Differential swap pros and cons

[RollinKaos]

Ok here is the situation. I have a 87 half ton burban it has bad bearings on the passenger side front. I have a 77 K5 that is just hanging around. I was considering swapping out the Dana 44 and 12 bolt to the Burban. One reason is the K5 diffs are in better shape. The other being the K5 has 3.73 gears instead of the 3.08 in the burban. I want to run 37" tires at least, ideally I would step up to 3/4 axles but I am just trying to get rolling for now.

Is there any advantages/disadvantages to doing this. I am assuming that as far as strength goes it is a push. I am thinking the biggis advantage would be the lower gear ratio.
BTW its a 350/700r4/208 set up in the Burb.

 

[Cruz89K5]

If you want the lower ratio and the brakes and bearings are in good shape on the 44/12 bolt I'd go for it. Just buy some new u bolts and bolt it together. Everything should be the same. The only thing I'm not sure about it the brake lines, I dont know if they changed from standard to metric in that time frame.

 

[79rustyk10]

if you want 37's you need a WAY lower gear ratio than a 3.73

But yes, those would be a big improvement over what you have, but the wheel bearings are a pretty simple job if you wanted to just fix them.