Axle Options

[wade_ab]

I've been doing a lot of research on here and not for sure what set up I should go with. I have a 1969 k10 and want to beef up the suspension and axels some. Im not looking to bog hard, just mud some and have it to pull a trailer. I like the whole 14 bolt ff with a dana 60 up front but I dont think I need that much beef for what I am doing. I have a set of 6 lug 35s and wheels that are left over so I dont want to go 8 lug. What would yall suggest for the best option as far as axles, rearend, and gear ratios?

I dont know if it matters or not but future plans include a lq9 and 4l80e.

[Mr. 250r]

well if your not gonna mud hard or rock crawl might as well save the money from a D60 and put that towards the lq9 and im not sure if there's 6 lug versions or adapters although there could be unless the d60 is like dirt cheap and you somehow got it for an awesome price, 14 bolt FF's are usually cheap so might as well but if your wanting a 6 lug im not sure about that i know they did the heavy half but i thought that was a SF hopefully someone else with more info on those can chime in

[Redcap]

A Dana 44 is really marginal for 35" tires.

[Tex_50613]

Originally Posted by Redcap

A Dana 44 is really marginal for 35" tires.

all depends on how you drive it, I've been wheeling 44x18r15's on the same dana 44 8 lug for the last 4 years without any problems, as for the rear I ran a welded 14bolt simi float in the rear till last year at which time I hand gernaded the carrier in some deep quicksand

[Mr. 250r]

I always thought i had some magical 10 bolt because i ran the....... crap out of mine and ramped it and it held up great until i tried yanking this out and as you can tell it had to be dug out with a trakhoe, +1 for my 91 10 bolt lol rest in piece my former axle

[wade_ab]

yeah the truck will just see some pipeline and deer lease mud. Nothing too too deep. I would just drive it as a truck for truck things the majority of the time. I have a little ricer that i drive to work to save on gas so the truck wont be a full time daily driver.

Redcap: what would you suggest? Im pretty new to the axle and gear ratio world. Ive been doing my research, just looking for some suggestions.

here is the truck as it sit now. Just got it in two days ago. bought it off ebay. it took two months to get from utah to texas lol.

[Redcap]

Originally Posted by wade_ab

yeah the truck will just see some pipeline and deer lease mud. Nothing too too deep. I would just drive it as a truck for truck things the majority of the time. I have a little ricer that i drive to work to save on gas so the truck wont be a full time daily driver.

Redcap: what would you suggest? Im pretty new to the axle and gear ratio world. Ive been doing my research, just looking for some suggestions.

here is the truck as it sit now. Just got it in two days ago. bought it off ebay. it took two months to get from utah to texas lol.

If you are going to play nice and easy, then keep the D44. No reason to endure the expense of going D60 unless you play hard and need to.

[wade_ab]

so the d44 will be good with 35s?
what gear ratio do I run in the front and back? 3.73 and 4.10? or do I even need that much?

[snj8198]

From the uses you are describing you will be fine with the D44 for 35's. As for the rear, guy could search for a semi-floating 14 bolt with the 9 1/2" ring gear with the 6 lug pattern. Check the bone yards for early 90's heavy 1/2 and light duty 3/4 ton Chevy's and GMC's.

As for gears, there is lots to factor: what motor do you have and how is it built? What trans do you have? Stick/auto? Overdrive?

A near stock small block will necessitate 4:56's. More torque, especially if you have a big block and you can use 4:11's. I'm guessing this is a stock 1:1 tranny so a guy would probably stick to 4:11's to keep the rpm's down on the highway but you won't come out the hole as easy with a heavy load.

There's lots to think about to get the combo happy together.

[wade_ab]

yeah thats what ive been trying to figure out. its got a 350 in it now with a 4 speed stick. I want to shove that 6.0 in there with the 4l80e soon. so what ever i do now, i want it to jive with the new motor and tranny set up.

that being said, snj8198 what combo would you put together? ive got lots to learn...

[snj8198]

With the 6.0 you can do about anything you want as it's a nice power plant with a nearly seamless torque curve and broad power band. But my opinion is 4:56's with the OD. That 4L80E has a tall first gear 2:48 and could use a bit over gearing to pull a load from a stop. When playing with an overdrive and 35's I like 4.56's with small block and 4:11's with a big block. Again I find it depends on the motor build though.

[wade_ab]

i found a really good budget build up in hot rod mag for the 6.0, I can easily get 450+ hp out of it with mild bolt ons and different cam. thats plenty for me. Im not drag racing it lol

[snj8198]

careful on your cam profile. you dont want to raise you powerband up so high that you make the vehicle ineffective for the towing aspect, if that's important to you. The higher the powerband starts, the deeper the gears you'll need to get into that band.

[wade_ab]

here is a quote from the article:

GM Hot cam, which had a 112-degree LSA and a lopey idle. It turned out that the first step up from stock-Crane's PN 1449551 with 210/218-degree duration at 0.050-inch tappet lift-was a real torque monster, churning out more peak and average lb-ft than any other cam tested.

