dana 44 or 60?

[scasey28]

So I been asking around and no one can give me a straight answer on my front axle that’s under my 72 k5. It’s a 10 bolt with 8 lugs. The P.O. said the truck had 1 ton running gear. I know the rear axle is a 14 bolt. Can anyone tell me what the hell this thing is? Thanks
-Scott

 

[pauly383]

You my friend have been given 3/4 ton gear . Thats a 10 bolt front from a late 70's or newer truck .

Clues :

small locking hubs
ball joints
smooth cover

It just so happens to be 8 lug , and too many people think 8 lug is 1 ton .

 

[scasey28]

Thanks for the info. Also do the springs play any part in determining if it’s a 3/4 or 1 ton?

 

[70jimmy]

yep 3/4 ton 10 Bolt, like mine.

Can be upgraded to be pretty strong. I have upgraded shafts and welded the front. I also did crossover and hydro. I did blow a hub once but no problems since.

 

[BIGEARL]

Scott, are those 6" springs?

Nate

 

[scasey28]

the front springs are 6" tuff country, and rear springs are 3" with a 4" shackle flip.

 

[BIGEARL]

Scott, are the front springs EZ ride or HD? How do they ride? You're pinion angle looks about perfect!

I need the exact setup you have plus a 1" zero rate in the rear, my new cage definitely squated the rear down a bit. Do you have a good side pic?

Nate

 

[BUDDY]

It also looks as though you have flat-top knuckles as well. That's pretty uncommon on 10-bolts, but will make you're crossover steering conversion quite a bit easier.

Later,
Buddy

 

[scasey28]

Sorry guys for the lag, my wife and I are graduating college next week and life is kind of hair ball at the moment.

-Nate, the springs are ez ride, the front is a 3 pack, and the rear is a 6 pack. As far as the ride, I haven’t driven any other 1st gen blazers so, I don’t have any comps. However my k5 is a great ride both street/highway. Again the streets around Chico are pretty bumpy. Here are some more pixs of the front and rear. Let me know if you need more.

-buddy, not knowing what flat-top knuckles were I did my homework, and yeah I am pretty sure they are. The P.O. was going to make this k5 into a rock crawler, until I bought it. Does it make since to do cross over steering for a daily driver?

-Scott

 

[BUDDY]

You don't HAVE to do the crossover. It's usually an "off-road", or extreme lift mod, (10+ inches).

It's one of those things that you won't notice that you need until you do.

Imagine dropping you're DF tire into a 3 foot deep hole while you are out on some trail.

Look at the draglink & imagine what it would look like if that happened.
Instead of this ( - ) it would look more like this ( \ ). Effectively, what happens is that as the tire drops it turns left & will not turn right because the draglink is in a bad angle to be effective in turning.

A crossover conversion makes the draglink much longer which reduces the effect of an obstacle that will drop, (or raise) your tire that much.

I hope that makes sense. You'll recognize it when it happens though.

Later,
Buddy

 

[scasey28]

Buddy,

thanks for the knowledge, since this thing is a mall crawler, it wont be seeing any 3ft holes anytime soon. Again thanks for the info.

-Scott