6 Lug 14 Bolt

[daved931]

Thanks to the magic of Craigslist, I scored a 6 lug 14 bolt for $150 this weekend. I got it from a guy in Sabattus (slickmainer will know where that is) who even helped me load it with his tractor.

It's kinda crusty from sitting in some grass, but appears to be solid. It came with the perches and plates as well as two steel wheels, 75% of the shocks and about 5% of the driveshaft.

Here's how it looked when I brought it home yesterday. You can see that my room mate needs to take better care of his Polaris too.


PB Blaster and a breaker bar got the shocks and wheels off. They sure did some serious creaking though. I was glad that little driveshaft stub was on there to keep the whole thing from flopping when I yanked on the breaker bar.



The drums took quite a bit of work. PB Blaster, a hammer and a pry bar. I'm glad the backing plates are solid. I spent about 10 - 15 minutes on each side.


Obviously I'm going to be rebuilding the brakes.


I spent a few minutes with a wire wheel on my drill and took off a lot of the surface junk. Underneath, it really doesn't look too bad at all. There's some scale on the pinion snout that needs some attention (grinder???), but other than that, I think it's in good shape.



The guy I bought it from pulled the cover off while I was there. The internals looks really good, although I'm going to be changing the gears anyway, so it doesn't matter that much. It's a 4.10 G80 and I'm probably going to make it 3.73 for the 'Hoe so I don't have to swap the front diff ratio.

Sorry for the crappy pics. I was already in the garage and dirty so all I had was my cell phone.

[slammed97]

hey can u do me a huge favor? can u measure the width of the axle, tube end to tube end?

[KleenZ]

Nice Buy. I wish I would have found the same when I was in the market for 1. Instead I upgraded my 10 bolt to a detroit true trac with yukon gears, new wheel bearings, and superior axles.

I polished my turd real nice, so to speak, b/c I couldn't find a 14 bolt for a decent price. People were wanting like 600-1000 bucks for a 14 bolt assembly that will need to be completely rebuilt...

[daved931]

Originally Posted by slammed97

hey can u do me a huge favor? can u measure the width of the axle, tube end to tube end?

I will check it out tonight and report back.

[Griff4x4]

for scaled rust, get it sandblasted, its the only way you'll beat it... if you grind, unless you get ALL of the rust it will bleed through paint, POR 15 and all that junk, sandblasting is the only surefire way to beat it... trust me, i've seen it time and time agian... where i worked we charged $75 an hour to blast, and that would be a 20 minute job.... shouldnt be bad....

[daved931]

Thanks for the heads up on the blasting costs. I'm in no crazy hurry to finish this project so it might be a good excuse for me to try some soda blasting. So many ideas and directions to consider with something as simple as a rear end.

Slammed 97: I measured 67.5" from flange to flange (outside) and 57.5" backing plate to backing plate (inside). Those may be a little f'ed up by the hump from the diff itself, but they're pretty close. It's supposed to be a direct bolt-in when you go from a 4wd to a 4wd. I understand that 2wd housings are a few inches narrower, but that a 2wd 14 bolt SF will bolt in place of a 2wd 10 bolt.

[Griff4x4]

i'm tellin ya, if you want it to last get it blasted... either spend the money on it now, or on paint and a new axle/diff later... and if you're gonna getit blasted, do so before you get your brakes and stuff done, because the sand will **** up the brakes and stuff... get it done first and paint it immediately, or you're defeating the purpose... (i blasted some tractor wheels at work one day, and just the oil from my finger picking the wheels up made it rust over)

[daved931]

I'll look into who does that sort of thing around here.

[bhookxen]

Originally Posted by KleenZ

Nice Buy. I wish I would have found the same when I was in the market for 1. Instead I upgraded my 10 bolt to a detroit true trac with yukon gears, new wheel bearings, and superior axles.

I polished my turd real nice, so to speak, b/c I couldn't find a 14 bolt for a decent price. People were wanting like 600-1000 bucks for a 14 bolt assembly that will need to be completely rebuilt...

hey man, great minds think alike. i've got a polished turd too!

[KleenZ]

Originally Posted by bhookxen

hey man, great minds think alike. i've got a polished turd too!

lol... "it was just cheaper and easier at the time."

[Kruznlow69]

i emptied my housing out completely and had it blasted for $20 locally, they woulda primed and painted it too for another $40 but i had too many mods to do.. lemme know what you do with the old gears, mines a 3.42 and i am looking for 4:10s

[daved931]

It would cost a fair amount to ship the gears to Wisconsin, but if you want to cover the shipping and make me a reasonable offer on the gears, I'm all for it.

I'll have to pop the cover back off and verify the ratio. I'm 99% sure it's a 4.10, but I'd hate to promise you something that I can't deliver.

Send me a PM if you're interested.

[Da Burb]

I've been waiting for mine for almost a year and just received info this week that it'll be here next month (on the ship as we speak). I have a temporary 'polished turd'(Trutrac) in the Burb at present. I ordered another Trutrac to go in the 14bolt (the white box in the pic).





I'll be getting it blasted and powdercoated when it arrives. I'll also be adding a 2" plug to the cover for filling and inspection purposes (see pic of 'polished turd').

[daved931]

The drain and fill plugs in the cover are a good idea. Did you buy that somewhere or did you have someone make it?

[Da Burb]

I made it. After the G80 grenaded I had to weld up some holes in the cover so I decided to add a bit of strength with the piece of flat bar. Then I thought "How bloody stupid there's no drain hole" so I put that 'nipple' on the bottom of the cover. Then a buddy who tunes race cars over here was telling me they have a 2" inspection plug in their diff's so they can inspect the gears without taking the cover off....so...I cut and welded in a 2" pipe coupling.



I have an oil inspection level glass thingy from a compressor which I will also fit into the back of the 2" plug of the 14bolt so I can see the fluid level in the diff at a glance.

[Griff4x4]

^^^ Slick idea ^^^

[Stevens07]

Great score!

Steven

[daved931]

Wow. That's a really good idea.

[Da Burb]

Yeah...might look at fitting a sight glass into the back cover of the transfer case also.

[daved931]

Okay, here's the deal...I'm hunting for someone to sandblast the housing, but I've got the money set aside to order parts.

A friend of mine told me that a heavy duty towing company down the road from my place does media blasting, so I'm going to call them this week.

I need some input on the parts I'm ordering. I built a spreadsheet to tally everything and here's what I'm looking at.

Overhaul kit YK GM9.5-A Randy's Ring & Pinion $187.97
Ring & Pinion YG GM9.5-373 Randy's Ring & Pinion $268.60
Tru-Trac TT 914A538 Randy's Ring & Pinion $483.30
Axle Bearings AK 1561GM Randy's Ring & Pinion $40.62
Drum, Raybestos Pro Grade 2169R Rock Auto $71.79
Drum, Raybestos Pro Grade 2169R Rock Auto $71.79
Shoes, Raybestos Pro Grade 473PG Rock Auto $36.79
Wheel Cylinder, Raybestos WC37781 Rock Auto $7.14
Wheel Cylinder, Raybestos WC37782 Rock Auto $7.14
Drum Hardware Kit H70462 Rock Auto $6.18

I found a couple of pin holes in my diff cover so I'm going to need one of those and a u-joint if I don't swap my yoke. Anyone have any input on anything on this list?

It's all going in my 99 OBS Tahoe with stock LT265 75 16 tires. I'm hoping to add boost and/or a 383 next year.