I just recently got a 1989 Chevy r-30 crew cab. It is missing the rear end(which I think was a Dana 70 dually with 3.73 gears). I am planning on fixing it for pulling my mud trucks and horse trailers and retiring the old half ton (yeah I know). I need to find out as much information as I can about these style trucks (it is the 73-87 old square body style). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
what exactly do you want to know? there's a lot of info on them... we gotta have a starting point. I'd start by putting a rear end under there... either 3.73's or 4.10's depending what kind of gas mileage/engine you have...
Yeah, more info, and what specifically do you want to know? Engine, trans, tire size, and expected load/use will determine optimal gearing. D70 for dually, C14 for SRW, and narrow C14 for dual wheel C&C.
I need axle specs Well I have heard from various sources that there different widths on the available rear axles. I have heard that there were 14 bolt and dana 70 dually rears and I need to know which is better and how they interchange(if u-joints work or if I need a conversion joint and the driveshaft length). I have most of the other parts to put the rear end in such as the u bolt plates and the plates that go on top of the springs. The driveshaft is still in the truck. For the time being I put a 14 bolt in there so that I can roll it around the garage but it is a single rear wheel axle and the driveshaft doesnt reach and the spring pads are too wide on this axle, by about 2-3 inches. Also I need to know what is the best receiver hitch that I can buy for this as well as gooseneck hitches and fifth wheel hitches. Thanks guys.
more The engine is the stock 89 TBI 454 with a th400. Typically it will pull from 6000 to 10000 lbs with the reciever and up to 14000 lbs with a gooseneck. I pull up some steep grades around 9% for 2-7 miles and the usual trips are from 10 to 150 miles one way. Also the tires that are currently on it are 215/85/16 load range D (dont remember the brand right now but nearly new)
yeah, the spring perches are narrower on a DRW truck... as far as "brand" of receiver hitches and such, all the standard brands/recommendations apply here... lots of threads on the topic and it just comes down to personal preference. I'd worry more about making sure your brake setup is nice and strong. I've had my '84 1-ton drw truck pushed around pretty good and it's not fun. I'm a flatlander and would hate to have to stop on a grade with a load behind it.
If I didn't miss it, you still didn't say if it's dually or dual-wheel (AKA Chassis Cab). Sounds like you probably have a dually (fat wide rear fenders extending over tires) so you just need to find a "dually" axle. In those years, AFAIK, that is always a Dana 70 and they are all pretty much the same other than gearing and drum size. And I think(?) they are all 1350 spicer u-joints with the same pinion length. Oh, and they all have the same perch based on chassis, so any dually will fit another dually in that respect, shock mounts should all be the same too. Take a tape measure to be sure, but I would just go looking for any good dually axle in the 73-87/91 CKRV trucks with the right gear and brake size.
Hmmm.... what exactly do you mean about the brakes? When I get the rear end I do plan on going through it drum to drum with new brake lines, shoes, hardware etc. The fronts are brand new and are the heavy duty pads. I don't know what brakes it had from the factory or if there were better options. I believe that the truck is a dually.
I'm not a D70/dually expert, but I think there were at least 2 different brake setups depending on rating and/or year. I know that on the C14FF there were at least 3 different versions that varied in both diameter and width. Depending on what you want to do, you may care about the brake option, but all are going to be dually rated (unlike the 3/4 ton C14FF option) so it probably does not matter unless you want the absolute top line braking, at which point you would want the largest diameter and width you can find. Then again, all D70s may be the same, you'll have to investigate that, and a quick call to GM or your local parts house guru should answer that quickly enough just based on brake shoe part numbers and specs. And R/C30 trucks (assuming that matches the frame) were all (AFAIK) either dually or CC. SRWs were only in K/V30s that I know of. So the next question is which? Duallys have D70s, and CCs have narrow C14FF. If you don't have a bed (I guess not since you don't know if it's a dually?) then look at the frame rails. CCs have fairly straight, flat rails and may fit a 9-12' bed (I think that's the range in those years?). The dually will have the typical "humped up" rails over the axle that make it harder to flat bed, leading to solutions including 4x4 wood spacers in cheaper implementations.
Yeah I checked, it is a dually so that narrows it down quite a bit. I think I have found a 3.73 gear ratio D70 dually for 150 bucks. Does anybody know of any reciever hitch manufacturers that make a class 5 hitch for my truck?
On this subject, does a 1 Ton have the same front end parts(diff, CV's, etc) as a 3/4 ton in the 89-98's?
Assuming we are talking IFS 4x4, not sure what exactly years this holds true for, but in later models an "HD2500" (like my '02) will have everything the same as a 1 ton except dual rear wheels and over-loads. And the "2500" or "LD2500" (depending on year) has the same as a 1500.
