[Kagami-Suburban]

I've made up my mind on what I will be doing to my 93 3/4 suburban and thats make it into a home made tank. now I may be able to do this on my own with the help from my father but Is there more to it then removing the old axle and putting the dually axle in?? it can't be that easy now. and there will be no fiberglass fenders, plain is to cut the sides of a pickup bed off! the goal is to have a truck that looks like it could have been in Madmax. some people like big rims that keep spinning when stopped and big spoilers that could be on a plane. I like tanks.

 

[Crawdaddy]

In a 3/4 ton truck, you should have a 14-bolt under there as your rear axle. Swapping in a dually axle should be trivial as it's also a 14-bolt. In fact, your swap could be as simple as swapping the hubs and axleshafts to the dually hubs and shafts. Otherwise, the axles are identical with the only differences being at the hubs and drums.

 

[Kagami-Suburban]

so all I need to do is change the hubs shafts and drums? I would think its cheaper just to buy a axle though?

 

[Crawdaddy]

Yes, the axle housing is the same for all the variants of the 14-bolt as far as I know. It's all in the hubs that make the difference. A complete 14-bolt axle can usually be obtained from the local pick-a-part junkyard for right around $100 all day. The only concerns I'd have with that is the spring and shock perch locations. On my Suburban, which is the 80s bodystyle, the spring perches are narrower than the new pickups, so I had to have mine moved. But, with yours being the newer bodystyle, it may have the same spring perch locations. A tape measure will tell you for sure.

Getting a whole axle from the junkyard is nice in that you can take your time and rebuild the whole thing before installing it into the truck. On the other hand, a hub and axleshaft swap can probably be accomplished in under an hour with 1 person and the right tools. The brakes are a question here depending on whether your drums slide over the hubs or get pinned to the back of the hubs with the lug studs. However, with the hubs, axleshafts, and brake backing plates off the same vehicle, it shouldn't be an issue. Keep in mind also that your wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface will change when moving to duallies, but that's offset by dual tires.

If you have any other questions, just ask. I've rebuilt a single wheel 14-bolt and a dual-wheel 14-bolt axle in the past year.

 

[Boonduff]

The factory dually housing is wider by 3 or 4 inches. Swap the whole axle, if you don't, even with the dually hubs you won't have enough room for the inner wheel. It will rub against the spring.

 

[Crawdaddy]

The factory dually housing is wider by 3 or 4 inches. Swap the whole axle, if you don't, even with the dually hubs you won't have enough room for the inner wheel. It will rub against the frame.

Ah, I didn't realize that. Learn something new every day...

 

[LoneWolf'burban]

Go look at the axle under your burban. If you have a 3/4 ton burban you could already be part way there. Mine has the dually brake drums already. I don't know if the lug studs are long enough or not or if I would have clearance for an inner tire.