chevy truck rear axle questions

[Pete M]

a friend of mine is in need of a replacement rear axle assembly for his 96 gmc 3500 (bearings in the diff are going south and I was figuring on swapping the entire thing if I can find one cheap enough). It's a non-dually 2wd with 3.73 gears. anyone know offhand what I'm dealing with here? I don't have the truck in front of me yet. I'm guessing it'd be a 14 bolt. :dunno: Is this one of those instances where any ol' 3.73 14 bolt will do? Maybe even a Dana 60?

[dfreeman616]

if it is a GM 14 bolt, make sure to replace it with a full-float model, they also made semi-float 14 bolts. as far as i know, all full floats are 8 bolts and the semi floats are 6 bolt hubs. also, i haven't confirmed this in person but supposedly there is a difference in axle width from a 2wd to a 4wd axle.

 

is this friend up here or down in GA? if he doesn't mind it being down for a little while and waiting for me to finish my current project, i'm always looking for side work. and if we can work out it getting to my area.

[kro10000]

The axle in my stepdad's one ton chevy was I believe a Dana 70U, it was huge and full floating anyway, and definitely not a Chevy, it was a dually though

[Pete M]

from what he described ("axle shafts don't stick out through the wheels") he's got a semi floater now. 8 bolt for sure. He's up in Michigan, but it's doubtful that he'd be crazy about driving that 8.1 all the way to GR. :ack:

[MJ is dead]

IIRC they didn't start using the 8.1 until 99 when they redesigned their pickups.

[Pete M]

454 then. it's a huge, thirsty v8. :D

[nitroxsteve]

if it is a GM 14 bolt, make sure to replace it with a full-float model, they also made semi-float 14 bolts. as far as i know, all full floats are 8 bolts and the semi floats are 6 bolt hubs. also, i haven't confirmed this in person but supposedly there is a difference in axle width from a 2wd to a 4wd axle.

 

is this friend up here or down in GA? if he doesn't mind it being down for a little while and waiting for me to finish my current project, i'm always looking for side work. and if we can work out it getting to my area.

Semi floating can be 8 bolt hub also.

[dfreeman616]

ok wasn't sure on the 8 bolt semi's, thanks