[jbclassix]

Vince, I'm glad you asked these questions!

There are a few things that you need to know about your truck first. Does it have the Eaton axle or the Dana axle? And, does it have leaf spring rear suspension or coil spring with trailing arm rear suspension?

the Eaton and dana axles are easy to differentiate. the Eaton will have a round diff cover, along with a removeable 3rd member. There will also be 5 bolts around the yoke. the Dana axle will have a side-ways egg shaped cover with a square hump around the fill plug.

The reason I bring this up about what type of suspension you have, is you are looking at doing a locker and brakes. If you have the leaf style suspension, then you may want to look into a 14 bolt from a 1973 and up Chevy truck. 14 bolt parts are cheaper, and easier to come by. you will also have the option of 2 more gear ratios. 3.73, ad 3.42. you can swap a 14 bolt into the trailing arm set-up, but it will require welding new spring pads and fabricating, or relocating the panhard bar.

Now, if you do have the Eaton, and want to stay with it, The brake swap is straight forward. you will need the backing plate, fully assembled, and the brake drum from a 1973 and up 14 Bolt truck. They are interchangeable as I demonstrated. If you want to use the 9/16" studs, you can simply have the hubs bored out to accept them. the inner wheel seal is the same for the Eaton as it is for the 14 bolt.

On that, the bearings for the 14 bolt and the Eaton are DIFFERENT. The 14 bolt hubs will not swap dirrectly onto the Eaton without machine work for the inner bearing journal to accept the Eaton bearings. But it can be done.

Lockers. You have the option of one locker. The Detroit No-Spin. There is an original factory Detroit that usually sells for 400 and up. Then you have the "other" No-Spin option. The Detroit locker for the 14 Bolt is a direct fit for the differential of the Eaton. These lockers are readily available, and can be had used for around 200 and up. There is one catch to this though Swapping a 14 bolt locker into an Eaton requires the use of the 14 bolt axle shafts, and machining about 0.250" off of the splined ends. Otherwise it is a direct bolt in. I have pictures somewhere of my 14 bolt locker installed in my Eaton. I will have to load them to the computer.

I hope this little bit helps. If you want, post up a picture of your axle if you are unsure what you have.