single rear wheel to dual rear wheel

[aharper33]

I have been thinking of doing this as a summer project and was wondering if anyone has done this before and documented it with pictures? I have searched the site before that gets brought up. I have read through alot of the topics and some say it is a straight forward swap and some say it alot of work. I currently have a 1986 K20 and was wanting to swap it to a dually for around the farm projects and hauling hay and cows. Living in Wyoming it has been kind of a pain finding a good 4x4 dually so I figured making one would be easier than trying to buy one.

[andrewmp6]

You need both dually axles and a dually bed.

[slotard]

My impression is that with minor work you can make your stock rear axle work and it'll be roughly C&C width. That would require a flatbed or heavy bed mods, though. Then, at least around here dually width D60s are significantly cheaper than SRW ones.

Or, if you want it to look like a typical dually you will need to dually rear end as mentioned.

[daddyjeep]

The front axle really isn't different between the two, it just has the offset hub so you can have the same wheels on all 4 corners. I think the rear axle is around 4" narrower for a dually vs a SRW. Too bad you are a couple thousand miles away from me. I am doing the exact opposite to my truck.

[slotard]

Well, for one thing the dually is a 1 ton with a D60 vs a 3/4 with a 10B (or D44 if earlier), so the axle is way heavier duty. I had thought that the dually 4WD front axles were wider, maybe not on squares though. Certainly newer trucks with solid axles are.

[Chevy_mud_truck]

I've done a lot of reading on the axle and from what I've research yes swapping front hubs srw to drw and drw to srw is just swapping hubs just done mine dually rear axles are 1 1/2 inches wider on each side then a single rear wheel as long as it's not a c&c axle I've seen several trucks guys have swap a dulley rear axles and left the front as is but of course on a 3/4 ton k20 the front axles (Dana 44 or gm 8.5)are not going to be as strong as a one (Dana 60) one ton and you don't mind running different wheels front to back
I also read somewhere the you could just swap the rear hubs out that the offset was in the hubs but I'm not sure on that part

[Chevy_mud_truck]

True one ton truck I've messed with the spring perches are inboard father the 3/4 ton truck are

[aharper33]

Awesome responses. Yeah my plan is to put a flatbed on when I do the swap. I wouldnt mind the cab and chassis look. Has anyone tried the spacers or would it be better to just go with the new hubs and brakes?

[slotard]

Out back I can't guarantee that dually wheels will fit without interfering with something. I know 1 tons have inboard springs (in between the frame rails) while 3/4s have outboard springs. I'd suggest picking up a dually wheel and seeing whether it'll fit, although you might have to pull the bed (it might hit the bed but not anything else). You'll also need longer lug studs.

Up front, I don't believe there's an off the shelf way to use dually wheels, other than BIG spacers. I'm not a big fan of spacers, but in this case you shouldn't be moving the contact patch much, so it shouldn't change the loading all that much. When it comes to hubs, the farther out you put the wheel the more load there is, but if you have 4" spacers and wheels with 4" more backspacing the hub can't tell (although the lug studs can). On the other hand, if you're working it hard enough that you want a dually I wouldn't trust a 10 bolt.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by slotard

Out back I can't guarantee that dually wheels will fit without interfering with something. I know 1 tons have inboard springs (in between the frame rails) while 3/4s have outboard springs. I'd suggest picking up a dually wheel and seeing whether it'll fit, although you might have to pull the bed (it might hit the bed but not anything else). You'll also need longer lug studs.

Up front, I don't believe there's an off the shelf way to use dually wheels, other than BIG spacers. I'm not a big fan of spacers, but in this case you shouldn't be moving the contact patch much, so it shouldn't change the loading all that much. When it comes to hubs, the farther out you put the wheel the more load there is, but if you have 4" spacers and wheels with 4" more backspacing the hub can't tell (although the lug studs can). On the other hand, if you're working it hard enough that you want a dually I wouldn't trust a 10 bolt.

My 1-ton dually 2wd had the leafs outside the rails.

[daddyjeep]

My 85 crew cab dually.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Chevy_mud_truck]

I've measured 4 truck a 1/2 k10 and a 3/4 ton k20 both measures 45" outside to outside of rear leafs and and a true one ton single rear truck and a dulley both are 42 and 1/2 outside to outside

[slotard]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

My 1-ton dually 2wd had the leafs outside the rails.

Huh, interesting. Apparently I remembered wrong, the width is different but it isn't clear what exactly is what. From 14FF Bible:

1-tons feature 40.5" perch spacing - whether C&C or pickup, whether SRW or DRW. 3/4-ton is 42.5" spacing. (COUNTER) - The perchs on my C&C measure 36"

[Rubble]

I did the opposite swap couple years ago on a 86K 25. It had been converted to a dually few years before that. It still had the 3/4 ton front diff & ran regular 8 bolt single wheels. I converted it back to single rears. The truck had originally came with a box & been removed & a deck set on it. So this truck was just a 3/4 ton full float 14 bolt with longer studs & fitted with duals. There were no issues with the inside tires rubbing frame either. This is an easy swap if you don't want to convert the front axle to the dually style.

[aharper33]

This has all been some great information. Now I just need to decide how I want to do it and start gathering parts.