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10-bolt punishment.

T

think_07

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Red Deer Alberta
What kinds of punishment have you guys put your 10-bolt front and rear end through before they broke?
I don't have the budget to put one tons in, so I'm thinking of keeping the 10-bolts for now, I am building a mild 350, connected to my Th-700 and NP-208. The front end has warn selectable hubs.
I will have to re-gear the axles, and I will add a locker to the rear end, and probably leave the front end open. I was hoping to run 39" or so tires, but am not thinking maybe 37s.
What do you guys think of this combo? Will it be alright, or am I just setting myself up for failure? I would hate to just constantly be breaking the 10 bolts and have already wasted the money on rims, gears, and locker to then have to change to a dana 60, 14sf, 14ff, etc. So what do you guys suggest I do? Also what gears should I run for this setup, or what would my best setup be so I can keep running the 10 bolts?
Thanks a bunch guys.
 
The general feeling I get from reading here is that 10 bolts are fine up to 35" tires with moderate wheeling. It's also suggested that you go to an open or locked rear end.
 
You should be able to find a 14ff fairly cheap. Take that weak link out of the picture and make your truck more reliable. Lock/weld it if you want more gription.

Save money on the front and leave it open if you have to. That should help things... especially if you take it easy on the front end off road.
 
I have had 3 tons in the back of my truck and the factory 10 bolt survived and still screams for more.
 
I've never heard of that done before.. So you think if I put a 14bolt ff in the rear and lock it, and leave the 10 bolt in the front open it would be good? Do you think I could run 37-39" tires with this setup? This is encouraging because I can find the ff 14 bolt reasonably priced, its the dana 60 front and that is pricey around here.
 
Oh, and I beat the crap out of the 10 bolts in my old blazer. Mud, trails, dunes... sometimes got the front end of the ground for fun.:D

But it was 32" tires, welded front, open rear. I believe that, as stated above, 10 bolts will "play nice" up to 35" depending on driving style and locked/open diffs.

The suburban has an open 10 bolt up front and is doing okay so far with ~35" tires. I have done some mild trail riding... but only a couple of times.
 
I shouldn't answer these with words anymore :

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For the cost of re-gearing that you have already budgeted for, you could easily find a set of 8 lug 4:10 3/4T axles (14FF, and a 10B/D44). Plus the 14FF detroit is cheap.
 
Ya my main concern is the cost of a Dana 60, and availability, I haven't really been able to find any around here, nothing affordable anyways. So a 3/4 ton front end is a 8 lug 10-bolt/D44? What is the different between the 6 lug and 8 lug 10bolts/D44s other than the lug difference? Did 3/4 tons use any other front ends other than these? I believe the 3/4 tons used a SF 14 bolt in the rear, but like you said I would much rather put a FF 14 bolt in the rear and they aren't that expensive.
 
think_07 said:
Ya my main concern is the cost of a Dana 60, and availability, I haven't really been able to find any around here, nothing affordable anyways. So a 3/4 ton front end is a 8 lug 10-bolt/D44? What is the different between the 6 lug and 8 lug 10bolts/D44s other than the lug difference? Did 3/4 tons use any other front ends other than these? I believe the 3/4 tons used a SF 14 bolt in the rear, but like you said I would much rather put a FF 14 bolt in the rear and they aren't that expensive.
Click to expand...

3/4 ton K-series trucks had either a dana 44 or a 10 bolt in the front.

The 8 lug dana44/10 bolt have different brakes, backing plates etc. There is no real strength advantage but you can use 8 lug wheel all around.

Most 3/4 tons have FF 14 bolts but there are plenty of SF ones too.
 
38377k5 said:
8 lug dana44/10 bolt have different brakes, backing plates etc. There is no real strength advantage but you can use 8 lug wheel all around.

Most 3/4 tons have FF 14 bolts but there are plenty of SF ones too.
Click to expand...
The only strength advantage for an 8 lug 3/4 ton axle, over the 1/2 version, is the bigger brakes. I got my axles out of an 84 3/4 ton Suburban, so its an 8 lug 10b, and a 14bsf. That`s alot of beef for what I`m using it for, and it should be plenty for you.
 
I still can't believe it didn't snap.... probably b/c of the stupid high gearing but none-the-less it survived....

