8 Lug Conversion

[Crawdaddy]

In an effort to get my truck's drivetrain "done" for now, I've decided that I'm going to do some junkyard hunting to see if I can't scrounge me up a 14-bolt rearend for my Suburban. That means that not only am I going from 5 lugs to 8 lugs, but I'm also going from a semi-floater to a full-floater, so my existing rims won't work at all on the rears. So, I want to convert the front end to the 8 lug pattern also. I'm guessing this is going to be more complicated than I think. Here's the parts list I THINK I'm going to need:

14-bolt rear axle with new gears and a locker
drum brake parts as required
set of 4 steel or aluminum 8 on 6.5" (not quite sure of the lug pattern dimensions)
8 lug spindles
8 lug rotors
calipers off the same 8 lug front end
stainless brake lines (might as well)

Is there anything else I'm missing from that list? It now looks like I'm going to be robbing all 4 corners off the same truck... Also, with my 14-bolt swap, do I need any trick u-joints or anything to mate up to my existing driveshaft? I'm probably going to be doing a 4 inch lift at the same time, so I may have to get the driveshaft lengthened depending on the dimensions of the front of the pinion. Hopefully they're slightly longer than the factory 10 bolt I've got in there now.... Any ideas are welcomed.

[dwill3015]

Sounds like quite the project, one that I know you will have the know-how to do but one important "ingredient" is missing from your shopping list and that is "BEER" LOL. Good luck Brother!

[Crawdaddy]

Too bad I don't drink (never really had the motivation to), but one thing I think I did forget off the list would be the backing plate for the front brakes, or whatever the caliper mounts to. I imagine the 8-lug brake rotors are physically larger, which will be good. I'm also considering swapping to disc rears on the 14-bolt, it seems to be cheap enough to get the conversion kit. Man this is getting exspensive awfully quick...

[Crawdaddy]

Well, I'm back on my wanting to go 1-ton with the truck. Since I've had my bronco, I've learned it's pretty cheap to convert the 14-bolt full-floater to discs. I'm talking like less than $100 cheap.I also learned that the 14-bolt was virtually built to have a detroit locker put in, which drops the cost of a detroit by almost half. I'm still working out my plans, but it all seems to make sense and not be that hard. Still gotta go junkyard hopping and find out the dimensions and such of all the 1-ton front parts. My uncle has a dually, but I imagine the front spindles for a dually are deeper or something to accomodate for the offset rims.

While I'm looking for 14-bolts, I might as well grab 2, one for the suburban and one for the bronco (yes it can, and is commonly done)

EDIT: Oh, and there are no 15-inch 8-lug full-floater rims are there? Once I'm ready to upgrade the bronco to bigger tires, I want to move the 31x10.50x15 BFG M/Ts that I'm about to put on over, but it's not looking like I will be able to