Another trip on CL netted me this Ford 10.5 limited slip rearend

does that sound like too much? There are about a dozen 14b listed and this is the only 10.5, all the 14b are 200-300

 

Actually the earlier trucks were a 10.25" like mine, the difference between the DRW and SRW is all outboard of the spring perches. It is supposed to be a full blown monsoon here tomorrow or I would measure one for you. FWIW, starting in 1985 Ford changed the track width on the DRW pickups. Prior to that the used either D60 or D70 rears where the center of the duals were directly behind the center of the front wheels. With the introduction of the Sterling 10.25" the inboard rear wheel is directly in line with the front and the outer wheel is outside that. The cab chassis production (wreckers, ambulances etc.) kept the D60 or D70 and are actually narrower the the pickups. One more thing that may help your decision, the Sterling has removable drums, the Dana rear you have to pull the hub and drum as an assembly.

I like my Sterling, the only reason I replaced the original was a spun inner wheel bearing had chewed up the tube.

I paid a local junkyard $450 for a 93? 4.10 non-locking DRW unit drum to drum.

 

Duallie rears are usually wider, cab/chassis rears narrower. I know chevy van 14 bolts are 3" wider than pickups, and 3/4 and 1 tons have different spring spacing. Interestingly, the axle shafts are all the same length.

If I was you, I'd hunt an 80's-90's hd 3/4 or SRW 1 ton. If it's a floater, it's a 10.5". IIRC, the pinion bearings are bigger than the super duty, buy the supers pinion shaft is bigger. Gear sets therefore won't interchange.

See above, my memory was foggy, and he beat me to it!

 

That is one nice benefit i was looking to gain with the 14b or sterling was the removable drums. And largly why my truck doesnt have much for rear brakes haha.

So what youre saying is the 85 n up rears are NOT 10.5 but 10.25? I think im about to start sounding needy here... but im tired of not knowing what ive found or what to look for.

Between DRW and SRW anything special different on them or just unbolt duals and bolt on singles? Do they have different hubs, or spacers?

What can i look in to get a 10.5? The CL add i listed, is that actually a 10.25 then?

I know im asking alot, but someone is bound to know, and i cant afford to buy something that wont work and have to sit on the thing as i have no where to put it. Not to mention the down time of the truck if the 60 finally kicks it.

 

Jeemaneezus... this stuff is starting to get complicated

So that CL add i found COULD be a 10.5? ....... FML i emailed the guy lets hope hes not a simpleton.

 

If it's got drums, it's not a super I think. Somebody will jump in of I'm wrong there!

 

I dont think its a SD axle. Lets say its not, it could still be a 10.5 tho right?

 

I think if it's not a sd, it's a 10.25. It's like a 305 or a 307 chevy though. One has a bigger ring gear, one has a bigger pinion. The ****** look about the same. No appreciable strength difference. I've had a beer, and my memory is getting clearer...carriers and carrier bearings interchange. I'd jump on it if I were you. Bolts in too!

 

10.5s came out in the '99 Superduty. Before that they were all 10.25. The housings are similar but the hubs are completely different. Many internal parts interchange. The spring spacing will be the same on all Sterlings since Ford made all their truck frame widths the same by the time they started using the Sterlings. If you put one under a Highboy (like I did) or an early dually or SCS, all with the narrower frames, then you will need to move the perches. If its got drums it's a 10.25, discs means 10.5 and wider between the wheel mounting surfaces. There's not much available for 10.25 disc swaps. Also, I wouldn't bother with a Superduty front since they use unit bearings and are not great with big tires. Having my rear hubs redrilled wasn't that big of a deal.

 

Oh boy, thank you gents. So 10.25 and 10.5 no big difference with the exception that the 10.5 is wider, metric, and disc.... and something ive been thinking and didnt post is i DO want to go disc rear, which was why i was initially interested in the 14 bolt. And youre right i forgot about the the unit hubs, sucks that fords goin cheap. Im sure i would just keep the KP D60 anyway, but it does need a full RnR and will need a re-gear, not to mention some kind of locker down the road.

So in a nutshell, i need a 10.5 from a 99+ for the width and disc, then it will bolt in after redrilling the axles? Starting to sound a little pricey.. I hate being indecisive.. Or as nitro_rat was saying, a van 14 bolt is wider also, probably cheaper than the 10.5 but would have to do some fabbing pre-install and could convert to disc later. damnit forgot the shorter pinion...

Going to have to some thinkin on this apparently. Votes are more than welcome, i see nitro is pointing me towards 10.25.

Fordworth, if you dont mind me picking your brain a bit... did you use a different preportioning valve / MC when you went disc rear?
Also, are you running SD rear springs?

 

I originally did a disc swap about 10 years ago on the D60 with the typical chevy calipers and rotors and custom brackets. At that time I plumbed the front brakes straight off the stock MC with nothing more than a tee to run the lines to each caliper and a Wilwood adjustable prop valve for the rear. I didn't change a thing hydraulically when I swapped the 10.5 in last month. Both brake setups have worked great but the Sterling brakes definately top the chevys for stopping power and like I said before I really wanted a good parking brake. Don't forget to factor that in if you plan to add one with custom discs. Caddy eldo calipers are a major PITA and driveline brakes are mega spendy.

