We redid the front brakes on the '89 today and it seems to be much better. The old pads were thick but looked like a sugar cookie with surface cracks, etc. We bedded in the new pads and all seems well there. Used plenty of red goop to calm down the squeals and used brake cleaner on the pins and rotors, emery clothed the same, then cleaned them again before greasing those pins.

We're currently half done with the axle swap, with the old one out and the new one staring at us. Interestingly, because this is the first V-6 axle I've taken out, it's not nearly as cheesy as the 4-cylinder truck's. It almost appears to be based on a similar housing, narrower, with drum brakes and without the locker, but pretty stout.

It looks like someone upgraded the trailing arms in the past. They're not exactly the same as the ones from the 96, but very close. They may be up for sale/grabs soon, but it would be a good idea to plan on replacing the four bushings in the rear of the arms before installing them.

The 96 springs are shorter than the ones we took out. This surprised me. The wire on the 96 springs looks fatter, and I know they're supposed to be progressive, so we'll see what we end up with. The old one sacked quite a bit when the truck was loaded with any kind of weight. Thanks to Toasty for the flange with the extra holes in it. We needed that to connect the driveshaft from the '89 to the axle (first thing we checked). We'll have an undrilled flange to give back.

Back to work, slackers.

John B.