4x4 North

I picked one of these up to use in my J10, but sold the J10. Debating using it for something else but have some questions first.

Looking at available gear ratios it seems that 4.88 is lowest that are offered for the 10.5"? I see that some companies offer gear kits which actually come with 10.25" gears, as I guess if you use the 10.25" pinion bearings they will install without issue. Is there any real disadvantage to using the 10.25" gears? I'd assume the 10.5" are better at least because they're newer (probably better pinon design?) and a bit larger. I'd likely shave the axle and turn the ring gear down a bit, so I'm not sure the added ring gear size is of any advantage.

It doesn't look like there's any problems redrilling the hubs to 8x6.5" and using E-350 rotors. One of the big advantages to me would be using the factory disk brakes as it would retain the parking/emergency brake function. So unless somebody says "NO, that won't work!"?

Research indicates that the factory E-locker works great, and having driven a couple service trucks with them I'd tend to agree. I know the junkyard wants a mint for an axle with one (he said he can easily get $2K for one of these axles) but it seems you might be able to find one of these lockers for a reasonable deal if you search enough. Snowracer sold one for next to nothing, which I'd always debated buying but couldn't see the use for, of course now I know that was probably dumb to not get it. Is it easy enough to drill the housing for the plug (do you even have to? I didn't look) and is there any other mods required to the housing? Not finding a lot on anyone actually doing it, other than some info on guys that put them in the older 10.25 and obviously it's not quite a direct swap.

I've got a disk brake AAM 11.5 also, but I think that's retarded for what I'm planning. Looking at 40" tires max, 300HP max, doubler, and 6000lbs. I think the Sterling should take anything I'm going to do to it at that tire size, whereas the AAM 11.5 would be a boat anchor.

definitely get the upgraded steel shims for the side bearings. factory cast are garbage and if its got any miles on it they will be

Shim out of a customers truck last month
as luck would have it I had one left in the big box of diff shims i have at the shop
the not so lucky part was then breaking the other side cause I was in a hurry then it turned into a later day machining one up

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Oh neat, didn't know about that problem.

I think the 10.25 pinion bearings are the same id and Od just a different pitch to the taper. Not 100 percent on that.

I remember getting a 10.25 cone with a 10.50 cup once will rebuilding one at ford where they have to pick individual pieces there isn’t a kit and it fit the pinion.

If that’s the case Richmond gear and Yukon gear list 5.38s


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the 87-2010 1025/50 are all the same as far as aftermarket gears and lockers. yes you have to run 10.25 gears and bearing kit in the 10.50 but will have zero issues. in 2011 they updated the housing and now has a 37 spline pinion and are limited to 4.88 gears.

ive been running a 10.25 in every rig ive had and have yet to blow one up or brake an axle shaft, stock they have better ground clearance then a smoothed bottom 14bolt as well. only thing id do is weld the tubes as they are known to twist under heavy abuse

Snowracer wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:25 am the 87-2010 1025/50 are all the same as far as aftermarket gears and lockers. yes you have to run 10.25 gears and bearing kit in the 10.50 but will have zero issues. in 2011 they updated the housing and now has a 37 spline pinion and are limited to 4.88 gears.

ive been running a 10.25 in every rig ive had and have yet to blow one up or brake an axle shaft, stock they have better ground clearance then a smoothed bottom 14bolt as well. only thing id do is weld the tubes as they are known to twist under heavy abuse

Okay, perfect. The 10.25 gears are a lot cheaper and more plentiful anyways.

Welding the tubes is easy-peasy too.

what's the deal with hub options on these things?

plenty of space to drill new patterns or does somebody make hub bodies that can be swapped on/off?

Provience wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 10:52 pm what's the deal with hub options on these things?

plenty of space to drill new patterns or does somebody make hub bodies that can be swapped on/off?

What pattern do you want?

The backside of the hub isn't flat, they cast nubs into it and milled them where the original bolt pattern goes, so it's pretty goofy if you just do a straight redrill. See the picture, these are modded with tone rings cut in them but stock otherwise.

Still Looks easier to redrill than 14 bolt hubs


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thanks for the picture. 6x5.5 is what i'm curious about but that picture makes it look like there is a decent bit of space if that is 8x6.5

6x5.5 wouldn’t be a problem I’d think the width would be an issue


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pointsnorth wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 8:56 am 6x5.5 wouldn’t be a problem I’d think the width would be an issue


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"one of these days" i'm going to get bigger axles for my rig and go away from the 30 spline stuff finally. the biggest reason i didn't start off that way is that i didn't want to spend an extra couple grand on new wheels and tires, as my current stuff works just fine.

then as i start to learn a little bit more about the "fullsize" stuff, turns out redrilling and new hubs and such is pretty common oh well. just makes it a little easier to keep an eye out for things if they are fairly easy to swap hub patterns.

i'm trying to keep everything on my rig with enough space and clearance to run a 40 or 42" tire and that'll be 35 spline axle time for sure.

it may not be cheaper overall, but doing things in steps and here and there feels cheaper compared to buy once, cry once

ive got a narrowed 6x5,5 full float 14 bolt in my Top Ramen buggy. total cost was just over 1k

Provience wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 8:30 am thanks for the picture. 6x5.5 is what i'm curious about but that picture makes it look like there is a decent bit of space if that is 8x6.5

Yeah, tons of space.