I swapped springs not long before the axle swap too. I used to have some real soft Deaver F150 prerunner springs out back. They rode great but couldn't handle a load or the torque of the 6BT. Now I have a pair of Icon 2011 F350 5" lift springs which are 64" long. They handle some serious weight but the length makes them ride decent.

Old springs.

<a href="http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Deaver%20F79%20Rear%20Springs/?action=view&amp;current=100_2411.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Deaver%20F79%20Rear%20Springs/100_2411.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


New springs.

<a href="http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Sterling%20Rear%20Axle%20Swap/?action=view&amp;current=2012-03-27_16-52-50_702.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Sterling%20Rear%20Axle%20Swap/2012-03-27_16-52-50_702.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


If you look close you can kinda see the difference in axle width with two D60s. The rear are pretty much flush with the bedsides while the fronts stick out. Sorry, I don't have a current pic hoe the rear tires stick out but they match the front.

<a href="http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/75%20Ford%20pix/?action=view&amp;current=100_2383-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/75%20Ford%20pix/100_2383-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Here's how I handled the bolt pattern change. Severe duty bolts threaded through the back of the hubs with wedge lock washers and green locktite.

<a href="http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Sterling%20Rear%20Axle%20Swap/?action=view&amp;current=2012-03-25_18-39-16_601.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Sterling%20Rear%20Axle%20Swap/2012-03-25_18-39-16_601.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Hairybox, maybe I missed it earlier, but what truck are you working on?

 

Oh yeah, this is why I ditched the D60. I got another one from a friend and had the truck back on the road the next day, but I wanted to prevent it from happening again. I got $350 for the replacement 60 with the discs on it yesterday.

<a href="http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/D60%20Destruction/?action=view&amp;current=2012-02-06_19-09-57_397.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/D60%20Destruction/2012-02-06_19-09-57_397.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

There are kits out there to convert an SRW Sterling 10.25" to disc, they just won't work on DRW truck. The outer portion of the DRW is longer than an SRW.

 

Oh boy that does look fun. This is for my 79 in the sig. That is one thing i cant wait to have again.. a parking brake. I have been planning on a driveline brake for a while now to avoid having to go to a 2 piece drive-shaft, having a hard time locating one for a NP205. Not a shop one would build me a driveline over 69".. so i built my own at 70.5" and had it balanced. So far it has been a constant thorn in my side, as it starts to vibrate around 70 and nothing to be done about it besides shortening it, at least thats what the driveline shops claim.
After reading about my rear being narrower i went and took a good long look and it is noticable, just hard to catch with the flareside since it is narrower also. Been planning to widen / lengthen it for the bigger tires, and hoping for the axle that will fill it width wise without having to resort to spacers.

How come you used bolts instead of studs? Are the 99-04 rear springs the same as the 05-11? Found a set of 4" 06 rear springs looking for rearends. Which is also going to be on the project list down the road.

Something that just occured to me... I think the ZF6 may be longer than the ZF5, if it actually is by a couple inches, that solves the problem of DS length and i could run a stock length driveshaft for a 79,SC,LB, but if i got ahold of a zf6 i would likely just modify a SD drivshaft to match the t-case and it would already fit the 10.5. On that note, the 10.5 are the 1350 or 1410 joints? That would just leave me with trying to get a 205 to go onto the larger zf6 output shaft.

So much stuff to do.. and everything has to be done before everything else will work without redoing stuff... if only i had MONEY lol

Oh and this may have been covered already, but what is the pinion length like on the 10.5 compared to the danas?

 

I used bolts for a few reasons. It was simpler than determining which stud to use from the Dorman book, the required holes are smaller so less material is removed from the flange, and there is less stress placed on the flange since I didn't press in an interference fit stud.

Early SD springs are 58" long. The 64"ers came out in either '08 or '11. My '75 rides better than mama's '02 F250 though.

High Angle Driveline makes a brake for your case. There are pics of it here. High Angle Drivline-Call Jesse at 530-877-2875 - My Buildup
The brake kit and flange run a little over $450.

Hooking up the cables for the 10.5 was redicoulsy easy. I basically copied the SD setup. I moved the cable that runs from the pedal down the center of the truck to the outside of the left framerail and the axle cables met up with it perfectly. Then I made a bulkhead braket much like the SDs have welded to their frames for the cables to mount to.


<a href="http://s742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Sterling%20Rear%20Axle%20Swap/?action=view&amp;current=2012-03-27_19-26-13_709.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx65/Fordworth/Sterling%20Rear%20Axle%20Swap/2012-03-27_19-26-13_709.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The 10.5 that I got had a 1410 yoke on it. I believe that trucks with 5.4s had smaller yokes. I found it easier and cheaper to change my slipyoke to a 1410 than to find a different pinion yoke. Changing the pinion yoke would have meant replacing the crush sleeve which requires removing the diff and resetting the preload on the pinion bearings.

Another nice thing about the Sterlings is that the axle shafts have an O-ring on a shoulder inside the flange for sealing so there is no need for a gasket or silicone between the flange and hub.