Well weather is breaking and I would like to get my high boy back up on all 4's. I got rid of the D60 for some parts, and I need the Sterling 10.25 out of the F250 for the VSS so it can tell my tranny when to shift. Anyways I was wondering if the sterling 10.25 fits under there just like a regular rear end swap. I know a guy who put a PSD in a 67 F350, and he said he had to move the spring perches in, but I though I seen someone on here who put a sterling under there High Boy and was wondering if it was a simple swap. Thanks guys =D

 

The spring perches will need to be moved, and they will need to be modified as well. The sterling perches are standard 3 inch, while the highboy's are 2.25 or so. I filled up the "pockets" in the sterling perches with weld, ground them smooth, and used the red wrench to make a notch on each corner so that the u-bolts would be perpendicular to the axle using the stock highboy narrow top spring plate. Run-on sentence from hell there, sorry. There are aftermarket perches available in the correct width as well. The sterling axle tubes are larger as well, so in order to use the factory lift blocks you will need to wrestle with them a bit. The reason being the factory block has a hoop that the u-bolt goes through. Most of this doesn't probably make much sense untill you start to put it together.

-Jared

 

Well I plan on converting from High Boy suspension to the same style as a 95, so I can run F550 spring under it. So I will have 3 inch wide springs. Can you tell me about how far in I will need to move each perch?? I also appreciate this very much.

 

Deluxetruck
Nice work! I see you welded the housing to the axle tubes. Any special prep for that, like preheating? Special welding rod or material?

I ended up using the 76 brakeline and block, then found some adapters to use the sterling size brake lines.
I found some new stamped steel perches from chrysler, $8 each, pn: P4120074
Trimmed them to fit on the sterling perch-welded together, then used the bluetip wrench to trim some spots on the sterling perch for the U-bolts-New, do not re-use old U-bolts, they are cheap! Besides the old D60 ones are too small of a diameter.
I had to have my driveshaft shortened a bit, but my drivetrain is cobbled up, basically a 79 style, married transfercase, running a steady bearing for a shorter rear driveshaft-just because thats what worked. The U-joint I used was pn: 447 which matched my 1994 axle, which has a better yoke.
The shock mounts were worked with some heat to re-angle them to line up better with the shocks.
Still have to get the parking brake to work, but that will be easy with the slip on drums and see if I can make the 76 parking brake cables work. And yeah they can be converted to disk too.
Enjoy the big hub, makes a good step

Surprisingly I could not find a 14 bolt cheaper, but lovin the good ol Sterling, which has more axle splines, more clearance than perhaps even a shaved 14B(which tend to leak due to the shave)and nearly as strong as a 14B, yes I believe the 14B is slightly stronger, mostly because of the Ford 9" style pinion support bearing.

The Sterlings working great, and makes the old D60 look small. Sure stuff may be more expensive, but not alot, and you get what you pay for.

Btw, found most of the info here!

 

This is probably a dumb question but.. what exactly is a red wrench? or a blue tip wrench? Also can you get axles of the same spline as the Sterling in the 14B or are they not available?

To OP that F550 susp is gonna make your dent one beefy MF! You're going to need a serious brake upgrade to stop all that weight you'll be able to carry.

 

I'm guessing they mean an oxy torch. Makes the metal red and the neutral flame is blue.

 

The 550 Sus. Is so I can get rid of the blocks so it will help with not having axle wrap. The truck is going to be used for Sled Pulling. I am the only one around with a High Boy that pulls in the diesel class so for all they know its stock suspension :P

 

Yes the blue tip wrench is a cutting torch, handy for heating or removing steel.

 

lol you would think being a metalsmith I would know the lingo for the torch. Thanks for clearing that up.