My New Truck, need some drivetrain advice

[87BrnRsd]

Hey...where are you at in North Carolina? I am currently living in Boone right now, but in about a week ill be in greensboro for the summer. I plan on going to uwharrie quite a bit...we should meet up. Actually, me and a couple guys from school here are planning a uwharrie run towards the end of may. Should give me enough time to put on the headers, intake, fix the blown up hub, and get a new driveshaft made.

To answer some of your questions, I personally wouldnt run 35's on a 10 bolt rear. Reason being is that they are semi-floating axles and if you do happen to break an axle shaft, your tire will fall off. Not good if your doing the hillclimb on daniel. My buddy had a blazer in high school with a rear 10 bolt and 35's. He broke a shaft crossing a small ditch at school and his tire came off down the road when he was going 45. Scary in a lifted truck. The front 10 bolt is full floating (as all fronts are) so if you break a shaft on that one, the tire stays on. I would suggest upgrading to a 14ff rear. They can easily be found for $50-150 dollars in junk yards and you can look for one with lower gears that you will need to make your tranny and engine happy with 35's. The front axle will work. Just having the peace of mind of having a 14ff rear while going up a trail with a hill like daniel makes it worth it. Im running 37's on my 14ff rear and 10 bolt front. Locked at both ends. In the first 15 minutes of wheeling it at dpg i blew up a front hub. I know im living on borrowed time with a 10 bolt front, locked with 37's, but i carry spare shafts and ujoint and the tools to fix them on the trail....so its ok.

You said something about upgrading to a d44 up front. If you have a 10 bolt, dont swap it for a 44. They are both almost identical in strength and parts are cheaper for 10 bolts.

Other than that, i would suggest against a body lift. Worthless in my honest opinion. And you said there was nothing extreme in nc. Ever heard of a little place in the mountains called Tellico? Yeah, its extreme. The place i referred to earlier as dpg (devils playground) is near uwharrie and in about 1 total mile of trails, they have obstacle that make uwharrie look sissy. It is private land though, so you have to wait till they open it for a public event. The ck5 crew made a run there about a month back....you can look at the pictures if you want. Under the "regional" forums....click on the southeast region....then scroll down to the post entitled "dpg march 06." Lotta nice rigs there. And pictures of me breaking my junk.
-Harrison

 

[WKC]

And you said there was nothing extreme in nc. Ever heard of a little place in the mountains called Tellico? Yeah, its extreme.

Sorry if I said that, it's not what I meant. What I meant was that there is nothing too extreme around here in Greensboro that I would be doing. The lift would simply be for looks and MILD wheeling (basically some local trail-running and night-crawling on the weekends) until I swapped in a 14FF, which is definitely in the plans. It seems to me that what most are saying is the 10-bolts are fine with open diffs or limited slips and are fine for mild wheeling and towing some vehicles out of mudholes. The 14-bolt is a must when you start offroading more frequently, taking it to ORV Parks, and true offroad trails or run bigger than 35" tires. I definitely will swap in a 14 bolt as soon as I can.

Also, in regards to the 14-bolt, the axle swap on K5's seems to be very straight-forward. Are their any particular issues with the swap that I should be concerned about? I've read that I will have to get 16" wheels with 8 lugs since 15's won't fit over the drums, but other than that, the swap seems to be fairly simple.

Oh and some bad news about metting up 87BrnsRed...I had to sell the truck recently , due to some family money issues. It's not a big deal right now since I won't be driving until September, but sometimes you just gotta help out the family first. I'm definitely going to get another one though, soon.

 

[Masiony]

just make sure the 14 bolt is out of a 3/4 ton and it will swap right in. i dont know about drums cause mine are long gone, but my 15" rims fit over my rear disks. barely, but they fit. i have 4" BS.

 

[WKC]

I would want to run 15" rims too simply because the tires for them are cheaper, and from what I've read, 15" wheels will go on 3/4 axles just fine and have plenty of clearance if you grind down the brake calipers bit.

 

[Masiony]

there is no need to grind on 3/4 axles usually. most people (such as me) grind a D60 caliper to fit a 15" rim. but a 3/4 ton front should fit without grinding.

 

[WKC]

I would suggest upgrading to a 14ff rear. They can easily be found for $50-150 dollars in junk yards

I assume you got yours from a junkyard...Did you have to do any maintainence to any of the axle parts or was it in good condition?

 

[WKC]

This might sound like a stupid question, but are the 10-bolts that are in the later-model K5s (87-91) the same differentials as the ones that GM put in their SUV's and trucks all the way through the modern trucks? Has anything about them been changed?

Reason why I ask is that my friend used to drive a 2003 K1500 Silverado with a bone stock drivetrain with a 6" Fabtech lift and 35's, and the only thing he ever broke was a CV-shaft for the left front wheel, and he beat the piss out of it. It had the Z71 package, which I believe either came with a factory locking diff or lmited slip.

 

[87BrnRsd]

I assume you got yours from a junkyard...Did you have to do any maintainence to any of the axle parts or was it in good condition?

Actually, I got mine brand spanking new in a crate. Got it hella cheap. And...I may actually know of a junk yard in jamestown that may have one or could get one for pretty cheap. I do know that they can be found for the price i listed before. If you pay more than $150 from a junkyard for a 14ff, your *probably* getting ripped off. If you get one from the junk yard...you should probably tear it down and inspect everything and replace what needs to be replaced. Still...not too expensive.

