i did a 14 bolt swap on mine couple years ago, that rust doesn't look bad to me, mine looked pretty much the same and the guy that installed it said it cant have many miles on it, brakes setup (drums) where oem and like new, actually i am still rocking them, mine had written "04 4x4" that's all they could tell me, never measured it but doesn't look any different then the 10 bolt, good luck if u need me to check anything on it let me know

 

What would it have came out of for it to have 3.42 gearing? He said it was a 2wd and was a direct fit for his 95.

 

Yeah i'm being told by my local gear head bud that these rears are not a popular choice with the 4x4 guys and are not near as strong as the 10.5's nor is the axles.

He's recommends a ford 9" because of the pinion support bearing that the 9.5 doesn't have. Or a 12 bolt.

At what point is it "enough" though. I'm not going to run a 500 pound 10.5" setup, thats nuts.

 

I've been beating the **** outta my 3.42 G-80 lockered 14 bolt for 2 years. It'll make you cringe when doing a burnout at the track and it unlocks. But it's held up well and leaves some nasty long true dual burnout marks on the highway. Only downfall is the additional weight and power to get it going. My bearing were perfect when I installed it btw.

 

my 90' 454SS truck has the factory 14 bolt 9.5 in it with 3.73 gears and ive had 600 and 700 hp big blocks in it with as much as a 300 shot big plate system on top of that and have yet to break that bone stock rearend and thats on drag radials and numerous slicks!! they are absolutely tough!!

 

You won't break a 9.5" 14 bolt. If I can't driving how I do with the weight I deal with you won't either. I guess whenever I get my 370 back and can mount my turbo I will let you know how one stands up in a light duty 2500 4X4 crew cab. That said the Gov locks in them are still junk. True they don't seem to break like the 10 bolts but its still a POS gov lock and operates in the same stupid fashion as any other. I have had probably 10 14 bolt trucks with Gov Junk in the back and they all work the same way. I replaced mine with Detroit Lockers to fix that. And contrary to internet jargon a Detroit daily drives just fine in all weather conditions. In fact its the best wintertime snow and ice mod I have ever done........

Or drink the forum kool-aid and run that useless Tru-trac..... I would keep a Gov Lock over that.

3.42 and being a 95 it's from a 6 lug light duty 2 wheel drive 2500. Could be 1/2 ton 4X4 but that depends on the width. Pretty common rear diff either way....... should be like a $100 piece.

 

Same 14b I have...look up my swap thread if you want more details. Spring perches need to be moved outward. Not hard to swap to disc brakes, but you have to offset from the axle perches 2.5" or weld on new mounts.

My 14b took a beating in my 408/tvs1900 6500lb ext cab for a while, and now in my white truck. Never a single issue from it except a leaky seal which rtv fixed.

 

This is what I was meaning to check, but shouldnt be hard to change. And yeah all stock lockers are junk I would go through it and install a true trac with studs, caps, gurdal ect.. and could it of maybe come out of a van? all the trucks have 4.10 or 3.73 gear that iv seen.

 

Would be out of a:

GMT400 RPO F44 K1500
or
GMT400 6 lug C or K 2500

Axle came in 2 widths, 2wd and 4wd, 2wd being 3" narrower WMS to WMS.

IIRC GMT800's (2wd or 4wd) have the same axle width as GMT400 4x4's.

 

mine had a bearing issue before i **** the ds out of it the first time. replaced them, then before the second ds went, it was doing the same thing. this was 420+ to the tire in a gmt900. it can take some abuse, just need to keep up on the maintenance.