trail rig...14sf? 14ff? dana60? dana70?

[72k5junky]

im looking to make a decent trail rig here on a budget, my question is: is a 14 bolt sf strong enough to handle 35's and a locker for moderate trail use? (im not good enough to do any crazy crawling yet) or am i setting myself up for failure and should just go ahead and upgrade to a ff 14 bolt or even a dana 60 or 70? any advice would be much appreciated... as well would the u joints and yokes outa my 71 k5 bolt right up with any of these rear ends? -thanx

 

[84gmcjimmy]

14bff is stronger than 14bsf, and probably same price?
dana 60 in the rear may be strong enough

 

[mrhoes]

I put a 14SF in my 86 K5 and I am going to run 35s I am not worried about breaking shafts they are big compared to 10 bolt shafts the only spare I think I am going to bring is c-clips

 

[Geargrinder]

IMO the 14b SF would be more than strong enough for ya. It's a little stronger than a Ford 9" and I would have NO PROBLEMS trusting a 9" for what U want to do with it.

 

[redneckdude]

Unless you already have a decent 14bsf sittin around, i would just buy a 14bff. They are cheap and pretty dang cheap to build, esp when you consider how strong they are. Detroits can be had for 350$ and the rest of the parts are only a tad more expensive for a 14bff than a SF. The only real drawback is that the 14bff hangs lower than the SF, but you can always shave a half inch or so safely off the FF to make it not so bad.

 

[mikey_d05]

If it's an option, try and get a 14bff out of an old military CUCV, they already have 4.56 gears and a detroit in them, and most have very very low miles on them. Your driveshafts will not bolt right up, you'll need a conversion u-joint that can be bought at most parts stores, I got mine from NAPA.