14 bolt rear clearance question....

[skyrocco16v]

I'm going to be getting a 14 bolt rear out of a '04 silverado 2500hd (for free i might add).... does anybody know if the rear discs will fit inside a 15 in. wheel? if not... is there anything i can do to make it fit? i ust bought a set of 35/12.5r15's for my blazer... so i'd like to make this fit the 15's. also, does anybody know where i can get a pair of 8 lug, new bolt pattern 15 in steel wheels?
thanks
corey

 

[sweetk30]

as far as i know the 8 lug is still the same on gm. and the brakes to rim will be most likly not fitting. bit you can get a set of spacers to move rim out and center the track width. or get 2 sets of rims to do the same , but just cant rotate tires.

 

[Nicks 72]

Assuming this is planning to go into a pre 88 truck, If it was me I would sell this axle as its worth a lot more to the 88 up crowd because of the overall axle width fits in these trucks. The 88to98 guys like them for the rear discs and the silverados for rebuilders that got bent axles from an accident. It will be wider then the earlier 14 bolts and your rims would stick out more.With the money I would buy a dirt cheap older 14 bolt and use one of the rear disc caliper kits and put on brakes that fit.

 

[K5Chris]

no, you can not fit 15" rims on 99+ brakes.

you can pull the brakes off, sell em, and do the brakes the old fashoned way. the stock brakes a worth a good deal of money since they have the drum ebrake in the middle of the disc.


also.... do you know if it's the 10.5" or 11.5"?

 

[Nicks 72]

Chris have you used these later brake parts on earlier housings? I have a couple of these from the 11.5 axles(01' up diesel/8.1 trucks).I never got around to looking at the differences/similarities as far as retrofiting.

 

[divorced]

I would sell it. Then buy an older 14 bolt and swap disc brakes on to it and install a Detroit Locker. You can do all this for half of what you sell the other one for, which means you will still have several hundred dollars in your pocket.

 

[dyeager535]

You weren't asking me, but according to TSM's page, the 14FF changed in 1986, "[font=trebuchet ms, Arial, Helvetica]the drum comes off over the studs without having to take the hub off." which predicates a different kit to mount the brakes.

The pattern for the axle flange stayed the same according to TSM's page as well.

I'm hijacking a bit I guess, but I've been curious about these type of disks fitting 15" wheels as well. I'd really like to run the later setup, but have no inclination to go with 16+ wheels.

My question pertains to *why* 15" wheels won't work. Obviously if the caliper as mounted is 7.5" from the axle center, they won't work...the wheel HAS to have a smaller ID than the OD of course. However, I would *think* wheel design would play a factor in whether or not they fit. My thinking on this is that a 15" wheel isn't 15" on the inside of course, but the ID can *vary*. If you look at a wheel, there may or may not be "steps" inside it that depending on how constructed, may or may not interfere with caliper fit. I noticed this with the stock 15" ralleys for our trucks. I never really thought about it until people started mentioning grinding calipers and so forth.

Using the stock later disks would be a great option, but unfortunately I've never been able to examine one of the newer setups to see what kind of workarounds, if any, could be done.
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[K5Chris]

people have put 15" steel wheels on half ton 99+ discs.... but it takes ALOT of grinding. i even tried to put 88-98 4wd 16" wheels onto an '01 half ton.... and they wouldnt even fit. i seriously doubt you can fit a 15" rim on a 01+ 3/4 ton. they just started making the brakes larger on newer vehicles.

i wouldnt want these brakes anyways.... they have had problems with the ebrake drum inside the rotor. they are a big pita when the shoe starts dragging. they even switched back to full on drums for '05+ half tons.

 

[Nicks 72]

I dont know about not wanting these brakes. After owning and driving dozens of 88 to 98 half ton 3/4 tons one tons etc. These HD trucks are amazing as far as the brakes are concerned. I have 4 duramax 12kgvw cab in chassis trucks in survice right now and one with over 140k on it and the brakes look brand new, I havent even changed the pads.Ive never seen anything last so long and compared to the older trucks I would have to change/turn pads and or front rotors almost every 20k on some of the heavier loaded trucks and they dont even come close to stopping power.

 

[K5Chris]

i'm not saying the brakes are no good.... the brakes are great....... the problem is with the e-brake setup.

 

[dyeager535]

I hate making blanket statements, but my understanding is that any GM vehicle with rear disks runs that setup. (drum in hat) It has been used "for a long time" (in car years) on the Camaro's, never heard of a problem with it.

IMO almost all problems experienced with rear disks are related to people not actually using the ebrake. Whether old school Cadillac calipers or new drum in hat, the people that more often than not don't use the ebrake will have problems with them.

Of course I have no concrete proof this is why GM would go back to rear drums, but I can guarantee, whether it was a design flaw, or something caused by owners, GM would still change to something that would keep people from having/causing problems.

I know the new Astros that are 6 lug/10 bolt (8.5") use 13" REAR rotors, which are even bigger than the front, so I would expect a bigger, heavier truck to use similar size, if not larger. 12" brake setups typically barely clear 15" wheels, I can see something designed for 16" or bigger wheels not fitting at all.

Again according to TSM's site, the new 1/2 ton stuff ('88+ except our body style I guess) uses the same axle flange as the 14SF and 14FF. Anything that used rear disk on an 8.5" axle before 16" wheels got so common, MIGHT be a donor. Only things I can think of that may fit that bill are the few 8.5" S10's that were in production, and the Astro's, but Astro's were typically 7.5".

 

[Nicks 72]

I agree with you about the Ebrake Chris, the worst thing about it in my opinion is that it doesnt really seem to have an easy way to adjust(tighten ) the cable.But overall the new brakes have been great for me.