Quote:
Originally Posted by K20chevy
So I speak from experience, since I do run a late 70īs G30 Van 14FF in my truck. It is correct that it is wider than the truck rear end. The WMS to WMS on the truck is 67" and the one on the van is 70". So it is exactly 3" wider and somewhat matches the 69.5" WMS to WMS on the front axle. This is the reason I changed mine out, to get rid of the wheel spacers. HOWEVER, the spring perches on the van are WAY wider than the truck. So there is no way around new spring perches or at least cutting them off and relocating them. On my K20 I already had to move them in about 2" per side, so the K30 will need them even further in.
I hope this does help. If you have any more questions, jut let me know.
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I haven"t measured the wheel mounting surface distance difference between the van and the truck yet but the perch distance on my truck and the perch distance on the 14b I have acquired are the same. Measuring from the outside of the perch to the outside of the other, I get about 43 inches on both. My guess is the different distance of wheel mounting surfaces is in the hubs?
Also, I pulled the dif cover and the gears looks good--much better than I had hoped. A small amount of pitting on one tooth of the ring and none observable on the pinion. The diff lube looked clear (amber) and no metal residue inside the case. Backlash seem minimal---maybe .008, just a guess. But overall, it looks good.
The stamp on the ring has the 41 11 ratio, and then the number 12, then 73. I'm going to guess that the 73 is the year model of the r&p, but for its condition I am having a difficult time believing that they are the original gear set. If they had been replaced sometime in the life of the van from which this axle came, I would also guess that there are few miles on the set before the van was retired from service. I got a glance at the van the other day and I'll be going back for a closer look to see if I can determine the model year.
I was told the van has set since 98 and that would account for the pitting on the top ring gear tooth since the lube had a good long while to drain off. The carrier shows some slight pitting on the perimeter (same area as the ring gear) which cleaned up quickly with a wire brush. Aside from the slight corrosion, it looks fairly decent.
I suppose the 373's could have been replaced with a gear set made for a 73 differential and carry the 73 stamp even if the axle was 73+, up the mid 80's.
That however is just a guess because I don't have much experience at tearing these things down, at least not enough to determine if it shows appropriate wear for a 70's or 80's axle. I do know the gear set looks much better than those currently in my ho72 and the lash in it about a quarter inch. Plus the lube was burned up when I pulled the diff cover from my ho72 so I know those gears have seen their day.
Overall, the condition of the 14b is far better than the ho72. I am still perplexed though by the year stamp on the ring and the fact that the perches are the same distance apart.
Is the year stamp on the ring definitive enough to say this is certainly a 73 axle?