9.5SF Swap

Girthy

randeez said:

Girthy

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Shafts not to shabby either


I'm happy it looks considerably beefier than the broken one. Kinda expected it to be the same with bigger holes for the joint caps.

Had a couple people ask about what options there are for attaching the drive shaft to the AXN axle in a gmt800 so I wrote this up.

No length change should be required. However the OEM drive shaft should have a rear joint size of GM 3R where the Factory AXN axles have a yoke sized for a 1350 joint. You have a couple choices on what to do about the U joint issue.

1)You can get a conversion joint that is 3R on one end and 1350 on the axle side. ***Part# Neapco 2-1153***
-The down side is the conversion joint all seem to be greasable which are weak and tend to break. (Mine blew apart on the first launch I tried to do with decent street tires)

2)You can remove the 3R yoke from the 10bolt and bolt it directly to the 9.5sf thus giving you a 3R joint on both sides.
-This is the cheapest option but you have to be careful when removing and reinstalling the yoke there is a certain way to do it.

3)Get a new shaft in yoked to 1350 and run a regular 1350 U joint
-Cheaper than the strongest option#4 by about $50 but also weaker.

4)New driveshaft Yoked to 1410 and a new yoke for the axle that accepts 1410 as well.
-Most expensive option but not having U joint blow apart is kinda nice. (this is what I did)
Part# for the 1410 yoke is ***AAM 40055350*** Dennys Driveshaft had a great price of under $50 when this was posted.

To anyone that is interested in this swap I do have a word of caution. If you plan to lower the truck and do the free travel mod you may have an issue with the U joint hitting the fuel tank evap bracket. This may only happen if you lower it, do the free travel mod and swap to the 1410 u joint and yoke. However I think it was worth noting.

It only happens during hard launches and gear changes where the truck squats really low in the back. There are a few ways to mitigate this.

1) Use a big bump stop so it limits the travel (but more travel is better)

2) Keep the airbags filled to 15psi or greater at all times. (Mine only stay filled a few days)

3) Put on your Vader mask and whip out the death wheel! (So far I've cut the bracket itself but I'm not sure it's going to be enough. If it is I will post pictures of the final solution.)

Quick question about this swap. Was there any NBS 01-06 SUV that came with the 9.5 rear axle or were they only offered in NNBS's 07+? I ask because I recently saw a 2006 Escalade 2wd w/ lq9 and I'm wondering if this Escalade would have came with the 9.5 since it is 2wd? If it's not the 9.5, anyone know what would be in this Escalade? Thanks in advance.

mattt said:

Quick question about this swap. Was there any NBS 01-06 SUV that came with the 9.5 rear axle or were they only offered in NNBS's 07+? I ask because I recently saw a 2006 Escalade 2wd w/ lq9 and I'm wondering if this Escalade would have came with the 9.5 since it is 2wd? If it's not the 9.5, anyone know what would be in this Escalade? Thanks in advance.

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99.9%sure it's just a regular old 8.6 10bolt. Only the GMT900/NNBS had the 9.5 in a 2wd 6.2 suv.

Curiosity was killing the cat, I had to go back for a look today to see what was under that Escalade. It appears to be a 14 bolt rear axle, is this what the SF(semi-floater?) looks like? If so, then I'll need to keep an eye out for another. Someone removed the cover and I think one of the spider gears from the diff. That's how it seems anyway when spinning the axle shaft from the outer end. Unfortunately the glove box is gone from this Escalade so I have no way to verify by the RPO code. I wanted to see the RPO's to see what gear it has in it to see if it would match my 3.73's.

The reason this rear axle has interested me, and the curiosity got the best of me is my existing 2004 Tahoe Z71 rear axle has 328k on it and will soon have an lq9 6.0 in front of it. It is quiet and running well but how long will it last. It's been serviced twice in it's life. So far so good.

mattt said:

Curiosity was killing the cat, I had to go back for a look today to see what was under that Escalade. It appears to be a 14 bolt rear axle, is this what the SF(semi-floater?) looks like? If so, then I'll need to keep an eye out for another. Someone removed the cover and I think one of the spider gears from the diff. That's how it seems anyway when spinning the axle shaft from the outer end. Unfortunately the glove box is gone from this Escalade so I have no way to verify by the RPO code. I wanted to see the RPO's to see what gear it has in it to see if it would match my 3.73's.

The reason this rear axle has interested me, and the curiosity got the best of me is my existing 2004 Tahoe Z71 rear axle has 328k on it and will soon have an lq9 6.0 in front of it. It is quiet and running well but how long will it last. It's been serviced twice in it's life. So far so good.

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Any way you could take a picture of it? It's possible someone swapped it because I have looked under a considerable amount of GMT800 SUVs and never seen anything other than a 10b, unless of course it was a 2500 SUV but I don't believe the escalades came with a 2500 version. Then again GM did some funky stuff back then so if you found a unicorn I want proof!


About your current rear end, it's not wear over time that gets them it's the locking mechanism in the G80 that doesn't like sudden loads and is known to expload. If its quiet and you don't plan to put big tires/heavy wheels or stomp the gas constantly it will probably be okay for awhile. The 4l60 however probably won't.

mattt said:

Curiosity was killing the cat, I had to go back for a look today to see what was under that Escalade. It appears to be a 14 bolt rear axle, is this what the SF(semi-floater?) looks like? If so, then I'll need to keep an eye out for another. Someone removed the cover and I think one of the spider gears from the diff. That's how it seems anyway when spinning the axle shaft from the outer end. Unfortunately the glove box is gone from this Escalade so I have no way to verify by the RPO code. I wanted to see the RPO's to see what gear it has in it to see if it would match my 3.73's.

The reason this rear axle has interested me, and the curiosity got the best of me is my existing 2004 Tahoe Z71 rear axle has 328k on it and will soon have an lq9 6.0 in front of it. It is quiet and running well but how long will it last. It's been serviced twice in it's life. So far so good.

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Ask @915_Tahoe to run the vin.

Dantheman1540 said:

Any way you could take a picture of it? It's possible someone swapped it because I have looked under a considerable amount of GMT800 SUVs and never seen anything other than a 10b, unless of course it was a 2500 SUV but I don't believe the escalades came with a 2500 version. Then again GM did some funky stuff back then so if you found a unicorn I want proof!


About your current rear end, it's not wear over time that gets them it's the locking mechanism in the G80 that doesn't like sudden loads and is known to expload. If its quiet and you don't plan to put big tires/heavy wheels or stomp the gas constantly it will probably be okay for awhile. The 4l60 however probably won't.

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I have 295k on my 3.73's. I THINK o serviced it once since I bought it at 212k--I THINK . I try not smoke the tires too much.