug 2wd's in diesel and gas. Would the 1/2ton spindles be weaker? I always thought 3/4 and 1 tons were HD all around.
Click to expand...

From what we could tell they are "almost" identical. Uses same bearing inner and outer also IIRC. Main difference that we saw was the bump stop, 1/2 ton did not have one 3/4-1 ton does.

5 and 6 lug opens up alot more wheel choices and brake upgrades.
 
The turning radius on the 96- trucks can be greatly improved by going with an ARG steerring box or a 97+ box. The only downside is tehy are meant to be used with the variable output pump and steering effort tends to be light at highway speeds. I know with my stock 95 box every parking job was a 3 point job, but with the ARG box I can get it in first try on most now.
 
Ferm, Thats good info, So just to confirm you run a 97+ box on your burb? Do you think you could get a picture of your wheels cut all the way over? Maybe I can eyeball the difference.

Also, I stoped by a local shop that specializes in drifting. They say I can cut the knuckle/spindle where the outer tie rods meet. Take a 1-2" section out out and reweld it. They say it has no negitive affect. They also say they can turn the wheels on their drifter almost 90*. That would be a huge improvement. Has anyone heard of doing that? Safety issues?
 
I'm running an ARG box on mine which is the same basic box as a 97+ truck uses with the variable steering system on it. Made a night and day differrence in turning radius. A good example is my uncle has a 93 6 lug 2500, and a 98 1500 both 4X4's. The 98 can literally do circles around the 93 as far as turning radius goes. Swap boxes and all of the sudden the 98 can't turn for crap. GM changed the steering ALOT in 97.
 
Yours is 4x4, mine is 2wd. Wonder if I would see the same results?

Anyone have an opinion about cutting the knuckle?
 
The only part of my steering changed is the box, but all of the pitman arms arms wether 2 or 4 WD for the GMT-400 body style are all the same. They did change the idler assembly in 93 for 4X4's, but before then they were identical for both. And I believe the 2X4's already have shorter A arms than a 4X4 as the front wheels don't stick out as far on a 2X4 as a 4X4(I know on a 1500 the front wheel track on a 2WD is almost identical to the rear whereas the 4X4 is a good bit wider in the front like the 2500's are). I did notice that with my 95 box it never got close to the bump stops at full turn whereas now it will put it on the bump stops at full turn.
 
I wonder where the difference in geometry is? If all the lengths and pivots are the same why would a box change anything unless the full travel is not obtained with a 96 box vs 97&^
Im headed out to the junk yard soon, hopefully I can see the difference.
 
Burning oil said:
I wonder where the difference in geometry is? If all the lengths and pivots are the same why would a box change anything unless the full travel is not obtained with a 96 box vs 97&^
Im headed out to the junk yard soon, hopefully I can see the difference.
Click to expand...

97+ boxes have more travel and a quicker ratio than 96- boxes have. I know my 95 would not hit the limit stops with the 95 box, but with the ARG it does go right to the stops.
 
Don't cut the knuckle. It's illegal to modify steering parts. Change the steering gear box instead
 
Burning oil said:
Anyone have an opinion about cutting the knuckle?
Click to expand...
Just when tou need to make a serious hard evasive turn, the knuckle has been modified, leading to a too tight turn that breaks the spindle and rolls you over at high speed leading to th.... well you can imagine all the rest of it.
 
Yeah I did not get a good feeling about it just from the safty asspect. Im not going that way, but will pick up a 97+ box today at the junk yard and look at some different frames/boxes to possibly shorthen the wheel base too.
Thanks Ferm for the info on the box.
 
OK back from junk yard. This is what I found out. Basicaly without major mods Im stuck with modifiying what I have.
The "light 3/4 ton" has 6 lug and is the same spindle as a 1/2 ton. The heavy 3/4 ton-1 ton is slightly different. The 1/2 ton spindle uses the same tie rod ends, lower ball joint, but a smaller upper ball joint.
All this aside swaping spindles wont gain me anything anyway.

About the gear box: mine is 2wd and with the stock box on it, it will hit the stops, so going to a 97+ box won't gain me anything there. On a 4x4 I guess it does.
I looked at swaping in a 4x4 spindle, but torsion bar vs coil spring is more work than I feel like.
Looked at later model spindles, they seemed the closest, but ball joints are smaller...........

Looks like I will have to mod what I have. Im thinking of removing the stops on the lower control arm, grinding the bump of the spindle then adding a max of 1/2" spacers between rotor and wheel to push wheel out and gain alittle more turn before tire rubs the frame.
Thats where Im at with it. Any other ideas?
 
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