14 bolt rear in a 1/2 ton?

[GMSea97]

This is my first post and I am a newbie, but I am a long time fan of GM trucks. I am aware that back in the old days they made a "heavy half" do they still make them... I now own a 1997 GMC z71, it has a 14 bolt rear and sits a few inches taller then my 88 Chevy z71, which has a 10 bolt rear. Is this because it is a "heavy half" or a "camper special". If so where can I find other information on this, and to find out what else is beefed up on my GMC.

[MS3DALE]

I can answer this one.

You have the "Heavy-Duty-Chassis Package",Its RPO option code "F44".

It consists of the 6-lug 14-bolt semi-floating 9 1/2" ring-gear rear axle (This is also the same axle that the "LD" 2500 7200lb GVWR trucks came with)

This axle also included bigger 11.15x2.75" rear brake shoes,an extra leaf in the leaf spring pack and bigger U-joints.

The "F44" pkg. also increased the GVWR from 6200lbs. up to 6600lbs.

The F44" pkg. was available as an option in certain 1/2 ton 4x4 ext.cab short-bed trucks and was standard in all 4x4 ext.cab long-beds and all 6.5 Diesel ext.cab trucks.

At one time it was also available in some regular cab 4x4 trucks.

 

I had two trucks with this option,A '94 & '97,Both ext.cab short-bed Z71's.

I special ordered both with the "F44" option because of the increased GVWR and

bigger axle/brake size.