4 or 6?

[1969 k/10]

Idk what size lift to get for my 69 k/10.
I wanna go six but im afraid that an axle might snap w/ big old 37's on there.
Which one should i go for??

[LONGHAIR]

37" tires are indeed too much for 1/2 ton axles. The actual axle shafts are not strong enough for off-roading. The brakes are really not big enough for safe street driving. You also need to take gear ratio into account with a tire that tall.

[Yukon Jack]

37" tires might be a bit much for a 6" lift unless your willing to do some trimming. And I definitely agree that size tire is too big for all the reasons mentioned above.

What will be the intended use of the vehicle?

[1969 k/10]

Originally Posted by Yukon Jack

37" tires might be a bit much for a 6" lift unless your willing to do some trimming. And I definitely agree that size tire is too big for all the reasons mentioned above.

What will be the intended use of the vehicle?

Mostly street but during the winter i love to head up to a local mountain and go off roading. I try to go as much as i can but there is no good spots in town .

[dammitmitchell]

35's will do you good and still fit, i have a skyjacker 6 in and did an axel swap for the 8 bolt hub corporate 10 bolt and 14 SF w 8 bolt hubs, i got the "big brakes" that came with it also they stop me good but even with a corporate 10 as my fring axel i hooked up too hard coming out of a mud puddle a few days ago and shattered the u-joing in my RF axel area..
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=298145
i made the msitake of "going cheap" on my axels and expensive on teh tires.. now im paying for it ...
if you really want those tiresyour gonna want the bigger lift and reference to the "will it fit" tire chart here in the forums...
you'll need a body lift also to clear those tires under flex while mudding or trailing..
i'd stick with 35's...

OH and if you go big and plan on using it ont he road USE RADIALS they make the ride sooo much nicer
my procomp 37's (to me) ride alot nicer and mroe "quiet" at 60 mph then my buddies 35in swampers..(bias ply)
no bouncing on my tires esta very bueno!

[1969 k/10]

Originally Posted by dammitmitchell

35's will do you good and still fit, i have a skyjacker 6 in and did an axel swap for the 8 bolt hub corporate 10 bolt and 14 SF w 8 bolt hubs, i got the "big brakes" that came with it also they stop me good but even with a corporate 10 as my fring axel i hooked up too hard coming out of a mud puddle a few days ago and shattered the u-joing in my RF axel area..
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=298145
i made the msitake of "going cheap" on my axels and expensive on teh tires.. now im paying for it ...
if you really want those tiresyour gonna want the bigger lift and reference to the "will it fit" tire chart here in the forums...
you'll need a body lift also to clear those tires under flex while mudding or trailing..
i'd stick with 35's...

OH and if you go big and plan on using it ont he road USE RADIALS they make the ride sooo much nicer
my procomp 37's (to me) ride alot nicer and mroe "quiet" at 60 mph then my buddies 35in swampers..(bias ply)
no bouncing on my tires esta very bueno!

so a 6 inch lift w/ some 35's sounds like a winner

[dammitmitchell]

u ca push it with 36's but IDK i wouldnt if you wheel like me

[1969 k/10]

Originally Posted by dammitmitchell

u ca push it with 36's but IDK i wouldnt if you wheel like me

ya but 35's will have more room to flex and will bill at least a little less stress on the axles so ill stick with those.

[BIG HEAD]

You Can Listen To Who You Want. The Week Point On The 1/2 Tons Are The Ball Joints And The Stub Axles On The Front. They Are The Same As The 3/4 Tons. With Different Rotors And Lug Patterns. If You Put In Some Quality Ball Joints And After Market Stubs You Can Run Your 37's Or 38's All Day Long. Dont Go To Wide On Your Wheels. The Wider The Wheels The More Leverage On The Joints You Will Have. The More Agresive The Tire The More Likely You Are To Brake A Stub Axle. I Have Good Friends With Budget Mud Trucks That Are Running 44 Boggers And Half Tons. They Play With The Best Of Them. Sometimes They Brake, Sometimes They Dont. If You Want To Run 37's For Street Use With The Ocasional Off-road Trip, Go For It. Enjoy It. Have Fun. Even If You Brake When You Are Wheeling It Is Simple,cheap, And Easy To Fix. If You Are Wheeling You Can Brake With 35's As Easy As 37's. Rember Murphy's Law. I Say Go Big. If Your Truck Is Something You Use To Get Back And Forth To Work In Dont Wheel It. If It Is A Toy Enjoy It. Just Because They Say You Have Got To Have A Certain Part On Power Block Tv, Dont Mean You Got To Have It To Have Fun And Enjoy Your Ride.

