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Rear End Quez

fire350

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Forest Park, GA
I have an 88 K5 Blazer.

I need a rear end for it.

When it comes to choices at the junk yard, what year and models did chevy put the rear end I need in?

In other words, did chevy use that rear end just in the K5?

Thanks,

Jonathan
 
im not 100% positive but i believe its the same width as a k10 truck. i know its the same rear, and im 99.9% sure its the same width. but while ur at it, if you not going for an OEM restore,and plan on lifting it and adding bigger tires, try and find a stronger rear end like a 12bolt or a 14bff. (the 14bff wont blow up...ever)
 
Any 73-87 half ton or 3/4 ton axle will work(you be doing more work with a 3/4 ton though).. if you want to stay with whats in there now, I believe 81-87(91 for Subs and Blazers) half tons have what you need. All half ton axles will be a bolt in from those years.

The other consideration is that the gears match the front axle.. should be able to find out what was in yours originally by looking up the RPO codes. On the junk yard axle I'd probably pull the cover and do the math... count the teeth on the ring gear and on the pinion gear and if I remember right it's divide the number of teeth on the ring by the number of teeth on the pinion.
 
im not 100% positive but i believe its the same width as a k10 truck. i know its the same rear, and im 99.9% sure its the same width. but while ur at it, if you not going for an OEM restore,and plan on lifting it and adding bigger tires, try and find a stronger rear end like a 12bolt or a 14bff. (the 14bff wont blow up...ever)
oh really, a 12b is stronger? thats news to me

It would require a little more work and cash, but either the 14sf or 14ff are great axles up upgrade to. i would have a very hard time going back to a half ton axle again.
 
oh really, a 12b is stronger? thats news to me

It would require a little more work and cash, but either the 14sf or 14ff are great axles up upgrade to. i would have a very hard time going back to a half ton axle again.

The 12 bolt is stronger than the 10bolt (slightly). It has a bigger ring gear and slightly thicker shafts if you want to get techincal.
 
IF you go with a 14FF stay away from the 84'/85' model years. They have the small pinion support bearing. They can and will go out faster then the larger pinion bearings of earlier and later years. Basically since their smaller in size and the roller pin diameter is smaller, the pins spin at a faster rpm which leads to premature wear of the roller pins. Hence the reason they went back to the bigger bearings in 86'.
 
ya, so it seems you dont want a stock truck again, and even though a 1 ton front (dana 60) is hard to find and $$$, the rear 1 ton (14bff) is easier and cheaper to find. i would go with a 14bff. if you find the right deal, you could get one for sometimes even $150.find out what gears you have and try to find a rear with the same gears. if you cant. you can always just put in the rear and use it until you have the $$$ to change ur front gears to match the rear gears or upgrade ur front axle to a 3/4 or 1 ton.
 
The 12 bolt is stronger than the 10bolt (slightly). It has a bigger ring gear and slightly thicker shafts if you want to get techincal.

a couple people were trying to tell me that a 14b semi-floater and a 12 bolt are the same thing and they swore to it:doah:
 
I had a GM mechanic tell me there was no such thing as a 14SF, even though it was under my truck that he was looking at... :rolleyes:
 
The 12 bolt is stronger than the 10bolt (slightly). It has a bigger ring gear and slightly thicker shafts if you want to get techincal.
and i believe smaller bearings and possibly pinion shaft? if it is SLIGHTLY stronger overall, i still wouldn't waste my time with it unless it was free and sitting there ready to drop in...Its not worth mentioning typically because of it being MARGINALLY better.
 
Of the destroyed 10 bolts I've seen, 95% of them are gov-locked. No gov-lock, the 10 bolts seem every bit as strong as the 12 bolts in actual use.

This has little to do with the 8.5" diff, other than the gov-lock puts too much stress on the carrier when it locks up.
 

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