CK5
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1973 C10 "The Purple Truck"

Basic build
All the shops I know around here that were doing that kind of stuff no longer do. Or if they have the machine, no one knows how to use it.
 
All the shops I know around here that were doing that kind of stuff no longer do. Or if they have the machine, no one knows how to use it.
That's really the problem. The ease of getting new rotors and drums has made turning them obsolete and a lost skill for sure. We had a top of the line Ammco (sp?) brake lathe in our shop that was probably every bit of 30 years old. My most senior tech that retired last fall was the only guy that I'd ever seen use it and even then that was a few years ago. We had to make space for new equipment in our tool room and we ended up moving out into a storage shed. It's sad because that was a top of the line piece of equipment when it was new and like many old setups still worked great when we put it away.

We've got 4 part stores in town and I think one still has a brake lathe, but nobody knowledgeable enough to run it.
 
Eileen's 06 Malibu needs rear brakes. I ordered pads and rotors. AC Delco delivered for $78 from Rockauto. So why turn anything?
 
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Eileen's 06 Malibu needs rear brakes. I ordered pads and rotors. AC Delco delivered for $78 from Rockauto. So why turn anything?
That's the point. With rotors and drums as cheap as they are now, it's not really worth it to go through turning. Even having a top of the line on car Pro-Cut brake lathe we rarely use it. It comes down to the cost. Our shop labor rate is $122/hr, average labor time to turn one rotor is a half-hour. Depending on the list price per rotor our labor to cut one can be more expensive.

One other downside to turning on most cars at least is the loss of material when cut. Typically there is only enough "meat" for one cut on most cars. So for long term it's actually doing a customer a dis-service when it's more prone to warpage due to less ability to absorb heat. In the foothill/mountain environment we are in we've had many comebacks on brake jobs that we turned rotors on due to rotor warpage. I'd say 9 out of 10 times it's because the customer rides the brakes downhill vs. downshifting, but it's awful hard to blame a customer for their crappy driving habits when we just did a complete brake job with turned rotors. So we've shifted to selling rotors over turning to make sure we don't have comebacks on our work.
 
Okay I'm confused about my rear axle. I thought I have a 10 bolt since it's 5 lug C10 truck. I thought it was probably an 8.2 since it doesn't have the square lugs at 5 & 7 o'clock in the casting.

unnamed.jpg

The 8.2" 10 bolt is also identifiable by the use of an 1/2" wrench on the bolt/pin that holds the cross shaft in the carrier. Mine required 1/2". 8.5" 10 bolt carrier uses 5/16".

Well I realized I ordered a cast aluminum cover for a 8.5" 10 bolt not an 8.2". I noticed some companies listed the same cover for both 8.2" and 8.5" 10 bolts. So I started measuring my cover to see if it would work.

I have 12 cover bolts and it is not oval shaped at all.

20200405_124706.jpg

Is this a 12 bolt axle? Or even a Dana 44? I've done numerous searches along the lines of "what rear axle 1973 C10" but nothing definitive comes up. Seems like the answers are for like newer than 1977 or older than 1970.

If I search for "5 lug 12 bolt axle" most results seem to be for axle shaft conversions from 6 to 5 lug for a 12 bolt.

Gonna do some more searching, but I'm curious if anyone has some insight.
 
My 74 C10 is a 12 bolt and the axles I just bought that were from a 73 or 74 K5 included a 12 bolt.
 
I have 12 cover bolts and it is not oval shaped at all.

View attachment 335239

Is this a 12 bolt axle? Or even a Dana 44? I've done numerous searches along the lines of "what rear axle 1973 C10" but nothing definitive comes up. Seems like the answers are for like newer than 1977 or older than 1970.

If I search for "5 lug 12 bolt axle" most results seem to be for axle shaft conversions from 6 to 5 lug for a 12 bolt.

Gonna do some more searching, but I'm curious if anyone has some insight.
Is this the axle in the truck? Its a 12b

D44 weren't offered in GM rears AFAIK
 
I thought 12 bolts come in the the 70s trucks, I had 2 in high school that did
 
Okay I'm confused about my rear axle. I thought I have a 10 bolt since it's 5 lug C10 truck. I thought it was probably an 8.2 since it doesn't have the square lugs at 5 & 7 o'clock in the casting.

View attachment 335240

The 8.2" 10 bolt is also identifiable by the use of an 1/2" wrench on the bolt/pin that holds the cross shaft in the carrier. Mine required 1/2". 8.5" 10 bolt carrier uses 5/16".

Well I realized I ordered a cast aluminum cover for a 8.5" 10 bolt not an 8.2". I noticed some companies listed the same cover for both 8.2" and 8.5" 10 bolts. So I started measuring my cover to see if it would work.

I have 12 cover bolts and it is not oval shaped at all.

View attachment 335239

Is this a 12 bolt axle? Or even a Dana 44? I've done numerous searches along the lines of "what rear axle 1973 C10" but nothing definitive comes up. Seems like the answers are for like newer than 1977 or older than 1970.

If I search for "5 lug 12 bolt axle" most results seem to be for axle shaft conversions from 6 to 5 lug for a 12 bolt.

Gonna do some more searching, but I'm curious if anyone has some insight.

In that first pic... what is that rear end in? The second pic is a 12 bolt.
 
If this is your axle, it is a 12 bolt.
It's what it came with.
10 bolts didn't start until 1978
Okay I'm confused about my rear axle. I thought I have a 10 bolt since it's 5 lug C10 truck. I thought it was probably an 8.2 since it doesn't have the square lugs at 5 & 7 o'clock in the casting.

View attachment 335240

The 8.2" 10 bolt is also identifiable by the use of an 1/2" wrench on the bolt/pin that holds the cross shaft in the carrier. Mine required 1/2". 8.5" 10 bolt carrier uses 5/16".

Well I realized I ordered a cast aluminum cover for a 8.5" 10 bolt not an 8.2". I noticed some companies listed the same cover for both 8.2" and 8.5" 10 bolts. So I started measuring my cover to see if it would work.

I have 12 cover bolts and it is not oval shaped at all.

View attachment 335239

Is this a 12 bolt axle? Or even a Dana 44? I've done numerous searches along the lines of "what rear axle 1973 C10" but nothing definitive comes up. Seems like the answers are for like newer than 1977 or older than 1970.

If I search for "5 lug 12 bolt axle" most results seem to be for axle shaft conversions from 6 to 5 lug for a 12 bolt.

Gonna do some more searching, but I'm curious if anyone has some insight.
 
My 75 K5 had a 12b.

GM did put D44's in the rear axles of half tons. It was in GMC's and prior to '73 and squarebody trucks. The 2wd GMC's were still 6 lug vs the Chevy trucks running the 5 lug pattern on the 2wds. The other difference was the GMC's got leaf spring suspension vs the coil spring/control arm setup on the Chevy's.
 
My 75 K5 had a 12b.

GM did put D44's in the rear axles of half tons. It was in GMC's and prior to '73 and squarebody trucks. The 2wd GMC's were still 6 lug vs the Chevy trucks running the 5 lug pattern on the 2wds. The other difference was the GMC's got leaf spring suspension vs the coil spring/control arm setup on the Chevy's.
Didn’t know that. I knew early Wagy’s had them
 
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