Read more: http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...#ixzz1dFVPeNKZ

after they did all their "mild mods" they were getting over 500 hp

[mcmlxix]

I chose to go with a late model rear that has factory disc brakes w/ e-bake. It came out of a GMC truck with a 6.0L / 4L80e and has 4.10 gears and factory locker. This is an AAM 14 bolt full float axle 8 lug with a 10.5" ring gear.

I had purchased a complete low mileage rear from a diesel truck with the allison trans and it was geared 3.73... This is even bigger with 11.5" ring gear as opposed to the one above that had a 10.5" ring gear.

I decided to go overkill with a D60 front and will probably never use it to its full potential, but I will never have to worry about it when I'm done.. plus the cool factor...

Again these are 8 lugs and would require new wheels... as well as some fabrication to get the rear axle under the truck. I picked up a set of Hummer H2 17" wheels for cheap so that was a plus.

[wade_ab]

dang mcmlxix that sounds beefy...i like it.....what type of fab work did that rear axel take?

and I talked to the guy I bought my truck from and he said the front axle was out of a k5. He said it was a 3.73 gear ratio...would this have the d40 or d44 axles in it?

[mcmlxix]

Originally Posted by wade_ab

dang mcmlxix that sounds beefy...i like it.....what type of fab work did that rear axel take?

and I talked to the guy I bought my truck from and he said the front axle was out of a k5. He said it was a 3.73 gear ratio...would this have the d40 or d44 axles in it?

K5 axle depends on the year... D44 is found in the 69-late 70s early 80s... At some point they changed to a Corporate 10 bolt.... You can swap 3/4 ton (8 lug) outers for the D44 as the housing is the same. There was a right up about it... HERE


The AAM rear just needs a new set of perches at the right width and shock mounts that match the mounting points on the frame...

You could tow a house and probably never kill the larger AAM rear..

[wade_ab]

the front is a 1972 k5 set up...

i found a 14 bolt ff with 4.56 on craigslist for $200, does that sound like a good deal?

[Mr. 250r]

My rear end is almost identical to mcmlx's except I went with an 06 10.5 FF not the AAM and as he said gotta get new perches and move shock mounts as well mine is slightly wider than original semi floater but that's fine and I'm also running h2 wheels lol
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[mcmlxix]

Originally Posted by wade_ab

the front is a 1972 k5 set up...

i found a 14 bolt ff with 4.56 on craigslist for $200, does that sound like a good deal?

4.56 wasnt standard that I know of.... There were also different widths. Van, Pickup, and Cab & Chassis.... Also dual and single rear wheel... it all makes a difference.

HERE is a good article about the 14 BFF ....

[wade_ab]

Originally Posted by Mr. 250r

My rear end is almost identical to mcmlx's except I went with an 06 10.5 FF not the AAM and as he said gotta get new perches and move shock mounts as well mine is slightly wider than original semi floater but that's fine and I'm also running h2 wheels lol
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bout how much would one of those run, im guessing yall picked them up at a junk yard or from and individual?

and how are yalls front ends set up?

im basically starting from scratch so i can go any direction.

[mcmlxix]

Originally Posted by Mr. 250r

My rear end is almost identical to mcmlx's except I went with an 06 10.5 FF not the AAM and as he said gotta get new perches and move shock mounts as well mine is slightly wider than original semi floater but that's fine and I'm also running h2 wheels lol
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I actualyl bought a 10.5" FF with 4.10 gears from an 07 as the first one (11.5" FF) has 3.73 gears... It was cheaper then a gear swap...

I dont have mine installed yet... I need the cash from the sale of the rear to fund my crossover steering... I dont want 8 lug w/ 35" tires on the back and 33s up front while I wait to fund the D60 swap...

[Mr. 250r]

Mine was quite a bit for my rear axle lol but I wanted everything on it nothing missing a low mileage piece it came with the g80 locker, disc brakes etc as for my front I'm running an 86 Dana 60 that was a bolt in setup all I needed was new spring plate and u bolts which I got from 4wdfactory, in your case you want one from a single wheel 3/4 ton truck a 1 ton the perches will have to be moved out
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[mcmlxix]

Originally Posted by wade_ab

bout how much would one of those run, im guessing yall picked them up at a junk yard or from and individual?

and how are yalls front ends set up?

im basically starting from scratch so i can go any direction.

The AAM rear from a yard around here runs about $1100 for 10.5" and $1300 for the 11.5" ... if you can find them from someone you can sometimes get a better deal... I was originaly asking $900 for my 11.5" but droped it to $750. I asked the higher price before I found the one with the gear ratio that matched my D60 front... now I dropped to what I paid just to get the money back...

Also make sure the one you find is complete... rotors, calipers and if possible brake lines.... mine has all that and the e-brake cables...

[wade_ab]

Originally Posted by Mr. 250r

Mine was quite a bit for my rear axle lol but I wanted everything on it nothing missing a low mileage piece it came with the g80 locker, disc brakes etc as for my front I'm running an 86 Dana 60 that was a bolt in setup all I needed was new spring plate and u bolts which I got from 4wdfactory, in your case you want one from a single wheel 3/4 ton truck a 1 ton the perches will have to be moved out
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sounds good, thanks

ill have to start searching the bone yards. what gear ratio would most likely be in the 3/4 ton fronts?