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Rearend swap

B

Bryce

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Location
Northern Utah
Have a 97 K2500 gasser with full floating, 10.5" ring gear, 4:10 gears rearend, in the middle of having to do a complete brake job, drums, shoes, bearings and possibly have a bad pinion bearing. Will the rearend out of a newer truck, say 2001, with disc brakes fit with out a lot of work? Would like to be able to just unbolt the original and bolt in a an upgrade.

Has anyone tried this??

I am into my rebuild $400 so far, I have found a couple of HD rearends at salvage yards for $500.

Thanks
 
I'm pretty sure there will be some electronics (abs) issues with a newer rear end but for sure your proportioning valve will not work when you go to a newer disc setup. Best bet would be the same (or close) year and body style.
 
the pinion bearing isn't as bad as it sounds. the whole pinion comes out with 6 bolts. setting everything back up as far as backlash goes, there are no shims to deasl with. they used and adjustable 'nut' to set it in.
 
You will need to cut the spring perches off and weld on new ones. Then it will bolt right in. The brake lines on the 01 and up axle will bolt to your existing rear brake line that runs down to the axle. The parking brake cables will work as well with a little effort.
The added stopping power is awesome and it's well worth it.
I have an 05 10.5 axle in my 98
 
I assume the spring width changed on all the newer trucks? Did the hub to hub change?
 
just a number said:
the pinion bearing isn't as bad as it sounds. the whole pinion comes out with 6 bolts. setting everything back up as far as backlash goes, there are no shims to deasl with. they used and adjustable 'nut' to set it in.
Click to expand...

The pinion support is shimmed to set the pinion depth, so pay attention to what shim is in it when you tear it down. The pinion preload is set by the pinion nut and by crushing the crush sleeve to get the neccesary pre-load. It is a doable swap, and the only real hurdle will be that you will have to watch your brake reservoir more often as the 4 wheel disc brake reservoir is larger than the disc/drum one. And yes you will have to re-weld the shock and spring mounts to work as the newer trucks frame rails are a different width than the GMT-400.
 
Thanks for the input everyone.

I have decided, for now, just to repair the one I have. New brakes, drums, bearings. When I pulled the bearings out of the hubs, I found metal pieces. I have pulled the cover off the diff and drained it. What is the best way to clean the diff good before I put the cover back on?? Also, is it a good idea to use bearing grease on the wheel bearings when I put them back in the hubs??

Thanks again.
 
Bryce said:
Thanks for the input everyone.

I have decided, for now, just to repair the one I have. New brakes, drums, bearings. When I pulled the bearings out of the hubs, I found metal pieces. I have pulled the cover off the diff and drained it. What is the best way to clean the diff good before I put the cover back on?? Also, is it a good idea to use bearing grease on the wheel bearings when I put them back in the hubs??

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

A *light* initial smearing of grease on the rollers is okay. That's what I've done. You don't want to pack them with grease because they're lubricated by an oil bath. The best thing to do is to fill the hub with gear oil as best you can once you put the drum back on through the gap between the spindle and the hub before putting the axle back in. Make sure the diff gets filled with the correct amount of gear oil so that it makes its way out to the hubs.

Also, there's a procedure to seat the bearings as well. IIRC you rotate the drum to the left while torquing the spindle nut to something like 10 ft/lb then back it off and set the nut finger tight before installing the retainer. Verify this procedure in your service manual.
 
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