Help-would you buy this (14FF w/OEM discs)

[SunSoaked]

I stopped by a local yard on the way home today and stumbled upon this axle half buried in the sand.

I could hardly believe what I was looking at. I went to my project truck and took some measurements of the 14FF to make sure it would work. Overall it's 1.5 inches wider at the wheel mounting flange. No big deal.

The guy didn't know what it came out of. I am only interested in the OEM disc brakes. It has the internal parking brake which is really slick.

Anyway- he wouldn't go any less than $550 and wouldn't sell the brakes separately.

I am holding off, since that's more than I want to pay today and I have two axles already. I know this will eat at me- I want that brake setup!

What do you guys think? Is it worth $550? I dont think I can get all the brake parts for that?

I am NOT going to use the caddy calipers under any circumstances. I think this is the right way to get disc brakes and a proper parking brake.

[obijuan]

no, around here that whole axle is a $250 axle. its a very popular axle, they are on craigslist frequently here. its a great way to get rear discs and parking brake, so most guys just use the whole thing as is.

[SunSoaked]

I dont understand all the drama people have on this subject. It seems nobody wants the aftermarket kits that have to use the caddy calipers, but going this route with late model OEM pieces is too time consuming or too expensive. I guess alot of it depends on location? For $250 I would think every truck owner would make the change.

[Shooters_7]

I had "caddy" calipers on my 1987 1/2 ton 4x4 and they worked fine. Overall pretty cheap and I could use the factory park brake. Wish now I would have kept the truck but it is what it is!

[obijuan]

for a big truck with big tires, they dont hold well. small tires it seems to be ok.

most guys just have em for inspection purposes here in flat ass south central texas.

[coops714x4]

here is my 2 cents... as far as price goes I called a couple of salvage yards, and looked on craigslist, from a salvage they wanted 750-900 for one, I found 2 on CL 500 for one 700 for the other. I am not sure what a aftermarket rear disc setup would cost so i am guessing 500 or more + the time and labor to install it. I really don't know much about this setup, But if they work OK and I wanted disc I would go for it PROVIDED the gear ratio is the same or close to mine or what I wanted. I do understand your predicament ( I have 9 axles) stacked next to my garage. LOL so if ya want disc and this will do it for ya then get it, there are lots of these out there Coop

[mcmlxix]

Thats an AAM 14 bff with 10.5" gear. They also make an 11.5 version that was behind the diesel engines. I had on e of the the 11.5" with 4.10 gears and sold it for $700. I then found a junk yard and had the 10.5" with 4.10s shipped to a frieght terminal for $425 but didint have calipers. It seems to be in line for the newer axles.

The nice part about these axles are the integral drum in hat parking brake system. Plus, you can get parts at any store...

I did buy one other but it had a bent tube end and scored the bearing surface. I didn't know it the time. I'm keeping the parts (brakes and carrier w/ gears) till the other one is in my truck and has some miles on it. There was someone making a spacer/clocking adapter to mount these brakes on an old school 14bff. Not a for sale ad, but I'll be looking to get $200 for the brake assembly when I'm sure I dont need the parts...

goto www.car-parts.com search for 2005 GMC 2500 rear axel assembly...

2003
Rear Axle
Chevy Truck Silverado 2500 4.10 RATIO, GT5, F/FLTG, 10.5 in RING GR 84,027 A R077 $330 Eagle Auto & Truck Works USA-AZ(Phoenix) Request_Quote 1-800-839-0965 Request_Insurance_Quote

[Redcap]

Awful high price. Those are 200-300 around here.

[Mr. 250r]

A couple things here obviously its in slightly rough condition its been sitting in the sand *which gets into everything* and has a rusty housing so you could obviously use this as leverage and offer a lower price the worst he could say is no

Also the idea of having the parking brake is nice but getting it to work is the hard part i still haven't got mine to work i need a cable from the pedal on the inside to the cable splitter at the rear end they aren't just pick one of the shelf and it works

Lastly couple things about it as stated its the newer 10.5 from AAM and pretty sure it uses the bigger 1410 u-joint or at least it says that on mine and my u-joint no longer fits, the axle tube is longer also stated, and lastly the pinion itself is shorter now my drive shaft sticks out about 2 more inches

[DirtyLarry]

As stated above that is a 10.5” American Axle from a 2001-2010 GM 2500HD with a 6.0L engine. The 10.5” is the same basic axle GM has used since 1973 although it has changed widths over the years and cooling fins were added to the carrier housing. Duramax and 8.1L used the larger 11.5 axle although the outer hubs, rotors, calipers, etc are the same between the two. In 2011 the 8 lug nut pattern changed from 8 x 6.5” to 8 x 180mm so stay away from 2011 and later axles or you will have mismatched wheels between the front and rear. These AAM 10.5 axles are good axles but too wide for use in older trucks in my opinion. Old trucks look goofy with these wide axles in them. The axle tube ends are different so one just can’t take the backing plates off of these newer axles and quickly convert their old 14 bolt FF to disks. $550 isn’t too bad for one of these newer axles if you wanted to try to install it in an older truck. I have a hard time believing any salvage yard would sell one of these newer axles for anything less. Guess I need to go parts shopping where RedCap lives…

Here is how you can identify a 10.5 vs. an 11.5 them by looking at the rear covers.



Both the GM 2001 to current 10.5 and 11.5 have the same outers






I’ve owned a 2001 2500HD Silverado with an 8.1L since new as well as a 2005 2500HD Silverado with a 6.0L for a few years. After installing 13” drum brakes on my old K10 I don’t see where these later GM rear disks have any real braking advantage over the drums other than in weight savings. The old K10 truck with the camper weighs more than the Silverado but yet it feels much more confident when coming to a stop even with drums.

I definitely agree with SunSoaked…..No way in heck I would swap on Eldorado/Tornado calipers on any truck either, which is why I swapped 11" drums for 13's the other day. Those small calipers were problematic on those cars, why bolt those turds on a project truck??