D44/12 bolt, worth it?

[SCK5Blazer]

So browsing CL I just found a guy that said he lost his job and needs to sell the Dana 44 and 12 bolt axles he had rebuilt with 4.11 gears, I sent him an email asking for more details. He is asking $450 and my auto locking hubs are shot so that'd already be $80ish...would it be worth it to get them for that price assuming they are freshly rebuilt like he says? I still plan to go with 1 tons, but figured these would be better than the 10 bolts for now and I'm not against part collecting so I wouldn't see it as a waste even though I'm still going with 1 tons later.

 

[KansasTwister]

Id pass. You can get a set of 3/4 tons for that and they wont be any stronger than your current 10 bolts.

 

[SCK5Blazer]

Well them being rebuilt and the gearing being better than my 10 bolts is more what interested me....just don't know about spending the $450 on them. Well just say $350 really because I need new manual locking hubs as it sits now if I want to have any fun with it before I get the 1 tons....plus you could subtract whatever I'd get for scrap for my 10 bolts....I just don't know

 

[KansasTwister]

250 for the other pair.

 

[79rustyk10]

How soon do you plan the 1 ton swap? If its a 5 years out type of a deal, and you could use the better gearing Id be more likely to go for it.

What is the current gearing?

I would see if you could get him down on the price a little.

 

[SCK5Blazer]

According to the rpo's it's 3.42 with the G80. I don't think it'd be 5 years, but maybe 1 or 2 if I used the money to get other stuff taken care of and saved the 1 tons for last. I will wait to see if I get a reply and see what he'd take bottom dollar and decide if it's worth it.


250 for 3/4 tons? Isn't the front still a D44? If I could find a GM SRW D60 separate near me I wouldn't even consider these, but closest I found that wasn't a pair has been PA and I'm not doing the frieght thing, I'd rather wait than pay too much for shipping. I have a 14bff out of a C20 I can get free from my uncle and saw 2 last trip to u-pull-it, $100...not too worried about finding those.

I need to go see what gears are in that 14bff, if I could get lucky and them be 4.11 I may see if I can get the D44 separate for not much more than I'd have to put into my current front 10 bolt...that would be ideal.

 

[6.2Blazer]

No way I would spend $450 for another set of 1/2 ton axles when you plan to go 1-ton in the future. Get a 14FF rear and you are already done with the rear, then just slap in a front with matching gears. 4.10/4.11 are very common in these axles.

The other benefit is you can go ahead and get 8-lug wheels, then all you need to do is get the D60 front.

 

[SCK5Blazer]

Ok you guys talked me out of it, plus I still haven't heard from the guy. I think I will just wait until a D60 pops up near me and try to keep enough cash on hand so I'm ready to buy when I find one.