eight lug to six axle swap ?

[blazen88]

can you take the axles out of 14 bolt eight lug and replace them with the axle out of a 14 bolt six lug i been looking for a 14 bolt six lug to fit under my 88 k5 no luck everything i have seen thats six lug the spring perches are to wide so i was thinking maybe the axle are the interchangable the six lug rear end i have seen are under the 2500 chevy truck in the 90 thru 94 i think the eight lug axle that will work for me are under mostly suburbans

 

[Chaddy]

The 14boltFF has 8 lugs. The 14boltSF has 6 lugs.

You should look into a 3/4ton with a 14boltFF/44 and swap everthing.

 

[toomany]

The axles in an 8 lug 14B don't have the wheel studs in them. They bolt to the hub, and the hub has the wheel studs.

The axle you are looking for is the SemiFloating 14bolt. It can be found under mid 80's Suburbans, and it's a direct bolt in. This axle is also under the new body style (88+) trucks...it's the 6 lug axle in the 2500's. But the spring perches are differnt width.

 

[blazen88]

so mid eightys suburbans have six lug 14 bolts

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

so mid eightys suburbans have six lug 14 bolts

Well, the six lug SF 14 bolt is a bit more difficult to find than that. Most 3/4 ton trucks got the full floating (8 lug) 14 bolt. The next most common rear end in a 3/4 ton truck is the 8 lug semi-floating 14 bolt. The most rare (and the one you're hoping to find) is a 6 lug semi-floating 14 bolt.

The six lug SF 14 bolts only came in trucks that had a certain (rare) option package, something like a light duty 3/4 ton.


Most people jump to 8 lug stuff because they're cheap, easy to find and they're stronger. The 6 lug SF 14 bolt is out there though.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Sigh...


...the search function is wonderful.

88-95 or so there were the 2500LD trucks. These were the 6 lug 3/4 tons and they had the 6 lug 14SF and the same IFS front axle as a half ton. 88-99 half tons could also get the 6 lug 14SF if they had the F44 option. I've never seen folks nail down just what combination of options made the 14SF happen in the half tons. Some guys had Z71's, others had the towing package, some had the WT package, and others had light GVWR 1/2 tons.

The 14SF 6 lug was only installed under the 88-98 body style trucks. The 14SF 8 lug was installed from the early 80's on in lighter duty 3/4 tons.

 

[JDNobodi]

The 14SF 6 lug was only installed under the 88-98 body style trucks. The 14SF 8 lug was installed from the early 80's on in lighter duty 3/4 tons.

Not quite, I've heard there is also a 14bsf 6 lug with disk brakes on the 99+ trucks. It only came in the silverado SS. I've yet to see it.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Well, there was a 5 lug under the 454SS trucks too but it's another rare bird that is of little use to this discussion as well. The newer one is pricier, hard to find, and would probably end up costing more money to swap in. Sorta like putting one of the new "uber 14FF"'s under our trucks when you can get a regular 14FF for chump change.

 

[6.2Blazer]

I've never seen a 6-lug 14SF that came stock in the older solid axle trucks (pre-88 IFS pickups, pre-92 IFS Blazers and Suburbans) or have heard any positive proof from anybody else they have one...but not saying 100% they did not exist.

The only 6-lug versions I have seen were as AJMBlazer mentioned above.

If you know somebody with a small amount of metal working experience and a welder it's not that hard to move the spring perches.

For direct swapping the axle shafts, I'm thinking that the earlier style 8-lug 14SF that would bolt up to the earlier pre-IFS in regards to spring and shock mounts are a different width, and thus different length shafts, then the newer 6-lug versions.......but again, not 100% sure.

For availability, the 8-lug 14SF seemed to be very common on 3/4 ton series pickups and Suburbans starting in the early 80's (whenever that axle came about). At least I have seen a lot of this era truck in the junkyards with the 14SF.

 

[GRINCH]

I have some 6 lug 14 bolt SF axle shafts from Superior. Click on the links in my sig.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

I haven't really seen this option mentioned here on CK5 but I bet one of the aftermarket axle manufacturers could make some 6 lug shafts for the semi-floating 14 bolt. That way you could use one of the 8 lug SF 14 bolts which are much easier to find.

Of course, you'd have to address brakes too but it might be a convenient time to switch to disc brakes

 

[GRINCH]

The disk brake kits from the Full Floaters also work on the Semi Floats.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

The disk brake kits from the Full Floaters also work on the Semi Floats.

But the disc brake rotors that work with SF or FF 14 bolt are all 8 lug. The half ton, 6 lug rotors are smaller and would need a different bracket.

 

[tipoil]

Or just do what i'm doing ....not finished yet, but soon .

If u guys a interested i can do a full write-up ...let me know!

 

[Blue85]

All of the 14 SF shafts interchange. I'm yet to see an example of ones that don't. There are different lengths out there, to work with different drum widths, but the bearing surface is in the same place. The longer ones are nice because they make the rear track width match the front.

So if you want all bolt in, you grab a older 8-lug version (which fits in your truck). Then you swap the shafts and drums with the later 6-lug version. Or you can buy aftermarket shafts, which is what I did. If you do a disc brake conversion at the same time, you dont' have to worry about matching the shaft length with any particular drum width. You just adjust the spacer thickness.

Moser engineering can do "fill and drill" on the shafts to convert them, but with shipping two ways, it costs more than the aftermarket shafts.