38.5/16-15's

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I am in the minority around here as well. 33's, 3.73 gearing. I am running chrome moly shafts in the front with a lockrite on a 10 bolt front.

I just picked up a Powertrax for the rear 12 bolt yesterday. I will be doing the locker and chrome moly rear shafts (been on the shelf for a few months) at the same time. I picked up disk brakes for the rear cheap and will be doing that at the same time.

Let the flaming begin...:D

I will recover some costs if I go D60/14bff.
 
I don't really mind running 6 bolts in the front and 8 bolts in the rear so I think that i'm going to keep the open 10-bolt up front, and get either a 14-bolt sf or ff for the rear, and lock it. I think i've also decided on 37" tires. What do you guys suggest for gearing? It will be powered by a mild 350, th-700r4 and np208. 4.56s, 5.13s? This is not a DD, wil only be driven to the trail etc.
 
If you went 14bsf , you could have matching six lug wheels . Pull one from an IFS rig , lots of lighter duty k2500's had six lugs . And the 33 spline axles and their bearings are pretty beefy , and have a 1350 yoke . The lugs are larger diameter too . Lockers cost a little more , but electric ones are made for it .

See several of those on rockcrawling trails with no trouble .
 
If it's only for the trail... I would gear low (high numerically). But, like said previously... you could prob find 3/4 ton swap cheaper than regearing... those are fairly abundant in the 4.10 variety. That's a little high for your purposes/tires though.
 
It will be kind of an all around trail rig, with quite abit of mud. We don't have much for rock crawling around here that I know of. But there are nice creek beds, river valleys and stuff like that to play in and climb. Also some nice mud holes. I don't know if 4.10s would be tall enough?
 
i upgraded to the 14sf and d44 front, 8 lug, therefore setup for the eventual 1 ton., and i am going one ton asap since the gears and labor would cost 1200 approx which is the price of a d60 and ff 14 with 4.56s in it....

i'd suggest going 3/4 for now since in reality your spending the same amount.
 
Definitely suggest swapping in a different rear axle, either the SF or FF 14-bolt would do, but if you go with the beefier FF version you really never would have to worry about it again. The smaller SF is a decent axle, but I'm just skeptical how well it would hold up if you went with bigger tires and harder wheeling down the line.

For the 8-lug vs. 6-lug front, for the money and time it takes to swap them out there is really no reason not to go ahead and swap the front over to 8-lug to match the rear. The local yards around here only wanted $100 for a complete front axle, or $50 for all the components I needed to swap them over.

For gearing, sure 5.13's would be nice but if money was tight I would definitely consider just buying a set of 3/4 ton axles with 4.10's and calling it good for now. Axle gears seem to do more for driveability on the street than trailriding, and especially if you don't have technical rock trails it would be fine. I've ran both 38's and 40's for years now with stock 4.10's on my primarily trail truck, originally I intended to swap the axle gears but after driving it over the years axle gears keep dropping further down my "to-do" list. A friend also runs stock 4.10's and had 38's for years and now 42's for years. Most of the local (within 3 hours) are slippery rocks and ruts that typically require momentum, but both of us have been to places like Slade and Harlan where there are more rocks. Both trucks faired just as well as stuff with crawl ratios that look much better on paper. Again, not ideal but it's plenty for getting the truck to and from the trail. Take the money you would spend on gears and use it to start saving for a D60 front down the road.

37's are pushing it for a front 10-bolt or D44, but if you keep it open and don't get stupid you should be okay. Throw a set of spare shafts in the truck and learn how to do the swap, can take less than an hour. Plus even if you do break the front you can almost always unlock the hubs, shift into 2wd, and get off the trail and home with no issues. Plus with a beefy rear axle you can beat on it harder in 2wd to get back to pavement...seen lot's of guys break the front axle and then wind up breaking the mediocre rear axle trying to get off the trail.
 
i wheel my truck pretty mild but i have faith in my axles. i can chirp the tires on the dry asphalt and not break anything but i also use the skinny pedal wisely. im very slow and not agressive in the rocks and in mud its WOT. for gearing i would suggest 4.56 if yorue gonna regear but 4.10 you probably wouldnt even notice a difference between them.
 
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