Dana 44 axle question

[TheSingleGuy]

I am pulling the best of both vehiles and putting them into 1. I have a 69 Wag with the 44 in the rear and the closed knuckle (27?) in the front. Another vehicle(70 Wag) has 44's out of a Blazer (with 6 lug wheels) with the open knuckle up front and 3.07 gears and front disc's. Not a rock crawler! I have been told the open knuckles turn tighter. I figure the blazer axles with the disc brakes are the way to go. Will the 3.07's be a drag with 31 or 33's pulling a light boat up mountain roads? What diff's are good to put in for dependability and traction? There are a lot of different lockers out there these days. Anybody know of a site or page that does a pro and con for all the different diff's out there? Thanks. :eek: :eek:

[Joe J-Truck]

Blazer stuff is nice because its easy to get parts for, and the 44 front is stonger than the 27 front in your wag. Disc brakes are sweet and definately worth it to use. Likely you have a GM 10 bolt rear if its blazer (1/2 ton) stuff. These aren't all that strong, but they're OK for light trail use, smaller tires like you're planning. The cool thing is you can score a 10 bolt posi unit and gears for cheap, because these were used in lots of muscle cars. If you're planning to tow, you don't want a rear locker.
If the front 44 is locking hubs, you could run a spool (low $) and kickGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley Moogley offroad, but still have a streetable rig when the hubs are unlocked.
3.07 gears suck. No getting around it. They're not what you want for towing anything or wheelin' or running big tires.
I'd consider doing the swap using the blazer axles to get your rig happening, Sell all you extra parts here and scrape up the $ for 4.10 gears, then you can run the tires you want, the trails you want and tow the toys you want.
This decision really comes down to A) what will you use the vehicle for? and B) How much money and time can you afford to invest?

[64Trvlr]

I'd run the rear 44 from the Wag and the front 44 from the Blazer. Joe is right the 3:07's are gonna suck trying to tow anything. Save some money and go to 4:11's then you will like the 33's and be able to tow what you want.
:cool:

[scotty]

the blazer rear is a 10 bolt only if its from a mid-late 80s rig,prior to that youd find a 12 bolt.only really bad thing bout that is the C clip axle retaining method.find your self some spare axleshafts(not tuff for a blazer 12 bolt) and you wont have to worry about it too much.if you break an axleshaft swap it out ad drive it home. i doubt that youd break a shaft with 33s,tho. and the C clips generally dont break or slide out,the only trouble you have is when a shaft breaks and the broken part slides out.

the 69 44 will have course splines and 5 lug wheels.thats no good.id rather use the 12 bolt.if the C clips really bug you,id swap in a later fine spline,6 lug 44 so your front and rear can use the same wheels.

on the gears,like the guys said,it will depend on how you use it.i run 3.54s and 38s with a t18 tranny and a 2.46 low range spicer 18. in low range ,granny first it crawls just fine.

if you drive it alot on road it will prolly be allright with an auto or a granny 4 speed. offroad you will prolly want some more gearing if youre using a 2.03 low range d20. towing even a small boat youll defiatley want to upgrade...