Cubey,
The Dana axles have always had a drum/hub combo. Our 73 F-250, and someone I knew that had a late 70’s 3/4 Dodge had the drum/hub unit.
All the Sterling axles have a hub, and removable drum (or rotor on the newer 10.50 in the SuperDuty/Excursions). This is the way my Excursion is…. Much easier to service the brakes this way since you only have to remove the drum… those Drum/hub combos are heavy
Not correct. A semi floating axle has the wheel studs attached to the axle shaft. There will also be only one bearing at the wheel end. A full floater will have two. Also the sterling doesn’t use a gasket. It’s an o ring that seals between the hub and axle flange.Just one item of correction on this axle, it is a semi float axle since the flange is part of the axle and not a separate splined to the shaft piece. Full float axles are not very common. The only one I've ever personally seen was on a set of Mack drop ins.
Also the flange gasket is just a place for a leak. A thin layer of silicone leaves you with what is basically a metal on metal seal with the silicone taking up any low spots. I'm a trash truck mechanic and probably every flange leak I've dealt with in the last 30 years had a gasket.