New member...should I go with 5 lugs or stay with 6?

[swierker]

Hey everyone. I am a proud new owner of a 70 LWB 1/2 ton. I bought the truck a few weeks ago and brought it home last weekend. I've found this site a few weeks ago, lots of good information and a good group of people. I guess you could say I've been studying all the info on here.

So my plans for the truck... First off... drive it, not my daily driver but I want to enjoy it. It's in good running condition and I want to do a "rolling restoration". I don't want it to be apart for long periods of time. So this leads me to my first question or to get opinions. I want to start with suspension rebuild, disk brakes, and a drop and I want to do it all at the same time. I'll probably buy a kit to do it. The truck is the original 6 lugs but the PO threw in a 5 lug rear which he said is in good shape, better than the one on the truck but I haven't opened it up to take a look yet. It has the trailing arm perches so I thinking it must be from a 71-72 because I think the 73-87 had leafs??? So do you think I should use the 5 lug rear and get the front rotors in 5 lug? Or keep the 6 lug rear and get a 6 lug disk brake kit?

I have my eye on Torq Thrust wheels eventually so 5 lug seems the way to go but I don't want to spend the $$$ right now. So if I do the 5 lug swap I'll need to get a set of new wheels. So really the only extra cost in making the swap is getting a set of 5 lug beater wheels at this point. Any opinions would be appreciated.

Here is a pic of the truck (quality is bad, camera phone), and one messing around at work blocking in a coworkers new Civic, haha

[JimKshortstep4x4]

Welcome to the 67-72 Chevrolet Truck board from West Michigan!

If you are looking at wheel selection as being important, (5) lug is the way to go as there is more variety.

Jim

[oldblue1968chevy]

its tricky finding a rearend (for me), well im cheap. And welcome!

[bigguy69]

i think honestly it depends on your wheel choice. i dont think one is better than he other. and welcome!

[raycow]

I used to believe that 5 lug was better because of rotor availability (5 lug was a factory part, but 6 lug was an aftermarket specialty item). Since then I found a post on this board that said there was a later (88-up) 6 lug rotor that would fit our spindles. Now I think its just a matter of whichever style wheels you like best.

Ray

[usmcchevy]

Honestly, I'd stick with 6. With all of the 99+ trucks being 6 lug, alot more rims have come out. Plus you dont have to touch the rear when converting to disc up front.

[michael bustamante]

the 99 and up chevy wheels will not fit our hubs, also if you switch to discs and keepit 6 lug, you might notice the rear tires do not stick out as much as the fronts, but then again you have a 70 so chances are you have a longer 6 lug rear end. (1 year only)

[swierker]

Thanks for the welcome. I heard that the 71-72 rear ends were narrower but I didn't realize that a 70 may be as well...so I measured and the 6 lug in my truck is the same width as the 5 lug...hmm. I should probably figure out the ratio on the rears... but that might make the decision a little harder.

Does anyone know the measurements of the rear ends? I may be measuring wrong but I got 58" between the plates that the brakes mount to (not sure I know the name of that)

[mr48chev]

It the five lug rear end you have is good and the right ratio you have half the battle won in doing a swap to five lug. The other half is finding the pieces off a 71/72 to complete the swap.

I'm the kind of guy who prefers that the wear parts for a rig that I might have to depend on are pretty easy to get if I need them and that includes brake hubs and rotors. The aftermarket 6 lug units may be great and all but if for some reason you ruined a hub or spindle on the road a few hundred miles from home you might be stuck for a couple of days while you waited for a specially shipped part from the outfit that you ordered the pieces from in the first place. With factory style pieces it's go to a parts house or wrecking yard and get the part and be back on the road again. That's just my take on it.

[raycow]

Originally Posted by swierker

I may be measuring wrong but I got 58" between the plates that the brakes mount to (not sure I know the name of that)

Measure over the wheel mounting surfaces, sometimes called "drum to drum". Should be about 62". The measurement between backing plates isn't reliable for rear end swaps because drum width can vary.

Ray

[swierker]

I realized that the newer 5 lug rear is wider and not narrower as I previously stated. So I measured again and my 6 lug is narrower.

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

also if you switch to discs and keepit 6 lug, you might notice the rear tires do not stick out as much as the fronts

So converting to front disks will widen the front track vs the stock drums regardless of 5 lug or 6? If the 71 later rear was widened to even this out for front disks then that's another plus for the 5 lug rear swap. Just trying to think this all through before making a decision.

[oldblue1968chevy]

If I had a wide 70 rear id swap axles out lol