school me on an ho72 rear axle. I have been kicking around the idea of building one for my truck with 5.14 gears detroit locker 14bolt shafts and disc brakes. I you know of a good build up on one please post a link or any knowledge you might have.

Ahh the good old 12 1/4...
Don't even waste your time bro, you can't get shit for those. Since you mentioned the 14bolt shafts I assume this is a corporate 14/HO72 hybrid you want to build and are you only doing this because you want a large drop out style ring gear? If that's the case I would say another hybrid combo over the HO72 like Toy/D44, C8.75/whatever, or F9/whatever. Either way, sounds like a headache just to have that style diff with some beefy outers. JMO

Its really a good strong axle, to be certain, the biggest drawbacks are lack of aftermarket support and gear ratios.
If you got one already, I don't know why not. But if I had to find a good one ton rear axle, I would go 14FF first, just cause they are cheap, plentiful and exist almost everywhere. And gears sets and parts are available.

parts are hard to find and you canttrust pinion bearings in these old eatons

waste of time really

a 14Ff is dirt cheap and trust worthy and parts are cheap

good luck

Ahh the good old 12 1/4...


It meaures 10-1/8".... you're think of the H110.

2 main benefits I see are the all-steel housing you can weld anything to, and the chance of finding one with a Detroit in it already. The cost to re-bearing a center section kind of kills it for a lot of people.

IMO they are way better than a 14bolt but I'm not an expert :laughing: . I run one in my rig and my brother has one in his Cummins powered Chevy truggy. He'll be the real tester once he get's it mod'd. They have better clearance than a 14bolt and it's easier to find an Eaton with 4.56's or 5.13's than a 14bolt.

easier to find an Eaton with 4.56's or 5.13's than a 14bolt.

For sure. I used to have whole batch of thirds, but then I liquidated. They are getting harder to find now. If you can still locate them, go with it. :)

BTW: H072 is capacity specific (7200#) it shares the same 3rd with the H052/54 (normally 3/4-ton). There is the short pinion (66-) and long pinion 67-72). The whole 3rd swaps, but gears are specific to each style of 3rd.

HTH.

spend 20 for a red star so you can search further. There is a lot of info here and links in those threads to yet more info. You could do a search on my posts as I posted in a few threads. Rockstomper also posted in a lot of eaton threads

It meaures 10-1/8".... you're think of the H110.

To clarify, the 12 1/4" I mentioned was the opening.

for me finding a 5.13 eaton is easy and cheap 50, the only thing I think would be hard is finding one with the no spin option in it.

The guys that truck pull around here would not touch a 14 bolt, if they can get an ho72 apperntly built 500 caddy motors eat 14 bolts.

14 bolts are expensive to gear 240 for gears 180 for bearings.

To clarify, the 12 1/4" I mentioned was the opening.

Nice save. ;) My backup measure is vent-tube-to-rosette-weld, by the way. :laughing:

apperntly built 500 caddy motors eat 14 bolts.

You want to point out the strength flaw in the 14bolt for us? It's bigger and of very similar design. Pardon me if its not obvious.

The only thing I can say is seen them fail at the pulls. ring&pinions, shafts get whiped out more than they do in ho72 axles.

why? I have no idea since the ring gear is bigger on a 14 bolt and the shafts have more splines

I have nothing against using a 14b but price of gearing one to 513 sucks. I do not plan on using my truck to pull sleds or have 700hp on tap I am wanting to see my options on using "out dated" equipment

well how many more 14 bolts get run compared to the old eatons?

that is the thing there are less 14 bolts in my neck of the woods being run.

to get back on topic I cannot search, if someone would give me some links on the build of an ho72, I would appreciate it.

there's not much to an Eaton "build". I'm going to run one whenever I get my truck running.

Get one of the newer ones, if possible. I have a '65 center section that does not have the extra oiling passage to the pinion, and a '68 that does. There is a very noticeable difference between the 2, a bulge in the outside of the 3rd itself. The '68 also has the snubber bolt on the side of the housing like the Hi9.

One thing I don't like about this axle is that its narrower than a 14 bolt @ 65" for the SRW variant. I have yet to come across a van Eaton that came in at 70", and I wish I could.

For me, it was a cost-efficient choice. Complete '65 axle with 4.56 and a No-Spin set me back 100 bones, and a '68 5.14 3rd was $50. 14 bolts were too expensive for what I could find.
I was going to swap the guts for a 14 bolt, but the shafts are plenty of strong. You don't really hear of anyone breaking either kind , so whats the point?

To the guys who wanna rebuild and its too expensive, have you totally rebuilt a 14 bolt lately either? Its not very cheap either.

I know the Van ones are hard to find but that would be ideal. My brother has one and it's close to the same WMS as his D60 front. I'd like to find another but haven't yet :( . His had a 4.10 gearset and a No-Spin :smokin: . All for $100.