HD 11.5" 14 bolt axle on a 1500HD?

[crewcabcruiser]

I can't get enough of that huge 14 bolt 11.5" axle under the HD's, its so impressive.

Will it fit under the 1500HD? Not that I'll could ever break the little 9.5" 14 bolt but the 11.5" with a shiny aluminum cover would just look mean!

Looking underneath, the brakes are the same & suspension pickup points are in the same location, it might need to have the driveshaft shortened and then re-balanced, not a big deal and add U-joints with zerks while its out. I can do the actual swap myself.

What do you guys think, should I undertake it or spend my money somewhere else (i.e. trade up for a 2500HD)- do any of you know what a complete 11.5" 14 bolt with 4.10 & locker would run brand new from the General?

[Heavy Duty Neil]

Joe, sorry, but it is in fact a 9.5" semi-floater on 1500HD's. :( Here's some pics of it on my truck:

http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL8/128175/226098/6260148.ptp

http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL8/128175/226098/6260137.ptp

I too have thought about this conversion, but it's not very feasible unless you find one in a salvage yard somewhere. Even then, I'm not sure if a shortened driveshaft would work because I think you need a bigger U-joint & a different yoke. I don't know if an Allison driveshaft will fit in a 4L80E (I doubt it, plus it would need to be shortened too). The best thing to do would probably just settle for a 10.5" full-floater out of a wrecked 2500HD 6.0/4L80E truck. That way you could go ahead and use the 2500HD driveshaft too. Getting new OEM parts will drain your wallet quickly. Honestly, I wouldn't do a thing until the 9.5" blows up, (which may never happen). smile.gif

[ 08-16-2002: Message edited by: Heavy Duty Neil ]</p>

[Heavy Duty Neil]

You 100% sure about that? ;)

[Allison Jettester]

Crewcabcruiser,
For what it's worth, I put a full floater 14 bolt rear out of a mid 80's C30 Chev dually in my K15 77 GMC. I had to move the shock and spring seats, but my worse problem was to find a drive shaft to fit both my transfer case and the big flange on the diff. I took the old shaft and went to the junk yard and found the rear shaft of a Ford dumptruck (oh well), matched almost perfect (I had to cut about an inch off the front male splined shaft). I also put a high performance 454 in the truck. The main reason for the swap is because of the axels and bearings wearing out with heavy loads at high speeds, not because of the old 12 bolt gears not holding up.
Now before all you guys say it won't hold up, I did this 17 years ago and pulled my backhoe and other heavy equipment on a 24 foot 12 ton trailer twice to Canada from Wash D. C.., as well as carried a big Amerigo slide-in on the same trip many times. The only problem experienced was to wear the clutches out twice on my Turbo 350 trans. But the clutches also wore out at 90K miles before I did this. I rebuilt it myself with $60 rebuild kits from Napa. (Think the Trans rebuild shops might be ripping you off charging $1200.00 or more?)
Truck is still running.

[ 08-18-2002: Message edited by: Allison Jettester ]</p>

[Heavy Duty Neil]

Hey, why did Joe Pool delete his messages?