Bye 10-bolt Hello D44 - easy 8 to 6 lug brake swap?

[kennyw]

If it helps at all, I happen to know his axle has the big Selectro hub locks on them. The ones that look like a giant knurled handle from the 70's. I remember them well because we were laughing about them being all trashed looking on his nice truck.

The D44 is the small bearing style then. Those hubs are the external style lockouts.

GM did use up the D44's at each plant before switching to the 10 bolt. So the 77-79 trucks could have either. However, the D44's in this time period do not have flat tops and were switched to the large bearing spindle design.

 

[DizturbedOne]

Ok, so I think I'm all straightened out after a clean read on a fresh day and a night of thinking it over.

The gears are good and match the 4.10's in my 12 bolt.

I'm probably looking at a 76 or earlier D44 with the small diameter bearings. That means I have to change EVERYTHING from the backing plate out, including spindles and stub shafts which means new U-joints, possibly hub locks (depends on the selectro's condition), and probably bearings. But crossover will be easier and cheaper without having to buy a knuckle.

If I'm looking at a post-76 axle then I only have to bolt the brake assembly on, and I can leave the spindles alone and use my new bearings along with my current hub-locks and STILL be in the running for a super easy 8 lug swap... But needing a flat top knuckle for crossover in the long run.

I really want to get a 14BFF rear under there before it's time for tires, so I think I'll still do it and just deal with the frankenstein axle shafts until the truck goes to 8 lug. Once I'm all 8 lug the process of finding a 1 ton axle for the right price will start over (for the front) but it will be easy on me to do the rear by just having to swap a brake setup in the front for now.

Whatever I do... At least I know what I'm doing now. Thank you all for being so helpful and helping me straighten this out in 24 hours. It would have taken another week of reading for me to sort this all out. Especially Kenny and 4x4High. I'll be sure to take some pictures for the site when I do it, and I hope this thread helps someone else out like it helped me!