ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
1/2t & 3/4t front axles are the same from the spindles in. The 3/4t has larger OD rotors, but uses the same calipers* as the 1/2t. The wheel hub and the caliper mounts are different, but swapping those parts onto a 1/2t truck is, at most, a couple of hours work. It is a very, very worthwhile swap to do. The difference in brake performance can't be matched by any form of racy, go-faster, stop shorter parts put on a 1/2t brake system.
There are some nuances to the 10 bolt front axles. They have 27 splines where the axles plug into the differential up to about '89 or so. After that they have 30 spline axles. There is a strength difference and those are worth looking for, but I wouldn't buy a truck based solely on those being on the truck.
Also, the later trucks (perhaps those with rear wheel ABS?) have "High Retraction Calipers". These look the same as older calipers, but have a subtle difference internally. My suggestion would be that even though there will be a very small mileage loss to dump them in favor of the older caliper design. This is as simple as giving the parts guy an earlier year truck as the application. I used my old '79 as the model year when I did this. Mixing them will result in a pull towards the side that has the older version in place.
Rear wheel ABS. You will hate this in the dirt. It is NOT a 'smart' system. I unplug the control module hanging on the side of the master cylinder when I'm going to be in the dirt for any period of time. I've been known to forget to plug it back in and I can't tell the difference on pavement. That might be because I've changed over to all 3/4t brake parts, dunno.
*There are some 3/4t's that use a different caliper. Most of these trucks over the span of this body style used the 2-15/16" piston caliper that uses the D52 pad type. Some of the late models, & I do not know the extents because I didn't really care to find out, use a completely different caliper and pad design. They may be a better design, but I prefer the D52 caliper for it's long production run. Meaning replacement parts are easy. I will speculate that if you find a 3/4t with the 14bolt semi-floater rear axle (which other than ring gear size is NOT superior to the 1/2t axle) that you will find these calipers too.
There are some nuances to the 10 bolt front axles. They have 27 splines where the axles plug into the differential up to about '89 or so. After that they have 30 spline axles. There is a strength difference and those are worth looking for, but I wouldn't buy a truck based solely on those being on the truck.
Also, the later trucks (perhaps those with rear wheel ABS?) have "High Retraction Calipers". These look the same as older calipers, but have a subtle difference internally. My suggestion would be that even though there will be a very small mileage loss to dump them in favor of the older caliper design. This is as simple as giving the parts guy an earlier year truck as the application. I used my old '79 as the model year when I did this. Mixing them will result in a pull towards the side that has the older version in place.
Rear wheel ABS. You will hate this in the dirt. It is NOT a 'smart' system. I unplug the control module hanging on the side of the master cylinder when I'm going to be in the dirt for any period of time. I've been known to forget to plug it back in and I can't tell the difference on pavement. That might be because I've changed over to all 3/4t brake parts, dunno.
*There are some 3/4t's that use a different caliper. Most of these trucks over the span of this body style used the 2-15/16" piston caliper that uses the D52 pad type. Some of the late models, & I do not know the extents because I didn't really care to find out, use a completely different caliper and pad design. They may be a better design, but I prefer the D52 caliper for it's long production run. Meaning replacement parts are easy. I will speculate that if you find a 3/4t with the 14bolt semi-floater rear axle (which other than ring gear size is NOT superior to the 1/2t axle) that you will find these calipers too.
