Gm Semi float 14 bolt, trash or rebuild?

LOL, pretty much. My phone isn't showing sigs, I checked before posting.

Re: semi vs full float, 8 lug 2500's available both ways. Semi 9.5", full 10.5"

As far as the whole braking subject, some are just unwilling to accept that it's a brake SYSTEM, not just a collection of randomly-chosen parts. Props to those that get it and provided advice based on fact.

Richard

Brother Al said:

Nope, 14 FF and 14 SF are two different animals...

On any truck, you definately WANT more weight in the rear to balance the truck front to rear. By design, trucks have all their weight up front to offset additional weight from a full payload... they were designed this way because of their intended use... removing weight off the front is where you should look at.

As for rear drums, Discs look cool, but unless you are going full tilt, with huge race-spec calipers and rotors, you are wasting money and risking safety... The advantages to discs are weight savings and better heat dissipation during repeated braking.. ie.) racing conditions.

Drum Brakes also have more surface area to stop a vehicle and work much better for emergency brake use... this is why almost all stock rear disc systems now have a built-in mini-drum for the ebrake... but funny enough, most companies dont call those an "Emergency Brake" anymore because its an automatic liability claim, so they now call them a "Parking Brake" instead... few folks realize this.
If you use that Disc brak's mini-drum as an Emergency Brake, it will damn near disintegrate and competely fail... (ask me how I know).

You can do what you wish, but you can make a rear drum look good, clean them up and simply paint the drums in hi-temp Black, or detail them to match the body... (Black dissipates heat the best)

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I HAD THE FANCY BLACK DRUMS ON MY TAHOE haha didn't float my boat. I just cannot believe there is that much difference in performance. New trucks have awdb so i figured if I'm rebuilding everything anyways the cool factor is worth it. Also i won't be using a kit with park brake provision because i am going to "fabri-cobble" a driveline park/emergency brake.

Blackwater said:

Will it work for a 9.5 SF?

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i believe it only works for full float axles. The old style where the drum is behind the hub.

Carolina_'99Hoe said:

I HAD THE FANCY BLACK DRUMS ON MY TAHOE haha didn't float my boat. I just cannot believe there is that much difference in performance. New trucks have awdb so i figured if I'm rebuilding everything anyways the cool factor is worth it. Also i won't be using a kit with park brake provision because i am going to "fabri-cobble" a driveline park/emergency brake.



i believe it only works for full float axles. The old style where the drum is behind the hub.

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my brother's GMT800 1/2 ton has 4 wheel disks and stops great.....because it has a 4 wheel disk SYSTEM that was researched and DESIGNED to work as it's SUPPOSED to.

you can lead a horsey to water....he just may want to die of thirst............

Also, to reframe back to the axle...

14 Bolt Semi-Float is a damn tough axle for most vehicles on the street... its been around a long time. GM also used it on their D-Body '91-96 Cadillac Fleetwood Limo chassis, which some guys have modified for used on their '77-'96 B & D Body drag cars... but its heavy.

14 Bolt Semi-Float uses C-shaped clips to hold the axles in place, one on the inner end of each axle. The axles have a notch machined into them & the C-clip sits in this groove, holding the axle in place against the center section caps... As the wear down, they develop play and eventually fail, or if pushed hard enough, they can deform and fall off, allowing that axle shaft to slide out of the axle housing. ....or if you grenade the center section, the axles have nothing to hold them in place.
This is how almost all GM axles work... its not gonna just fail, not unless its got a ton of hard miles on it, it was put together half-assed, or you absolutely beat the crap out of it nonstop and killed it...
BUT! Its very much more likely that a u-joint will fail first...

14 Bolt Full Float Axle was meant for some real heavy duty use. It has a much more rugged type of retainment, where the axles are held in at the ends of the axle tubes, so even if the center fails, the axleshafts wont come out....just like a 9" Ford... if you break a 14 Bolt Full Float, you are either in the real big leagues, it was beat to hell already, or something in it was el cheapo...
For a street truck... its some serious Heavy Metal...

Heavy Metal:

10 Bolt 7.625" = Motley Crue, tough enough for MTV, but mostly Glam.

10 Bolt 8.5" = Guns n Roses, Can party hard and take a beating, but eventually it is screaming hoarse vocals and puking up parts of the band.

12 Bolt 8.875" Judas Priest, Kick Ass!, Rock on, Rock On! but kinda blows your mind when it goes down on you

14 Bolt Semi-Float 9.5" Ronnie James Dio, One Great ****!, but succumbs to the something all others do regardless of its greatness.

14 Bolt Full Float 10.5" Rolling Stones, takes everything and anything you can throw at it, asks for more, then does 10x more than you ever imagined... older than all hell and looks like ass, but still manages to take the stage and rock!

shovelbill said:

my brother's GMT800 1/2 ton has 4 wheel disks and stops great.....because it has a 4 wheel disk SYSTEM that was researched and DESIGNED to work as it's SUPPOSED to.

you can lead a horsey to water....he just may want to die of thirst............

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Yes system, awdb with gmt 800 mc and booster swap for awdb. Abs delete. Thanks for the support and flawless info guys.

Descision made, swapping in the full float with disc brakes because I will be towing allot. Swapping in gmt800 hydroboost, master cylinder, Stainless lines, Driveline park brake, whole nine yards just because I can. If you're gonna do it, do it right.