14 bolt FF swap – Part 1

So, my rear end is starting to make death noises because I failed to properly set the pinion crush / preload.

To replace it, I picked up a 14 bolt full floater from a 2004 1500HD. The new rear end also has disc brakes which will be a welcomed edition. 4.11 rear end gears.

The first step was to jack the truck up and start removing the old rear end.

If you don’t have a good battery powered impact, get one. 100% worth every penny.

To note, it took 4 minutes to remove the old rear end. It took 30 minutes to remove the spare tire.. lol. Its bracket was stuck.

I ran out of daylight, and decided to finish up tomorrow.

Day 2…

Started the evening by pulling out the old rear end.

I pulled the cover off the new 14 bolt FF to inspect it. I squirted everything down with brake cleaner to clean it up a bit. Everything looked healthy. While I had it jacked up, I removed the e-brake cables as I do not currently have provisions to use them.

Drained out the old fluid and filled it back up with some cheap oil to give it a good flush once I can run it for 15 or 20 minutes.

Putting the new rear end in the truck kicked my ass. I struggled as bit trying to get the 600lb rear end lined up properly by myself. In the end, I was unsuccessful tonight. Will continue tomorrow….

Day 3….

Picked up where I left off and got the rear end into place pretty quickly. I was able to get one side properly fastened, however- I need a longer u-bolt to complete the other side.

As well- I determined I would need a different u-joint, as the 14 bolt FF, requires a much larger u-joint then the 14 bolt SF.