[zac]

'79 K20 Camper Special. Swapped to 3.42's years ago. Bought a 10 bolt that by all appearances is in much better condition than the one I was running. Put in new Spicer ball joints and new u joints in the knuckles. Was my first time putting in ball joints. Everything went surprisingly well. Installed them exactly per the manual. Lower nut 80 ft lbs, upper sleeve at 50 with the special socket, upper nut 100. Truck already had new drag link, steering box is good, new tie rod ends. Shocks are gas magnums a couple years old. Steering stabilizer is sketchy but new one on order. Rotors turned, new pads. I used the 8 lug hubs, spindles and ALL the outer stuff from the other axle that was working perfectly. None of that stuff was changed. The only issue with the old axle is that the lower ball joints were wearing out and I knew from looking the gears weren't great. Came off a full time truck. I get everything together and take a test drive but figure I'm done. So anytime I do moderate to heavy braking the front end bounces and wobbles uncontrollably, to the point it's terrifying. It sometimes gets into this sort of harmonic bounce that forces me to come to a complete stop. When the brakes aren't applied it drives perfectly. Or as well as one of these ever does.

Wheel bearings checked and adjusted 3 times. No detectable slop anywhere. Rotors turned again just for good measure. Dropped the axle again just to check for cracked leaves and to make sure it's tight and located properly. I'm running Ford 7" wide 8 lug steelies because the work well with my tires. Sometimes they don't seat perfectly true some I'm very careful about that. The truck is not lifted and is essentially completely stock. And it was driving perfectly well with the old axle. All of this is entirely new. I see no damage or anything bent. I'm out of ideas.

Thanks in advance. FYI I'm on the road til early AM Saturday so my internet access will be hit and miss and I won't be able to go out and look at anything.