89 K1500 Front wheel bearing/CV shaft upgrade

[Kris Shelite]

There are two different options of wheel bearings dependent upon standard vs heavy duty suspension. My son and I have been rebuilding a standard cab swb K1500 with standard suspension and brakes and upgrading it as we replace parts. My question is if we have to replace the front drive shafts and wheel bearings, can we use the HD ones for this year? We have replaced the calipers with 454SS (3/4 ton) calipers, and HD drilled and slotted rotors (1.25"). Have I missed anything else to make improvements?


Thanks to 454cid for clarifying, the calipers. I updated this to the correct information so others reading aren't mislead.

This forum has been very helpful to us and I want to try to add what we are doing to help the next out as well.

 

[454cid]

If you are talking about going to 8-lug hubs, no you can't.

I didn't think the 454ss used the same calipers as the 1-ton.

 

[Kris Shelite]

There are two options for wheel bearings (hubs), a standard and heavy duty suspension bearing. Both of these have 6 lug bolt patterns but the standard duty is thinner. I believe you can use a HD in place of a Std but not the other way. Just wanting to verify this.

The 454SS calipers are much larger diameter piston vs what was on it and now fits the 1.25" rotor. I was told they are the equivalent to a one ton, but you are correct, they are the same as 3/4 ton.

 

[454cid]

There are two options for wheel bearings (hubs), a standard and heavy duty suspension bearing. Both of these have 6 lug bolt patterns but the standard duty is thinner. I believe you can use a HD in place of a Std but not the other way. Just wanting to verify this.

Ok, that's not something I have any knowledge about. I don't have a lot of the 6-lug particulars down.

The 454SS calipers are much larger diameter piston vs what was on it and now fits the 1.25" rotor. I was told they are the equivalent to a one ton, but you are correct, they are the same as 3/4 ton.

So you're using a 370 pad now?

 

[Kris Shelite]

Yes I'm using a ceramic HD pad which I believe is a 370 pad.