So a long story short, my neighbors axle grenaded on him and he had no money or time to go get a new one (his work truck). I just happens that my stock rear end was what he needed. SO I gave him mine for a pittance (and helped him pull it). That left me needing a new rear end. After scouring craigslist and finding a sea of danas and semi floats I decided to check the local junk yards. The only 14b FF locally was a 1 ton with no spring perches and the guy wanted 500.00.
Low and behold I talk to one on the phone and they say they have a 1987 2500 Suburban with the 454 and 8 lug axles. I quickly get to the yard with a friend and trailer. I see it from a distance and it is mostly there, and most important of all the axles are confirmed 14 bolt, full float. We get to work and find no rust, spins well, no odd sounds. In fact, someone loved this burb a lot, flowmasters, overloads and really clean.
About the time we get the u bolts all the way out and all the lines disconnected the owner comes by and asks if we are done as they are closing in 5 minutes. I reply "yes sir, we will hurry". Well, we had it dropped to the ground in 5 minutes, then had to get a large engine hoist, drag it out from under the truck (those are HEAVY for 2 people to drag sideways through sand!!). They ended up staying open an extra 30 minutes for us, it cost 202.00 out the door which I thought was great. Grand total an hour to unbolts it and 30 minutes to load up.
We got home and I met me neighbor out front where we took my axle out and placed the 14b ff under the truck (with the help of a 3d person) in about an hour and a half. I will work on bolting it up later today, now to find some 8 bolt rims. I am thinking I will do the el dorado disc brake swap too. Oh and I have no idea what the ratio is on this, but I will pop the cover to inspect and change fluid as well. Good times.
It looks rusty as it is humid out this morning but it is actually rather rust free and just dirty:
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