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NBS V6/V8 rearend differences?

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Old 01-13-2022, 12:53 AM
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Default NBS V6/V8 rearend differences?

Did the NBS V6 trucks get the same 8.5 as the 1500 v8 trucks?

Can’t seem to find the info I was searching for.

I have the opportunity to pickup a v6 rearend from an 04 Sierra from a buddy for very cheap.

My truck is primarily a tow vehicle, it’s a 99 Silverado 1500 with 3.42 gears.

I’ve noticed my buddies 05 Sierra that has 3.73 gears, tows a lot better and gets way better mileage than mine.

Both 5.3 trucks.

I’m debating doing a gear swap to 3.73’s while I’m doing the truetrac.

I thought the likely hood of the v6 rearend being an open diff was pretty great and it would be better to do a truetrac and gear swap on that rearend instead of tearing apart my good working rearend that’s in my truck now.

I can’t seem to find any solid info on what gears the v6 trucks got, but I’m betting it’s not anything I would want.


Old 01-13-2022, 06:27 AM
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It should be the same axle but the year will dictate drum or disk brakes. Not sure if they gave the V6 trucks 4.10s or not but my 4.8 truck had 4.10 gears which would be even better than the 3.73s for towing.
Old 01-13-2022, 10:36 AM
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yeah, "towing" & "3.42s" don't usually end up in the same sentence unless it's talking about ditching the gears.

the v6s & v8s had the same rear ends in most 1/2 tons (with a few exceptions like the 1500HD, SS, etc). open or G80 locker was luck of the draw among them (4x4 often had a locker but not always), and ratios were usually 3.42 or 3.73 unless the truck was ordered differently - of which most selected 4.10s... but there were a few oddballs with 3.23s (more so in the 2wd v6 manuals).

i know factory 4.56 is in most RPO books, but i've only ever seen it on H3 hummers.

i'm pretty sure 99-04s had rear disk brakes, and the 05+ went back to drums.

personally for your presumed automatic, stock-ish tires, & basic (if any) mods, i'd go with 4.11s while installing the truetrac (reportedly a little sturdier than 4.10s due to having fewer gear teeth over the same size).

Last edited by _zebra; 01-13-2022 at 10:43 AM.
Old 01-13-2022, 07:15 PM
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Except the AWD SS from 03-05 had the same 10 bolt...
Old 01-13-2022, 08:27 PM
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Originally Posted by 1FastBrick
Except the AWD SS from 03-05 had the same 10 bolt...
really? i was thinking 14. was that only the 06s?
Old 01-13-2022, 08:30 PM
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Or 2wd SS's with the AXN axle
Old 01-13-2022, 08:32 PM
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Originally Posted by _zebra
really? i was thinking 14. was that only the 06s?
The 14 bolt was only on the 2WD which was split in 05. So only in 05 you could get AWD or 2WD as an option. In 06 and 07 it was 2WD only
Old 01-13-2022, 11:20 PM
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Originally Posted by _zebra
yeah, "towing" & "3.42s" don't usually end up in the same sentence unless it's talking about ditching the gears.



the v6s & v8s had the same rear ends in most 1/2 tons (with a few exceptions like the 1500HD, SS, etc). open or G80 locker was luck of the draw among them (4x4 often had a locker but not always), and ratios were usually 3.42 or 3.73 unless the truck was ordered differently - of which most selected 4.10s... but there were a few oddballs with 3.23s (more so in the 2wd v6 manuals).



i know factory 4.56 is in most RPO books, but i've only ever seen it on H3 hummers.



i'm pretty sure 99-04s had rear disk brakes, and the 05+ went back to drums.



personally for your presumed automatic, stock-ish tires, & basic (if any) mods, i'd go with 4.11s while installing the truetrac (reportedly a little sturdier than 4.10s due to having fewer gear teeth over the same size).


Yea unfortunately I’ve put up with the 3.42’s for a long time, about 16k towing miles, not really ever thinking about.

Yep, 4l60e, stock size tires.

I just put an LQ9 6.0 in the thing a few weeks ago and haven’t towed anything with it since.

It would spin the right rear way to easy before, if you were taking off from a stop even mildly quickly and crossed over the road paint that marks stop signs and intersections and also in the rain.

Now with the 6.0 it spins so easy it makes me afraid enough to do the truetrac that I’ve been threatening to do for 5+ yrs.

I believe you are correct in regards to the brakes, the buddies 04 v6 truck has disc and the other buddies 05 v8 truck has drum.


Oh that reminds me, so when I used to mess with s10’s a lot, I found a wrecking yard that had 2 s10 2wd’s that had 8.5’s so I bought them both.

One was disc and one was drum. The housing ends are different and you can’t swap brakes from one to the other. They won’t bolt up correctly.

Anyone know if that’s the case with these trucks?

Just curious.
Old 01-14-2022, 01:42 AM
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Originally Posted by s_blazin
Oh that reminds me, so when I used to mess with s10’s a lot, I found a wrecking yard that had 2 s10 2wd’s that had 8.5’s so I bought them both.

One was disc and one was drum. The housing ends are different and you can’t swap brakes from one to the other. They won’t bolt up correctly.

Anyone know if that’s the case with these trucks?

Just curious.
The only thing that changed was how the bolt flanges are oriented between disc and drum. The Flange just rotated 45 degrees.


Disc brake oreintation


Drum brake oreintation

Last edited by 1FastBrick; 01-14-2022 at 01:53 AM.
Old 01-14-2022, 07:23 AM
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If spinning is that easy, def tru-trac it. And get better tires, but burn those other ones off first


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