Originally Posted by Monte417

I cant believe this hasnt been asked yet but what is your end goal in terms of tire size? You say you are on 37s now so are you sticking with 37s long term? If it was me and im dropping tons in along with a big boy engine you better believe 40s are going under there. Just seems like kind of a waste to just run 37s on something so capable. If you are sticking with 37s I would run your 44s until/if it breaks. Im going on my 4th season with rubi axles and 37s and the housing is just fine. Obviously this hant been the case for everybody. My thing is slow speed crawling no fast shit. My mods are gears, chromoly shafts (ujoints), HD brackets and gussets. No truss and no sleeves. Stay away from pricey rcv shafts and just run regular sealed spicer ujoints on some chromoly shafts to make the ujoints your weak link. I went with 10 factory. Most people including myself dont wheel hard enough to warrant tons on 37s. If you break address going to a 60 then. The only repairs ive done on my axle is balljoints and brackets. My wheel bearing are still good with 125k on them believe it or not. Ujoints have 80k. Good luck with whatever you decide and I really would give fusion a call they seem to know their shit. I met Dan at rausch he seemed like a good guy

edit: That option with the 99-04 60 upfront with wheel adapters in the rear seems like a good plan. That is something I myself would definately consider when the time comes.

Originally Posted by Biginboca

A 60 on 37's has like .5" more ground clearance than a 44 on 35's. I agree with above if you go 60's/14b/sterling you need to maximize it with 40's!

Originally Posted by Maertz

That would be a wide ass front axle compared to rear id think. Not a huge deal though. My rear is a bit narrower also but i regret it. If i recall sterlings dont hang as low as a 14b. If i did d60s again id use sterlings.

Originally Posted by Monte417

I believe the 99 to 04 axles are narrower (69") maybe? The 05 + is 72. With the rear wheel adapters the widths of the two axles would be the same but I could be mistaken

Originally Posted by Pthorpe84

Just to reiterate what a few have already said. Contact Dan at Fusion 4X4. Hands down the best in the business.

Do not go to a 5 lug. Sell your wells and get 8 lug or 8 on 170 depending on what axle set up you get.

Originally Posted by jedg

I think most folks that use the 14bolt do a shave kit on it to take care of the clearance difference from the Sterling 10.5.