This weekend was eventful. The housings have been dropped off to the fabricator, I assembled the differential. The whole assembly has got to weigh more then 50 lbs! BEEF!!

 

You people are really outta control! But that's a beautiful thing..........

 

Any updates on this?

And I'm also curious if a SF 14 bolt 9.5" with 8 lug axle shafts could be swapped out for 6 lug axle shafts and any idea if the brakes are different between the two styles? I ask because my friend's Sierra 1500HD had the G80 blow on him last night and he's already got a FF 14 bolt 10.5" to go in it's place. He said I can have the old axle for free which I'd rebuild completely with a Detroit locker, new brakes and 4.56 gears. The only thing holding me back from picking the axle up is not knowing if the 8 lug can be converted to 6x5.5". I can deal with the width issues but I'm not running 6 lug up front and 8 lug in the rear.

 

Considering that the 88-98 heavy half ton trucks had a 14bolt SF 9.5 axle with a 6 on 5.5 pattern I would say you could do it.

 

Alright guys, here are few pictures of what has been happening to the axle.

This is a shot of the axle on the jig stand getting ready for the disk brake set-up. Those backing plates are from Lord Aries' old 10 bolt:






Here is a screen shot of Mark's CAD program with the brackets for this axle being drawn up:





Here is the CNC Plasma Table where it will all be burned out:

 

You can get aftermarket shafts for it in the correct bolt pattern. As far as brakes are concerned, you can just use the run of the mill disk brake conversions you see all over the place, or you can run the disk brake set-up from the 99+ trucks like I am doing here. Since you got that axle for free, I would say DO IT!

 

I brought the axle home anyways before reading this. Whenever I feel like just wrenching or have a few hours to kill I'll build up the 14b in preparation for my D44 to crap out. Since the stock 14b axle shafts will be plenty strong, I don't think I'll need forged aftermarket shafts so my question to the forum is; can I find a junkyard set of 6-lug 14b axle shafts and run those? I don't see why I couldn't unless there's a difference in bearings or housing ends or the disc brake conversion from 8-lug to 6-lug is different. I'd prefer to run OEM brakes. Most aftermarket disc brake conversion use the single piston calipers found on older 70-90's D44's and D60's, whereas the new OEM disc brakes are all 13" in diameter with twin piston calipers.

 

Not sure if Bryan is able to logon today or is in evac mode due to IKE- stay safe!

Axle is finished and looks great! Thanks to Bryan and thanks to Mark's skilled craftsmanship.

 

Other than having to swap out the 3.42's that they all came with, and installing a beefy locker. That is, assuming you can locate one of these new axles. You would also have to get a pretty good price on the axle to beat modding a leaf style 14 bolt SF. Considering that these can be had for under $500.

 

The Suburban's and Av's we've had with the 9.5" in the 1500 have all had 4.10's. We actually had one on the hoist yesterday, but I forgot to get pictures of the damn thing.