[LONGHAIR]

BIG HEAD,

You are making some huge generalizations there...

First of all the outer axles (stub) are not really the weak link. The thin edges of the holes that surround the axle joint and the joint itself are where most of the breaks occur. The inners and outers are shaped the same in that area, so one is no weaker than the other (inner vs. outer). Either way, when one part goes, it takes out all three.
The torsional stiffness of the short side axle almost always makes that one break though. The longer (driver's side) axle will twist a bit and absorb some of the force.

Even If You Brake When You Are Wheeling It Is Simple,cheap, And Easy To Fix.

Simple, cheap, and easy are very relative terms.
While I do agree that anyone that owns/off-roads a truck in this category should be able to do the work themselves....that is not always the case.
Cheap? especially with the aftermarket axles you recommend? I wouldn't call it cheap.

I was doing this before "Powerblock" was ever heard of....before the hosts were even born. I am not saying that it was always done "right" back then. We did what the customer wanted/paid for....and there were a lot of 6-lug trucks running the streets with 40-44 inch tires. Many even ran the stock gearing...at least for a while
I broke an axle or two in my own truck, even with 3/4 ton stuff, but the brakes were better.

Ball-joint failure? Breakage? Unless you are really tearing stuff up off-road, I don't see that one. Jumping, serious Rock-attacking, maybe. I would consider ball-joint breakage a driver abuse thing more than an equipment failure/short-coming.
Width of wheels does have a leverage factor. It's not really width as much as it is off-set though. Wider wheels almost always have the width increase toward the outside, making the leverage against the ball-joints worse. This is because the inner edge of the rim would hit the tie-rod if the wheel off-set stayed centered. Seems to me that the back spacing was 4" IIRC...it has been a while.... Of course larger diameter wheels would solve this problem, but we didn't have them "back in the day". Bigger wheels (diameter) also add to the weight factor, not good either.

Bottom line is....legality/safety. Many states will not allow you to raise a truck high enough to run tires this big...which is a legal issue. Even if you can, do you have the brakes to make it safe? ....safety and legality?

[BIG HEAD]

longhair

that is what i was doing. generalizing. that is why i made some of the statements that i did. a 16x14 wheel with 4 inches of back spacing will put more pressure on the ball joint than a 16x10 wheel with 4 inches of back spacing. i realize that in different parts of the country different things are popular. sometimes in accordance with what the law allows. in florida we have bumper heigth laws, they are based on GVW. I have seen many ball joint style axle brake in the ball joint.(because the wheels were to wide) are the wide wheels safe? no but neither are the 20" to 30" tall wheels with stock size brakes.
what i was saying about the stub axle braking? the thin part around the joint that you mentioned? that is part of the axle to. i agree that it is the weak part if the wheels are turned. my personal experiece, i probably have broke as many hole or joint areas of the stub as shattered the shaft. you are right as far as the short side braking, (almost always).
my point is taking into consideration ( safty, law, common sense). 37s are fine with half ton axles. if you are driving on the street and occasionally off-roading, and that is what you want. if a part brakes they are cheap and available at most any salvage yard. and a person with minmal mech. experience and the simplest of tools can change one out. except my dad, he can rebuild a fighter jet engine,but has trouble changing oil in his pick-up. if you want to play hard with half tons you can with less problems, via after market axles and joints alot cheaper than the going price of a salvage dana 60 1 ton($2000.00 around here). and more than likely it will need $200.00 to $500.00 spent on it.
so once again if you want 37" tires on half ton axles, i say, keep the wheel width under 10" and stay away from the agressive tires such as a bogger, go for it.

[LONGHAIR]

BIG HEAD,
It sounds like we are closer in opinion than it sounded in the first place.
A few things:
I have never seen an outer stub break...the shaft itself. It has always been at the joint, which kills all 3 parts.

Wide wheels never really cought-on here. The lift laws brought everything back down w/tire sizes along with them. There were a few with 12-14 inch wide wheels in there 40"-44" tires, but downsizing stopped that.

I have never seen a ball-joint break on a street driven truck.

We totally agree on the brake issue.

In my experience, it takes more than "minimal" mechanical ability to change a broken axle. Lots of guys are intimidated by lock-out hubs, wheel bearings and spindles are waay out there.

I guess it is the bottom line of "go for it" is a little beyond me. I am of the opinion that 37s are too big to be safe w/small brakes on the street, and they are going to be to hard on the axles off-road. Kind of a "no win", not good for either use....I guess this could be "managed" by someone with some experience....but a bad "transition zone" for a newbie.

