Dana 44 later 10 bolt difference??

[hmatiak]

even with a higher quality shaft,the ring gear cant take much more pressure than a 35 inch tire.then you upgrade that and you are breaking hubs.no real upgrade for that other than replace the drive gear every time you strip it.and even with better shafts,if you have a pretty high torque on it and it snaps the joint,you still have it slappin around in the knuckle and may break that also along with many people saying that it sometimes breaks the ears off the shaft.so there goes your 500 dollars worth of heavy duty shafts.as i said,a 44 or 10b can be made stronger.but it doesnt make it bulletproof or strong enough to handle more than a 35 inch tire consistantly without breakage.the biggerst i would go would be 37 and that is pushing it,even on a built axle.on road wheel bearings will go out a lot faster and balljoints get weak much over a 35 inch tire.in the end,you end up with a 1200 dollar axle still weeker than a stock 60.which is whats needed for tires over 35 to 37 inches.its a fact not a opinion.he wanted to know the difference between the 2 and strength of the 2 and thats all that was stated.if you have had good experiences with running bigger tires,then good.its not the norm for a 1/2 ton axle to hold up to that abuse.and most do not.

The only thing im disagreeing with is the fact that either the 10B or D44 is only good for a 35. Now if your locked and on stock shafts, then yea, a 35 would be it if you wheel often and have a heavier foot. Most folks with 1/2 ton fronts, ive seen, wheel them open.

But with some well spent money, that's still allot cheaper than a D60, you can have either hold up to a decent size tire. They will handle more abuse than they are given credit for. People break a stock 10B or D44 and go spend 800 on a 60 then spend more bucks going through it. Thats not including whatever you decide to do to match the rear to the front. 400 compared to 1200-1500 is a good investment to me.

 

[chulisohombre]

i wont say dont keep the 1/2 or 3/4 ton stuff til it breaks.i havent broke my 44 front more than a few times.but its mostly the stuff ive already said was weak with larger tires.my rear 12 bolt was junk and i could not see building it any more than 3 times,so i upgraded to 3/4 ton.i dont have a dana 60 and may never have one.but i dont want bigger tires than 35s either.so i wont have to worry about much brakage.i said you can run 37s but it will wear out bearings and ball joints faster and more force is put on the ring and pinion gear and shafts.most people have problems running anything bigger than that.basically run it til it breaks,then upgrade.you may run 40 inch tires on 1/2 ton axles if you choose,its your truck.im just giving side by side comparison and strength as a general practice.not a case by case basis.also some personnal experience thrown in.

 

[6.2Blazer]

backing plates,hub,rotor all were different on 3/4 ton 10 bolt.i have heard the caliper was also a bigger piston on later 3/4 ton axles.no experience with that though myself.im still using my 72 1/2 ton calipers in 10 bolt 3/4 ton outer parts.had wrong part number on u joint.i thought it was 297x for some reason.you got me there.thx for the calrifying numbers.haha.i know my 72 shaft was knecked down compared to the 78 shaft i replaced it with.didnt look like it had been replaced with a aftermarket.but you never know.i thought that in 73 they stopped making the knecked down shafts because of breakage.

Right, the backing plate, wheel hub (not the locking hub), and rotor are all obviously different on an 8-lug (3/4 ton) 10-bolt as compared to a 6-lug (1/2 ton) 10-bolt...but they are interchangeable and easy to convert a 6-lug axle to an 8-lug axle or vice versa. I did this years ago and it cost me $50 for the 8-lug stuff at the junkyard and it takes about 15 minutes longer than if you were just repacking the wheel bearings. All of these parts are interchangeable with the D44 (6-lug or 8-lug) with the exception of having to make sure you have the correct spindle as the inner wheel bearing size did vary on some D44 models.

The factory front shafts I removed from my '90 K5 with the 30-spline 10-bolt were necked down (had a single "V" notch towards the splines). The 2 other sets of 30-spline fronts 10-bolts also had this V notch neck down, and the new D44 inner shaft that a certain big name gear company sold me as a 30-spline 10-bolt axle also had this V notch neck down...this was back in the late-90's to early 2000's timeframe.

 

[chulisohombre]

yep the earlier design 44, 76 and earlier had the smaller inner bearing and spindle.in 77 it changed for both the 44 and the new 10 bolt for having the bigger inner bearing and spindle.i thought they fixed the necked down axle shafts same year since that one i pulled from a 78 didnt have it and was the same from the knuckle to the splines.it looked stock but i would have to pull it again and see.

 

[rusticrick]

axle width

is the k5 axle less wide than than an axle found on a pickup,?

I am looking for a front axle to fit a 50 chevy truck

Rick

 

[dremu]

is the k5 axle less wide than than an axle found on a pickup,?

I am looking for a front axle to fit a 50 chevy truck

Rick

Better to start a new thread for a new question than to hijack an existing -- just FYI, this being your first post

To your point, the Blazer, Jimmy, Suburban in the same body style all have the same front axle, same width.

There are however tons of Dana 44 variations on Fords, Dodges, IH's, Jeeps, etc.

-- A