What all is involved in a half heavy setup?

[NightRunner]

Posting this because my wheel cylinder completely destroyed my rear end and I was planning to do the 2500 axle and springs swap into my 1500 anyways. I know I need the axle and leaf springs, along with a certain conversion u joint (unsure of the part number), but other than that I’m not sure what else I might need. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[df2x4]

So you're talking about swapping from a 10 bolt to a 14 bolt semi-floater?

If so, keep in mind that you're either going to need to swap to six lug wheels in the rear, or have the axle shafts plugged and re-drilled for five lug. (Assuming this is going into a five lug C1500) The 14 bolts were all either six or eight lug. The alternative would be finding a 454SS rear axle, those were the only production 14 bolts that came with five lug axle shafts. They're very hard to find, though.

EDIT - Also worth noting that you'll need to look for a 2WD axle if it's going into a 2WD truck and vice versa. 2WD and 4WD are different track widths.

 

[NightRunner]

So you're talking about swapping from a 10 bolt to a 14 bolt semi-floater?

If so, keep in mind that you're either going to need to swap to six lug wheels in the rear, or have the axle shafts plugged and re-drilled for five lug. The 14 bolts were all either six or eight lug. The alternative would be finding a 454SS rear axle, those were the only production 14 bolts that came with five lug axle shafts. They're very hard to find, though.

EDIT - Also worth noting that you'll need to look for a 2WD axle if it's going into a 2WD truck and vice versa. 2WD and 4WD are different track widths.

Gotcha. IIRC, I can swap out the front spindles and brake setup for a 6-lug setup so I might just do that to keep the 14 bolt intact. I’ll look around for C2500’s in junkyards and start getting prices

 

[df2x4]

http://www.car-part.com/ is a great resource for searching salvage yard inventories in your area, just FYI. Lots of people already know about it but I like to share it in situations like this.

 

[94burbk1500]

Posting this because my wheel cylinder completely destroyed my rear end and I was planning to do the 2500 axle and springs swap into my 1500 anyways. I know I need the axle and leaf springs, along with a certain conversion u joint (unsure of the part number), but other than that I’m not sure what else I might need. Any advice is appreciated!

I'm a little confused, how did the wheel cylinder destroy the axle?

 

[NightRunner]

I'm a little confused, how did the wheel cylinder destroy the axle?

Well, you’re just as confused as I am lol. No clue, but it’s gone

 

[90halfton]

Measure wheels before pulling the trigger on a 2 or 4wd axle. Alot of 6 lug wheels have a different offset, and a 4wd axle is wider. 6 lug spindles and spacers would correct up front. Hate for ya to throw in a 2wd axle, put wheels on, and realize your stance is much narrower now.

 

[94burbk1500]

I may be in the minority here, but i like my 10 bolt with the G80 option. You could probably save a decent amount of money grabbing new half axles from a junkyard and rebuilding the R&P, it's not rocket surgery, assuming you do a like for like replacement.

 

[someotherguy]

You get the 6 lug 9.5" 14 bolt from a "light duty" (6 lug) C2500, key there being -C- 2500, the axle is very close to the same width as your existing C1500's 10 bolt. It's the 4x4 axle that is wider by several inches, so skip it. Get the u-bolt saddle plates while you're there; the axle tubes are larger so your old ones won't work. Use new u-bolts though, always. And of course, the conversion joint, which the # is in numerous 14 bolt swap threads, don't have it handy.

For the front - 88-91 can have the standard duty brakes which would use a shorter stub axle on the spindle, but yours being an extended cab should have the heavy duty brake package already with the slightly longer stub axle. With this you just swap the 6 lug rotors from the donor truck right on. No need to change spindles. The rotors are the same already, just 6 lug instead of 5.

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

Measure wheels before pulling the trigger on a 2 or 4wd axle. Alot of 6 lug wheels have a different offset, and a 4wd axle is wider. 6 lug spindles and spacers would correct up front. Hate for ya to throw in a 2wd axle, put wheels on, and realize your stance is much narrower now.

His truck is a C1500; if he gets the axle from a C2500 6 lug truck he is fine. The axles are roughly the same width and the wheels do not have a significantly different offset. The front suspension setup between the two trucks is the same other than bolt pattern, and the aforementioned brake package difference in my previous reply. At no point do spacers come into play here, especially on the front.

The 4WD axle is the wider one and would be a bad choice for a swap into a C1500.

Richard