well, imma call the rear end done. got mabe 100miles on it, no noises, rear end was definitely some kind of bound up. cause even though i been taking it easy dirt road burnouts are effortless like i almost have to try to not spin them even with the 4l80 longass first gear. havent given it too much on paved road, but pretty sure itll light up the 35s much mo easier now.
rcv axles are in...ngl after the first couple short drives they spit grease every where and i was mm's from losing my shit, layed under it contemplating parting this pos out. i just wiped it all up and am hoping they just packed them so full of grease for the initial break in. last couple drives have just resulted in the ball and "plunger" with a little more grease than id like to see but i will see how it looks after a few more drives.
i ordered another trick turbo crossover "diy" kit a few weeks back, because the crossover was right in the way of the front driveshaft with the diff lowered a couple inches. i extended the one i had down a little bit but it barely cleared the driveshaft and when the front diff torqued down it would hit it (and the front sway bar which i also dropped about 3.5"). it was done pretty crappy and it was coated and has been used for a couple years so lots of soot, just didnt weld that great and prob had a couple exhaust leaks from it.
my real welder (of course) was not going to be able to get to it for a few weeks. so i went to it, the pipes were pretty long on it but the passenger side has a few bends and to clear the driveshaft, i needed to cut it in between two bends and add about 3". trying to tack up under truck was a pita but welder was cooperating for the most part and i was laying some decent looking mig welds down. got the flanges to the exhaust manifolds tacked up and brought it over to the bench to finish welding it out and the first rip i go to do (after working perfect for half a day) decides its just not going to feed the gas and i layed out from birdshit welds crusty and pored to hell. stopped, cussed, and didnt even really do anything and it just started feeding gas perfect again like wtf. ended up grinding the no gas weld back out and welding over it, came out ok, but its annoying "not having the right tool for the job".
got the crossover all welded up, put it back in, little less exhaust noises from the wheel wells. went to put the front driveshaft back in and neither one i have is long enough with this set up 4l80/np261/9.25ifs
so we still 2wd atm. not sure i want to go back to the np149, its not very synonymous with lift trucks, i did beat the hell out of it, so i know its strong, but not sure if the same abuse, with a larger/heavier tire at each corner would just accelerate the wear. the np261 is (or should be anyway) way stronger if i ever did need this thing to do any pulling/snatching or just try to get itself through some nasty stuff. i need to see if its ok to drive, in 2wd, with the front CAD deleted. it will turn the front tcase output/chain but the diagrams look like it completed de-couples it in the case so it should just freewheel in there. no clutches or anything in this tcase, no auto 4x4, just 2hi, neutral, 4hi, and 4lo. one of my driveshafts may work enough to see if anything binds up, i dont think ill go through the hassle of making the front center axle disconnect work, so if i cant run it all connected in 2wd problem free, the awd case will go back in probably
the rest of it sucks by yourself but setting up the pinion for the final time is pretty rough. after you put the pinion through the case, the crush ring goes on, and then the smaller bearing also has to be pressed on - but you cant hammer it on cause itll just knock back into the case and then put the input seal on and then the yoke takes some force to go onto the splines, but you cant hammer it either cause it could push the pinion out of the bearing you just pressed on
