Ford-Sterling rear question

RedneckTexan · Post by **RedneckTexan** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:42 pm

What's the difference between the Sterling 10.25 and the 10.50

I know that 10.25 and 10.50 are the size of the ring gears, but I've heard there's a difference in the whole axle

averagef250 · Post by **averagef250** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:03 pm

I'm fuzzy on the exact ring gear dimensions, but I believe the difference is one is a full floater and one is not.

The vast majority of the little engine powered 3/4 tons had the semi-floater axle.

Anything sterling made is good stuff. I think the quality in the sterling rears surpasses any dana axle.

FLATBEDFORD · Post by **FLATBEDFORD** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:56 am

I think they are both full floaters and the differeance is the dimensions.

RedneckTexan · Post by **RedneckTexan** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:47 pm

I know that there is a semi-floater and full-floater version of the 10.25, but I was reading this article (I subscribe to this mag)

http://www.oramagazine.com/pastIssues/1 ... le=finesse

and in the axle info section, they call all the stock rears 10.25, even the DRW. I thought that they made a 10.25 semi-floater, and the SRW full-floater was a 10.50, and the DRW was a 10.50

FLATBEDFORD · Post by **FLATBEDFORD** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:42 pm

The 10.50 is an upgrade from the 10.25 that came in the late '90s. There was a good article about them in one of the off road magazines a few years ago. I will say that the Sterling 10.25 DRw is much lighter than the Dana 70 DRW. When I scrapped them. the Sterling was much easier to move around once I hoisted them onto my truck.

averagef250 · Post by **averagef250** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:02 pm

The sterlings are lighter weight, but they hold up very well.

A 35 spline 70 is hard to beat, but I have yet to see a 10.25 sterling break under any condition that wasn't directly related to bad maintenance or someone not knowing what they're doing setting up gears.

FLATBEDFORD · Post by **FLATBEDFORD** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:56 am

One could easily upgrade his Dana 70 to a Sterling, at least on a DRW truck. The spring pads are the same, but the it is about 2" wider, which may or may not be a problem. Might get better brakes out of the swap too.

RedneckTexan · Post by **RedneckTexan** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:37 pm

FLATBEDFORD wrote:The 10.50 is an upgrade from the 10.25 that came in the late '90s.

Gotcha. So any Rear-end on a 80-86 F-350 Crewcab SRW or DRW will be a D70 or a 10.25, the 10.50 upgrade came later. Learn something new every day on FORDification

FLATBEDFORD · Post by **FLATBEDFORD** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:43 pm

Something like that.

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Ford-Sterling rear question

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