1-ton (D60?) SRW vs. DRW Front Axle

[kevinr1970]

I looked around and didn't find anything that answered my question directly.
I have seen two 80's crew cabs for sale locally. Both are 1-tons (K30/K3500, Chev/GMC).
I am assuming these should both be D60 front axles if they haven't been swapped through time.

What is the difference between the two; the one for a single rear-wheel application and the one for a dual rear-wheel application?
Is one better than the other, can the DRW version be converted to SRW easily?

[1969 GMC]

they are essentially the same axles, but the drw has the wheel mounts out 4" wider on each side through the use of a different hub body, and the rotor is held on with bolts instead of being clamped in place by the wheel studs.

if you are planning on running rims with a lot of backspacing (like humvee double beadlocks) then the wider stance of the drw axle will help. to convert to srw hubs is usually sort of pricy.

[kwmech]

The only difference between the 2 is the hub and rotor assy.

[kevinr1970]

Thanks for the replies!

I would like a crew 4x4 but really don't want the dually. Sounds like I might be money ahead looking at the SRW then?

[maximum destruction]

thr rotor bolts to the hub. u can remove the bolts, drill the holes for normal wheel studs & then have the hub itself turned down on a lathe to remove the area where the wheel original mounted. i've had this done by the local machine shop & it ran me 175.00 dollars. it still comes out cheaper than swapping the hubs & it kinda looks cool having a machined looking hub versus the cast look.

[low900rr]

I know a guy that did that and he hates it but the damn srw stuff costs so much to convert.