Rearend Decisions

[capnkirk13]

I need to replace the rearend in my stock '80 K5. I can't find anything that tells me what the gear ratio is. Anyways I would like to fix it up for moderate off-road use and I'm wondering if I should replace with original rearend or go for something better. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance

 

[outlaw612]

What type of driving? mud, rocks, sand, trails? What size tires you wanting to run?

 

[bigmack]

If you're gonna keep it mostly stock (tires & engine) then the stock rear end will probably be fine. But if you plan on getting bigger tires and a more powerful engine then you might want to go ahead now and upgrade to a 14 bolt FF, or a Dana 60. But it all depends on what you intend to do with your truck.

 

[chulisohombre]

go 3/4 ton and never worry again.thats what im in the process of doing right now.still will have the dana 44 up front but parts are fairly cheap and plentifull if i bust something.

 

[chulisohombre]

if you pull the diff cover and look on the ring gear it will have 2 numbers on it suck as 41.11 for 3.73 gears or 41.10 for 4.10 gears.you divide the bigger number(ring gear # of teeth) by the smaller number(pinion gear # of teeth)to get your ratio.all ring gears have this numbers so you can tell the ratio /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif also if you want to keep stock rearend you can get warns 12 bolt full floater kit and it will beef up the rear end a little if you dont want to replace with 3/4 ton components.

 

[mudhog]

you need to give more info the most important being what kind of wheeling do you do or do you want to do? what size tires do you want to put on?