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3/4-ton running gear for 76 K5 Blazer

muddybuddy said:
@tarussell @kennyw there is also the unicorn van 14b, for same width as front. Ive never seen one in flesh - dont recall, do they have the right spring pad and shock mounts like k20 (i believe so) and bolt right in or are they k30 mounting?
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I have 2 of them . There setup for van mounts . Otherwise housing and shaft length longer same parts as normal 14ff and srw hubs . Most vans got semi float 14 bolt 9.5 . Not as common to find 14ff .

And its closer to a dana 60 front width than narrower 3/4 ton front .
 
For some reason i always thought they were direct bolt in, but makes sense the shock and perch locations would be different.

Agree internals all the same, but the extra ~3-4” of width is always nice.
 
muddybuddy said:
Agree internals all the same, but the extra ~3-4” of width is always nice.
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Until you realize why the rear is narrow over front when it now takes a 5 acre field to turn around over the 3 acre field factory width .

Most do the swap for looks or mud racing so tires in same track .
 
Great posts. I feel myself leaning toward the D60 front.........not sure I'll live long enough to pay for everything!
 
sweetk30 said:
Until you realize why the rear is narrow over front when it now takes a 5 acre field to turn around over the 3 acre field factory width .

Most do the swap for looks or mud racing so tires in same track .
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I know it impacts turning radius, but it really makes that big of a difference on a mild setup?

Trying to think back to my old k5 when i had same wms front/rear, granted it was like 10+ yrs ago and on 42’s with longer wheel base from stock, so i would just hop curbs when needed for uturns. Hard to know how much of each mod contributed.

Definitely looks best.

Fishtails can fix turning radius, though not always practical
 
There is also the slightly wider option of a SRW 14FF out of a P-series van - if I remember correctly it’s close to a G-series van width.

If I lived and wheeled in a mountainous region with extremely tight turn backs I would keep the narrower rear track width for the turning radius benefits but since the hills are far and few in Florida I choose the rear wider track width even though it’s all vanity over function - it just looks so much better!
 
Am I correct that I don't want 1-ton axles out of a dually pick-up? Also, what 1-ton vehicles came with 4.56 gears? So I can hopefully shop more specifically. Thanks
 
It depends on what you want for wheels. There are two different types of dual rear wheel, rear axles. There is the wider dually Dana 70 and the narrow cab-chassis 14 bolt. You cannot use a cab-chassis rear axle for a K5.

You can run the wider D60 front and D70 rear with HMMV beadlock wheels. It looks good but them you are limited in your availability of the 16.5" wheels.

You can also convert a D60 dually axle to SRW by spending more money on machining or new bearing hubs but not the rear axles.
 
kennyw said:
It depends on what you want for wheels. There are two different types of dual rear wheel, rear axles. There is the wider dually Dana 70 and the narrow cab-chassis 14 bolt. You cannot use a cab-chassis rear axle for a K5.

You can run the wider D60 front and D70 rear with HMMV beadlock wheels. It looks good but them you are limited in your availability of the 16.5" wheels.

You can also convert a D60 dually axle to SRW by spending more money on machining or new bearing hubs but not the rear axles.
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So no on the dually 14-bolt. I am planning on running 17" wheels but haven't picked any out yet. Trying not to make this any more complicated or expensive then I have to but I'm finding out I have a lot to learn.
 
To answer some of your other questions the easiest D60/14B-FF axles to swap would be from any SRW ( single rear wheel ) application and all SRW CUCV versions come with 4.56’s and rear Detroit Locker ( a few versions come with a front Track-Loc ).
Civilian 4WD K-30 squares of this era basically were offered in 3.73, 4.10 or 4.56 gear ratios and may or may not come with a rear only Gov-Lock differential.
Other ratios exist for both axles but these three were what was available in these type of trucks at that time frame.
HTH’s
 
tarussell said:
To answer some of your other questions the easiest D60/14B-FF axles to swap would be from any SRW ( single rear wheel ) application and all SRW CUCV versions come with 4.56’s and rear Detroit Locker ( a few versions come with a front Track-Loc ).
Civilian 4WD K-30 squares of this era basically were offered in 3.73, 4.10 or 4.56 gear ratios and may or may not come with a rear only Gov-Lock differential.
Other ratios exist for both axles but these three were what was available in these type of trucks at that time frame.
HTH’s
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It helps alot. Thanks! There is a set of SRW (now I know what that stands for) near me with 4.10 gears. I'm trying to decide if I should wait a while and see if something with 4.56 pops up. Waiting is hard......
 
JohnNoble said:
It helps alot. Thanks! There is a set of SRW (now I know what that stands for) near me with 4.10 gears. I'm trying to decide if I should wait a while and see if something with 4.56 pops up. Waiting is hard......
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with SRW rear axle you will have to move spring perches and shock mounts
 
I've been reading/searching through a lot of posts here and am getting a lot of good information from you all. Summing up what I THINK I know right now:

I want a Dana 60 for the front. Ideally I'd like to find one with 4.56 gears so I don't have to pay for regearing.

I want a 14bff for the rear....I think. Ideally with 4.56 gears to match the gears in the front D60 that I don't have yet. Can I realistically find one that will bolt on AND have 4.56 gears?
I've also read about AAM rear from a later model. It's wider so more similar in width to the D60 in the front (that I don't have yet). BUT I'm unsure of what's involved and availability of parts, etc.

I can purchase, locally, a matched set of 1-ton axles (D60/14bff) with 4.10 gears. I can try and live with them or spend $$$ to have them regeared.

I am thinking that relocating spring perches and shock mounts is quite a bit less expensive than regearing.

Appreciate all of your feedback.
 
JohnNoble said:
I want a 14bff for the rear....I think. Ideally with 4.56 gears to match the gears in the front D60 that I don't have yet. Can I realistically find one that will bolt on AND have 4.56 gears?
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Possible, yes but unlikely. It would need to come from a 70s K20.

It would be cheaper to pay a shop to move spring perches and shock mounts on the rear axle than to pay a shop to regear an axle. So focus your search on gear ratio since the one you want was available from the factory.

A match set of 4.10 gears could also get you started and you could regear later with axles in the truck if needed.
 
I have no idea what the production numbers were but in my experience 4.10 was the most common and easiest to find. I would not pass on any D60 in my general area at all. They are definitely harder to find in the last few years. 4.10 work fine for lots of applications. I have run several trucks with 37" tires and 4.10 gears, its fine for mountain roads and trails.

The D60 in my Blazer came as a set with a dually D70. I put SRW hubs on it and didn't even use the D70, I paired it with a 4.10 AAM10.5.

In my mind if you are going to get into some serious 4 wheeling where a 4.10 just won't work you probably will want to gear lower than a 4.56 anyway. At that point you can put 4.88 or 5.13 into any axle you end up using, just getting those heavy duty housings found and in the truck is the big hurdle. A matched set is a bonus since you can easily swap them in over a weekend with some planning.

Where are you finding all these D60's up in MT? I might have to come up and get some! :saweet:
 
14bff is easy gear swap. Grab that matched set and get them under your truck.
Will be worlds better than 3.08 at 4.1
 
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