Axle Questions!

[Glen1978]

As some of you know I just bought a 89 K5. I got the engine lined out now its time to move to the axle and suspension. First and foremost my K5 will NOT be a trailer queen. It will be driven part time and wheeled moderately up here in Buena Vista (Taylor Park, Chinamens, etc). I will be running 37" tires and 38" at most. I just ordered the 4" Tuff Country front springs last night and will be ordering the shackle flip for rear. Will most likely need an easy inch and maybe 1" body pucks, the rest will be cut for clearance. Now on to the axles.

I have stock 10 bolts with high gears.....not sure what. No tags on them and I havent jacked it up to spin/count. Sure there 3.08's and open but with the granny 4 speed it makes it seem a little better than it is. With what I have and what I want to do what would yall recommend as far as axles? Here is what I was thinking.

1.) swap in CUCV D60/14 bolt with 4.56 gears and rear Detroit and be DONE. (having trouble finding any local. Nearest set I have found is 10 hours away and $1750 bucks)
2.) swap in rear 14 bolt SRW from some farm truck laying around here and do 8 lug outers on front 10 bolt and call it a day.
3.) buy a local set of D60 and 14 bolt that is rebuilt and geared 4.56 BUT they are both DRW models and both OPEN diff. $900 is what he is asking. Could run H1 wheels for cheap but doesnt leave me with a lot of tire options in 16.5" with my intended dual purpose street / trail.

Let me hear it.......or if you got other options Im open to that as well. thanks!!

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Those prices are a lot better that what Id found around here.

1. Would be nice
2. not sure I'd bother
3. Price out what it would cost to put in lockers, and decide if you want H1's. If you did drop in lockers on both ends you'd probably not end up too far from #1 in price and you'd still be running H1's. I considered this pretty hard as tires were cheap, but didn't know how long the military take-offs were going to be around. The Humvee's are being phased out now, but it will be several years before they're all gone.

 

[Glen1978]

Well being its a driver I dont want the front locked. Especially not up here in snow country. I did a set of H1 12 bolts last year and they are a pain in the ass. Valve stems suck. There heavy as all get out. The O rings pinch and leak. I think Im gona pass on that option. Plus 16.5 tire selection is ridiculously expensive.

 

[Bent77]

Long term option for the front is an ARB, I've run several up front and will upgrade my latest build to one next year

 

[Mark Leisenfelder]

cucv axles all day. That's what I did and never looked back. 1700 dollars for a cucv axle set is outrageous. I sold a set for 1000dollars before, but I am on the east coast I don't know if that makes a different.

Last year I rebuilt a cucv dana 60, and right now I'm rebuilding a beat up rusting farm truck dana 60. Let me just say that most all cucv trucks have low miles and were maintained very well. I didn't break one bolt off the cucv axle and I'm already up to 4 broken bolts on this other D60 So now I have to spend a ton of extra time and money fixing and cleaning this rust ass D60. My point is spend the extra money on an axle set where you know where they came from and you KNOW the truck was taken care of(for the most part). You will thank me later.

 

[blazinzuk]

First off if it's a dually 14 bolt it's from a cab and chassis truck. Square body dually pickups had a Dana 70 rear.

I don't mind the idea of converting the front to 8 lug and running a ff 14 in the rear.

I ran that way on 38s for a couple years. Open in front like your plan is with a Detroit rear. Never really had an issue with the axles.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

1700 dollars for a cucv axle set is outrageous. I sold a set for 1000dollars before, but I am on the east coast I don't know if that makes a different.

It does. d60's are ubsurdly priced out west. There was not one on craigslist for 6mo unless it was in pieces or attached to something else here. Called several yards that I've dealt with and they looked at me like I had a 3rd eye.. Ended up having one shipped from ks. Almost considered a few on here that pop up from the northeast. They're like 1/2 price there but you make some of it up on shipping.

 

[Glen1978]

I just got tired of looking. The CUCV axles I got out of Kansas got cleaned up, rear disc swapped and are bolting in next week. No rotor turning, no seal changes, no new brake pads. The axle has 35k on it and will not need kingpins either. Its tight as a nuns butt.