In regards to 15" wheels....yes, they will fit on a 3/4 ton 14sf, or 1 ton 14ff. Trust me, im running 15" wheels on my 1 ton 14ff. If you run 15" wheels on a D60, or upgrade your front 10 bolt to 3/4 ton 8-lug, then you will have to do some grinding on the caliper. Pretty easy and straightforward...took me about 30 minutes worth of grinding. (30 minutes was grinding a little bit...checking the clearance...grinding a little more...etc).

Yes, the 14 bolt axle swap into a K5 is very simple. Can be done in an hour or two if you know what your doing. 3/4 ton 14 bolts will fit right in. 1 ton 14 bolts will need the spring perches and shock mounts cut off and re-welded in the right locations. You will also either need to modify the yoke on your driveshaft to fit the larger 1350 series u-joint, or run an expensive conversion u-joint from napa. In my honest opinion, 14 bolts are a must on our trucks if you plan to wheel anything over 33's. Like stated earlier, ive seen a 10 bolt break with 35's, open, and not even wheeling. I look at it more as a safety issue. Plus, if your going 35's...then youll want to re-gear anyways. For cheaper than the price for gears and installation in a 10 bolt, you could probably find a 14ff with lower gears already in it. 4.10's are very common in 14 bolts. Im assuming you are running a 700r4 automatic tranny.....and a good way to kill it is to run larger than stock tires without re-gearing. Just a heads up.

Anyways, ill be in greensboro for the summer, starting next week. We can still meet up if you'd like. Maybe you can look at my rig and make some plans or steal some ideas that you would want to do to yours. I have probably already been there done that, so I could offer you some good insight about our trucks. Where in greensboro are you? I actually live in jamestown and went to ragsdale high school....so I am shouting distance from greensboro. Anywyas...I hope I cleared up some questions you had. Concerning Masiony's post about not having to grind 3/4 ton calipers....it is false. Trust me, you DO have to grind them. I have the gouge on the inside of my wheels uup front to prove it. Any other questions...feel free to pm me or ask on here.
-Harrison

 

[87BrnRsd]

This might sound like a stupid question, but are the 10-bolts that are in the later-model K5s (87-91) the same differentials as the ones that GM put in their SUV's and trucks all the way through the modern trucks? Has anything about them been changed?

Reason why I ask is that my friend used to drive a 2003 K1500 Silverado with a bone stock drivetrain with a 6" Fabtech lift and 35's, and the only thing he ever broke was a CV-shaft for the left front wheel, and he beat the piss out of it. It had the Z71 package, which I believe either came with a factory locking diff or lmited slip.

I believe in 88 or so, they went from 28 spline axle shafts to 30 spline. A little strongger...but not too much. 30 splines are more rare, so parts are usually a little more for them. Keep in mind, a silverado is gonna have less weight over the rear wheels than our trucks do. And...im sure he wheeled it good, but his rig is ifs. Your is gonna flex better than ifs...period. Hence, your going to be able to go more places...harder places....places that put more stress on your axles. See what im getting at? Wheeling the piss out of his truck, i can probably do in 2wd with my detroited 14ff.

BTW- I believe the z-71 package came with the infamous optioin code G-80...which is called a gov lock. Its an automatic locking differential...and has earned a reputation of being one of the weakest locking diff's on the market. They are frequently called "gov-bombs" because of their inherent ability to explode when wheeled. In other words....gov-locks in 10 bolts suck balls.
-Harrison

 

[WKC]

What I will probably do, is simply put some 2" springs in for now, and run 33's. Since the diffs and axles seem they are going to be a problem anyway, I'll probably do the 14-bolt swap before the lift, so that issue is addressed before any problems occur. And then when i put the lift on, it will be ready to go.

My dad actually went to Ragsdale, and I live out towards PTI Airport. I'd love to take a look at your Blazer, since it seems like you are doing some things that I have in my plans, and I'd like to get some more insight and really look at what I need to do for an axle swap. I feel confident completely in doing the swap itself, but I don't quite have the wrenching experience or tools to go inside the axle to fix anything that would be wrong with a junkyard axle (unless doing some of that is simpler that I think it is).

Like I said, I can't go wheeling because A, I don't have my license yet, and B, no longer have a truck, but to look at yours a get a plan a budget going would be great.
My e-mail is [email protected]

I have a restricted account so I can't send PM's. Maybe I could set up a time to see your truck or soemthing.

 

[87BrnRsd]

2" and 33's sounds like just what you need for now. Easy to drive, doesnt kill gas mileage as bad, still capable off road. I put my 14ff in before the lift like you stated...so I would be on the good side. Like I said...ill be home from Appalachian State next tuesday, so anytime after then will be fine. You can just look at how i did things...tke a ride in my truck...then see what things you want to do the same, and what things you want to do differently. My brother lives right down the road from ragsdale and together in his shop...we have a ton of tools (most are his). So, if you have any problems over the summer, we could definitely help you out. We could easily teach you the ins and outs of the k5 since we both have one. Ill e-mail you in a while and give you my phone number so you can call me. But...im in college, so its time to start drinking. Later man.
-Harrison

 

[WKC]

Sounds good.

 

[blazinzuk]

there is no need to grind on 3/4 axles usually. most people (such as me) grind a D60 caliper to fit a 15" rim. but a 3/4 ton front should fit without grinding.

I have done alot ( at least 20) of these swaps and all of them needed grinding to fit 15" rims some it seemed less some more but all needed some.

 

[Masiony]

I have done alot ( at least 20) of these swaps and all of them needed grinding to fit 15" rims some it seemed less some more but all needed some.

well i guess i was wrong. i have heard from some people that they didnt have to grind to fit 15's but i cannot say i have dont it myself.