I was thinking about what I posted on mounting a R&P to the I beam axle as I was out today. I remembered a very important point that blew my idea, AND the slip joint....spring wrap!
The axle "rolls" on braking, just like the rear axle on acceleration (it rolls at braking too). The braking action along with the friction of the tire on the road creates torque that overcomes the springs by twisting them. The more drop the axle has, the more leverage to do this. The stock AD axle has a lot of drop, that is why you get this spring wrap if you remove leaves to lower the truck. As you stop you can feel it in the steering wheel, it wants to turn out of your hands (with the stock box/pitman arm arrangement). When the axle rolls, there would be serious binding with both ideas. If you were to put a universal joint at both ends of the shaft as I desribed it would work. Or you could help eliminate the roll with a locator bar or two, but that is going through a bunch of work to do something stupid anyway.
[ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: MARTINSR ]
