Hello everyone! I have an off road truck that I love oh so much to run through mud holes that most tractors are scared away from. I had a 14 bolt semi floated 8 lug in the truck with 410 gears. I blew that mess out of the water several months ago. I recently bought a full floated with the same gearing, bolt, and lug pattern. The kick to this project is.that the new rear end is set up to run dual wheels. Can I use this axel in my truck? It isn't a truck for lookers, so cosmetics is not a concern. I just want to know if it will mechanically work. This new rear end is a couple of inches wider when measured from the inside of the drums. Also, the shock mounts are slightly further apart than in my origional. With a little work on the brackets, I intend to simply pull the drums (who'd willl inevitably get caked up with mud) and slide on my eight bolt wheels with 42 inch TSL Super Swampers and bolt em on in. I expect that lug bolts to stick out a bit further than normal and for the overall rear end to be slightly wider, but I have hope that this will work.

What do all of you think? Is this madness, or is it the brain child of a little.creative engineering?

Thanks in advance for your responses! Remember, I, like all of you, am hear to learn. :-)

yes it will work... http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/14b_bible/index.html check it out

That is one hell of a reference page. Thank you for finding it and passing it onto me!

That is one hell of a reference page. Thank you for finding it and passing it onto me!


anytime... when i was in need it was passed to me...good luck with your build...

Anytime you need boxes or axles for changeovers check Nordstromauto.com in ND they have newer trucks parted and palletized to ship what customers want to buy or need with gears done. These parts are from newer stuff that was not to be fixed for expensive other parts reasons but these parts are fine for repairs etc. Have warranty and alot of GM stuff for guys in this area. Prices are matched too if you have that game to play for a deal on parts you need. Hell of an outfit. Some stuff has less than 4k mi. on it so new enough to fix stuff since most things have lots of miles compared to that. Good Luck save all you can. They seem to have all the major parts needed for a DIY repair guy.

Excellent! I'll have to remember that. The rear end I've got has limited slip instead of the posi that I have been spoiled with until now. So in addition to a mechanical locker of some sort, I also would like to get a shifter to install so I can play in two wheel drive every now and then. For now though, it'd be nice just to have the ol' truck moving again.

Posi is a limited slip. Positraction is a trademarked name of GM's version.

There are many mechanical lockers, both automatic and selectable.