The front axle was going to be a bit of a challenge, as it has the "Scout Block Mounts" I like to call it, on the front axle right next to the pumpkin. This would be a nightmare in grinding time, grinding wheels and the possiblility of grinding too much into the axle. So we decided to use this in our favor by ordering new 5/8" square U-bolts and using the factory guides to mount the new axle. That was easy, compared to changing out the stock front drum brakes to a disc brake system. As scout wans't known to do this for a while, a donor would have to be sought. Finding none in our (junk?)yard, we went to some friends who also had piles of junk...er... other stockpiles of used parts to see if we could find something. At Mr. Chapman's house, (a Jeep man himself) we "discovered" a Dana 30 with the outside spindle mounts, and rotors needed for disc calipers. As the Jeep axle is shorter than the Scout axle, we would have to remove the spindles and place them on the Scout Dana 30. (Something that took longer than we expected) This done, we rebuilt the manual Warn hubs and ground off the old spring mount on the one side. Putting the "new" axle in place, we finally had the clearence we needed for some "big ol' tires"
I went to Mr Grod's house and poked around his yard (yes, I had permission!) and came away from there with 35 inchers already mounted on 15x10 rims. The tires were really worn, but hey, they were free, and besides I had free rims that normally run about $80 each.
