2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission SRW to DRW conversion?

[Texis]

I have a 97' 2500 5. 9 4x4. have been thinking about converting the truck to DRW. Aside from the wheels and fenders... . is the there any difference in the rear axle wheel face-to-face dimensions? The truck currently has the Dana 70rear axle.



Thanks

 

[Pro-Fab]

The axle in a DRW is a Dana 80 and I believe is wider than the 70 with the hubs and all.

 

[Texis]

Thanks, I believe the 70 would do anything I need to do. After the post I located several after-market DRW conversion companies. Everything from trucks to Tahoes, lol. Based on their site's info the 70 would need adapters to widen the f-f (as you noted). But I may be better off finding an 80 off a doner truck?... I think $$ will be the driver. They offer the after-market fiberglass fenders as well.

 

[Extreme1]

You can probably find a complete box and a rear end on either eBay or Craig's List pretty cheap if you aren't in too big a hurry. You do want the dually rear, the dually wheels stick in too far for a standard rear end and will hit the drums.

 

[VicR]

There is a poster on rv.net that did a super single conversion. I thought this looked interesting if I ever got a bigger camper.



-Vic



RV. Net Open Roads Forum: Truck Campers: Wide SRW in place of dually?

 

[ATaylor]

Difference between a SRW and DRW

Be sure you know what you are buying and pull the cover. I bought what I thought was a DRW Dana 80 with disc brakes for my truck and ended up with a 2001 SRW disc brake rear. I know, I know the hub on the DRW is longer than the SRW. I had been looking for a long time and was excited. I measured the spring perch width and pulled the cover. I noticed that the hub length was different than my drum brake DRW axle, but I thought maybe it was different because it was a disc brake axle! I was over excited and thought I had done my research. I called Quad 4x4 and read them the tag number off of the new axle and they confirmed the bad news. The dismantler wouldn't take it back! So I dealt with it. I put longer wheel studs in the SRW hubs and I'm going to run 19. 5 dually wheels which will clear the brake calipers. The axle will be wider, but I'm going to run a flat bed so it won't be as noticeable. The wheel bearings are not as stout, but oh well.



Long story short, here is what I learned.



1. The SRW axle is wider hub face to hub face than a DRW axle. (I think it was 1 inch on each side)

2. The wheel bearings are different. They are larger on the DRW.