I dug up some old pics of what was typical before the lift laws. This was a customer's truck. I think it was a '77or '78?, SWB, 44s, 15x10, six lug, stock gears, automatic tranmission. You can even see the headlight re-location, because that was the only restriction at the time. 54" to the center of the bulb.

[BIG HEAD]

longhair

i just got back from a political rally. two uncles running for public office. one for sherriff and the other for school board. politics? i'll stick to 67-72s.

i do like the pictures. trucks like that are everywhere here. mostly parked in driveways, since it costs $8.00 to go 10 miles.

i'll see if i have a shattered shaft at the shop and sent a picture.

enjoyed the conversation.

[special-K]

37s cost alot more and going over 4" does,too.I have some 37s I was going to put on a truck lifted 6".I have other 35" sets,but I figure the 37s on 8.25" rims would work pretty good w/o serious off road.I was figuring I`d prolly run "O"-rates with those,if I had to.I`m in the same situation deciding on 4" vs 6".I have two trucks and I wanted to swap tires around...35s.I have the one set of 37s,so I think I`ll go w/6".I want the one truck (shortbed) for more`wheelin,so I`ll need 6" on that one.I wanted 4" for the other (3/4t) and not really off road with it.But,maybe I`ll go w/6" and use the 37s on it since they`d be big for`wheelin.


Back in the day a 1t was a rare sight and "everybody" was running "all" tire sizes up to 44" on Dana44 front axles.I always ran 37" because that was my personal limit on what I felt the truck would take.This was before radials and 35s(Except Cepek`s squatty Off Roaders). On one truck the front grenaded driving it home from buying it with 11-15s on it.I guess the guy went out and tore it up one more time*.After rebuilding it I put 14.50/37-15s on it and never broke a part,except the Warn Loc-O-Matics a few times.In another truck I broke one drivers side ripping up a bank onto the road where my left front hit pavement while I was on it hard**.That truck ran the same size tire.My`71 Blazer ran 13/37s with never a problem.I always wanted bigger and everyone questioned why so big?I was going to put 8-lug axles under the Blazer to "beef it up" because I thought the front axle was bigger,never gave it a thought.That was the perception back then.We didn`t know better and thought we were having fun.
Most of what I`ve seen are broken u-joints.Then,sometimes yoke damage from running it with a broken u-joint.Sometimes,they seem to go similtaniously.

*The left outer axle was turned down,like on a lathe,then snapped.I think it all started with a bad Loc-O-Matic,killed bearing,trashed axle,ate out inside of spindle...everything replaced.My first lesson w/4wds.

**The u-joint broke/egg-shaped yokes/shafts intact.

We know alot more now and we have high standards.So,we get caught up in going for the best when there`s alot in between.I know I do.I`ll spend more time and money in one spot and get nowhere with a project.Then,just say "This is good enough" and get it done.We used blocks to lift,never seemed wrong.Hardass spring packs.A factory posi was b/a.Gear ratio?I dunno.The steering was fine,you just had to drive it like a lifted truck.My brakes always stopped me.We thought an axle truss did something.Multiple shocks...

[LONGHAIR]

special-K,
I know exactly what you are saying there. Some of us knew better, but getting a customer to spend the money to do it right....especially when it was on parts that you couldn't see, was really hard.
Back then, it was all about lift and bigger tires, keeping-up or getting ahead of the "Jones'es". Springs that were too stiff, but all that was available. Multiple shocks, which were not needed on the stiff springs. A handfull of steering stabilizers to try to cover up caster issues. Tires that were far larger w/o any thought of gearing. All of these were weekly things.

Some guys would finally "get it" about the gears, but the other stuff stayed the same until the state laws were implimented. Then everything came back down and many were sold-off. They just couldn't deal with barely being able to run 35s after several years of 40-42-44.

BIG HEAD, pics would be great. Thanks, I enjoyed it too.

[BIG HEAD]

longhair- special-k

i think that you guys are along my same lines. i love 67-72s. i really love 4x4s. i just dont want people to get caught up in the thought process that they can not enjoy a lifted truck without 1 tons. with the sky rocketed price of a dana 60 front. it makes it had for a person to have one. i can buy 2 sets of front and rear rockwell 2.5s for the cost of just a front dana 60.

when we talk about safty. we have got to push propper maintance. a person that is wheeling must inspect there parts regularly. i change all of my fluids every time i go mudding. clean my truck and inspect all parts for wear.