F250 Sterling 10.25

[bird hunter]

Hey,

I have been the proud owner of a 1990 F250 HD Supercab longbed 7.3 IDI ZF 5-speed for a few months now. Anyways, I would like to know if my rear Sterling 10.25 is a full-floater or semi-floater? How can you tell? Or were the F250's semi-floaters and F350's full-floaters? I believe my truck has the trailer tow package but I'm not sure if that is part of the HD package or what? What is the difference between the F250 and F250 Heavy Duty of this era anyways?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Birdhunter

 

[MUDKICKR]

all sterling 10.25 are full floater.

 

[gonecrazyi]

If its a 10.25 it would be a full floater. Look at the rims and see if you have a hub sticking out about 4 or 5 inches from the rim.

 

[david85]

If its a 10.25 it would be a full floater. Look at the rims and see if you have a hub sticking out about 4 or 5 inches from the rim.

.....and there will be an 8 bolt circle right on the face of that hub.

 

[MUDKICKR]

a semi-floating rearend means that the axleshaft is load bearing. what that means is that the whl is attached to the axleshaft. a full floating rearend means that the axleshaft isnt laod bearing, which means the axle is not attached to the whl.

 

[BigRigTech]

There are semi and full floater 10.25" axles, the semi's don't have a removable hub like the full floaters....The semi's are flush with the face of the brake drum like a normal 1/2 ton rear end.

 

[MUDKICKR]

There are semi and full floater 10.25" axles, the semi's don't have a removable hub like the full floaters....The semi's are flush with the face of the brake drum like a normal 1/2 ton rear end.

ive seen the dana 60s like that, or they might have been 61s, but never the 10.25, would you have a pic of one by chance?

 

[JesterPgh]

I don't have a pic, but I personally owned an F250 with a semi-float 10.25. If it's still at the yard next time I go up, I'll try to get pics, but it was absolutely a 10.25, and definitely not full floating.

 

[BigRigTech]

I deleted them a while back, I junked a 1990 F250 4x4 with a 302/auto......I can spot a 10.25 vs a D60/D70 a mile away and this was a Sterling....Now that I think my buddy just bought a truck like the one I junked and he's driving it everyday....4x4, 300 six with a ZF...Semi floater rear, wierd combo. I sold my semi floater to a guy who was putting it in his woods buggy Bronco.

 

[bird hunter]

So does anybody know what I might have? If I posted a pic could someone tell? I have manual hubs and they do stick out a few inches past the wheels. Also, I do have the 8-lug hub on the Sterling. I have a feeling it's a semi-floater. Damn.

Anybody know the difference between F250 and F250 Heavy Duty for 1990?

 

[BigRigTech]

Full floater is what you have.

 

[crashnzuk]

If the hub sticks out thru the wheel in the rear like your front locking hubs do, it's a full floater.

On the subject of full vs semi-float, I thought the semi-floaters actually had a 9.5 or 9.75 ring instead of the 10.25. The housings look the same though. They use them a lot in 1/2 tons and older solid axle expeditions.
Travis..

 

[bird hunter]

Yes my rear Sterling has the 8-lug center hub that sticks out past the wheel so I guess that means it's a full floater? Sorry, I don't know why I bothered to mention my front hubs also stick out it's the Dana 50 not Sterling. Anyways, I thank everyone for helping.

So, just how strong is the full floating Sterling???

 

[PwrSmoke]

All the axles in the diesel trucks were full floaters and in the "HD" line with an 8600 GVW or higher. The light duty, 6600# GVW F-250s from '85-'93 used a semi float 10.25. I can track them to '89 via Ford literature, but I have gaps in my books after that.

The SF 10.25 lived on to mount in the light duty F-250 LD based on the '97 F-150 platform and even later when that model was transitioned to the payload package F-150 (7700 and later 8200# GVW). I actually have one of the 8200# units (I call it the "F-150HD"), but unfortunately they went to a goofy 7-lug axle.

How strong...??? The 10.25 (semi or full float) was rated for 8300 lbs-ft of torque short duration, and 2000 lbs-ft continuous. The full-float axle was rated for a 6250# load and the semi-float for 5300#. The DRW 10.25 was rated for 8250#. The semi-float had .192"wall, 3.5" tubes, the full float SRW used .258 wall tubes (still 3.5 dia.) and the DRW had .448 wall, 3.5" tubes tubes. Interestingly, FOrd has long used SAE 1050 carbon steel in their axle, which is somewhat stronger than the normal 1035 or 1040 used in Dana axle and GM stuff.

Another interesting fact is that the later 10.50 is rated higher in everything. 10,660 lbs-ft short duration torque, 2900 continuous and it has a 9750# carrying capacity. I don't have the wall thickness on paper, but I had a chance to mike one and it looked to be about .58" wall tube.

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

Jreds 94 has a semifloater in it, seen it my self.
indeed it is rare.