CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
I have a 6 lug 14bsf in mine.

If I did it again, id go 8 lug and a 14bff.

Everything is more expensive on a 14bsf. The detroit was $720 compared to like $450 for a FF.

Mine has treated me well. I just could have spent way less money on a FF, and they are stronger and easier to setup gears.

15" wheels fit.
 
With an 8 lug d44?
15" wheels may clear in the back, but I'd always heard you had to go at least 16.5" in the front to clear the brakes.
 
I know that 15" wheels have been put on 8 lug D44. I can't tell you for sure how much grinding has to be done.
But 16's are stock stuff.
But think that the decision to keep 6 lug, or go to 8 lug had to be made based on the use of the truck and personal preference.
LOTS of different things to consider as far as the parts.
 
I have a few things I need to get from the junkyard this weekend so while I'm there I think I'm going to look for a 6 lug 14 bolt sf axle. Preferably with disk brakes. What trucks should I be looking for? Is it as easy to identify as it sounds (count the bolts)?

If I can find one for a reasonable price I'll pick it up. It would be awesome to find one with 4.56 gears already, but that seems unlikely.
 
I wonder which years came with the disk brakes though, if any. Pretty sure that 88-98 will be drums, but there could be a unicorn.
 
I wonder which years came with the disk brakes though, if any. Pretty sure that 88-98 will be drums, but there could be a unicorn.


The only 6 lug 14bolts that had discs were 02-up 2wd escalade/denalis, 2wd SS silverados, and 6.0/6.2l trucks and burbs with part time transfer cases. They are hard to find and quite expensive when they do show up.

Frankly the drums on the older 14bsf are good enough that discs really aren't worth the hassle IMO.
 
I really had to search around for this. :rotfl:


X2 on this.

They aren't super rare, but I've only seen a handfull of them for sale localy.

My 6lug one I bought an entire truck to get. Only paid $450 and it drove onto the trailer. Parted/scraped it out and came out ahead with the axle and a good running 350. The second one I picked up is 8lug, only paid $50 for it though. The 6lug one is 3.42, 8lug is 4.10. I plan on swaping gears between the two as I want the 6lug/4.10's for my project.

For brakes, I going to use some weld on brackets with GM metric calipers and a 88+ light duty front rotor. I'll have some info in my 70 Jimmy thread in a few days about it.
 
I did end up at the junk yard Saturday and got something:
14bolt1.jpg

2 somethings to be exact. :D
I wasn't able to find what I was actually looking for, but the yard I was at was having a sale. Any rear axle for $80. Deal was so good, I bought 2. :woot:

Both are 3.73 and one of them has a gov-loc.

Time to start building a rear axle I guess. I have a few projects I need to get done before I can really get started on it, but I'll start cleaning it up and getting it ready over the next little bit.
 
One of the things I hit at Blazer Bash was my tie rod. I bent it bad enough that the front tires were squealing like I was locked up and going around a corner while going straight down the road. According to what I found, the toe in should be set to 0" up to 0.6". When I measured it, I was at 2.75"! :eek1:

I tried just adjusting it back out at first, but the tie rod was bent bad enough that just rotating it around was changing the toe by more than +/- 1" as it went around. I thought I was going to have to go find a new one, but I decided to see if I could straighten it in the shop press.

Here is my set up:
Tie_rod_fix1.jpg

I was able to roll the tie rod on my bench to find the highest point, then I used the red square tubing to support the ends of the bend and push the bend right out by going just a bit past straight. It took 4 or 5 presses at various spots to get it, but it was surprisingly easy. The final product was pretty straight and plenty good enough to get the toe in set correctly.
I wasn't sure that it was going to work, but I'm sure glad I tried. :waytogo:
 
Good deal! It's a pain to press something that can roll!
FYI, you can do it without the extra width support that you made, it just takes more pressure . But it makes it so that you don't have to push as far to get the results.
Less fighting the 'spring' action.
 
Score!!!! The more I work on my sf14 axles the more I like the slip on drums.. although my 99 burb has the slip on drums also and that's a ff14
 
Good deal! It's a pain to press something that can roll!
FYI, you can do it without the extra width support that you made, it just takes more pressure . But it makes it so that you don't have to push as far to get the results.
Less fighting the 'spring' action.
Good to know. I figured it would still work, but I was worried that I might start crushing the tube. I still would have tried it if I didn't happen to have the other metal lying around.
 
I finally got around to pulling the transfer case in an effort to find my atf leak. As mentioned before, I'm pretty sure that it is leaking out of the vent, leading to speculation that I am pushing fluid from the transmission into the transfer case.

Before I dropped the transfer case I drained the fluid. It had almost exactly 2 quarts in it. I was thinking 2qts would not be enough to be "over-full" and pushing fluid out.

right? Wrong evidently. :(

I took a picture of the front of the transfer case, and the back of the tranny:
Atf_leak1.jpg


Atf_leak2.jpg


There is some fluid in there, but overall, it seemed dry to me. There was some fluid in there, but it wasn't too bad so I started to feel optimistic... until I remembered the blazer had been sitting for a few weeks. plenty of time for things to dry out in there. I decided to start it and see if I could see any fluid leaking and sure enough it started seeping around the output shaft almost immediately. :doah:

Is that seal something I can replace without rebuilding the trans? I'd really rather not rebuild it right now if I can avoid it.
 
The input on the tcase should be the only thing you need to replace...
 
The input on the tcase should be the only thing you need to replace...
But when I started the engine, atf was seeping out of the back of the transmission. Is it supposed to do that, and the TC seal just keeps it out?
 
Top Bottom