I'm trying to figure out what axle I have. I am almost certain its got 3.42 gears.

Anyway the blaze is a 97 4wd LS with 4.3 liter vortech

 

check your RPO codes. there is a sticker in your glove box.
GU6 AXLE REAR 3.42 RATIO <-- if you have the gu6, you have a rear with 3.42 gears.

hope that helps

 

or you can just take the last 8 of your VIN to any dealer (a GM one of course) and they can tell you (sometimes that little sticker has been known to wander away).

here's a question for you though..........what if your diff blows up (broken ring or pinion) and you can't afford a rebuild? you go to the wreckers of course!

but what if you are out in the yard, and don't have access to the RPO's, or don't have them all memorized (besides Kyle, who does!?!), and obviously can't take the info to a dealer for obvious reasons, what do you do?...............

crack off the diff cover, rotate the carrier while wiping the outside of ring gear, until you find 2 sets of numbers stampped on the ring, like this.....43:11

that's the ratio of teeth between the ring gear (43), and the pinion (11). divide the ring # by the pinion #, and this gives you a ratio of............3.91

while i just usd the #'s that are found on the gears in my Dart, this can be done with any diff.

i'm just giving this info to you, as it seems like so many people now-a-days (the younger generation?) don't know this, or view it as a dying art (what's so hard about simple math?). anyways, just a little bit of knowledge for you, in your quest for fixing things yourself.

 

I have used tat method before trying to rebuild my jeep. Actually what i am looking for is the axle brand itself not the gear ratio. My op wasnt too clear.

for example in my jeep I have a Chrysler Corp 8.25 rear end. More examples would be like Dana 35 Dana 44 dana 60 Ford 8.8 Chevy 10 bolt.

I have heard that the rear end under chevy's is a knock off Dana 35. If thats the case I need to swap that bad boy out because my blaze is pushing 300 hp and i have already broke one axle in the past.

I know the next question is if you have already broke and replaced the axle why dont you know what brand it is already?

answer: When I broke the rear end I was drag racing at a local drag strip. Pulled up to the line on the first run heated the tires in the water tree'd and launched no problem. Second time I was about half a foot from being in the water went to let the tires rol and BOOM cling cling cling cling. Completly shredded every single part of the rear axle. Broke the sjafts and the gears looked like popcorn. So in my young and stupid state I decided well hell its 4wd. I locked it into 4hi and drove home. When I puled into my apartments smoke rolled from underneath. I thought I had burn out the 4wd. Towed it to the shop the next day and they said it was gonna be 1200 bucks to fix it. Called my dad he said he would buy it from me right then. He needed something to commute to and from work. So it being my dad i let him have it for 600 bucks. So I never looked into fixing it. Now two years later my dad is looking to sell it. He had the axle fixed by a family member who has recently passed. So we can not figure out what axle is in the rear. I am buying it back for a grand to compensate the repair cost of my dad.

So needless to say I wanna get this thing back on the track I just wanna make sure I can bullet proof the rear end.

I am just wanting to determine if the alxe is worth building or if I just need to swap.

Plus at this point curiosity has set in lol

 

You have a Chevy 10 Bolt Rear End. it SHOULD be 7.5" and 28 spline. It could also be 7.65" commonly called just 7.6... Now before you go all MOPAR and start tossing Cherokee axeles under her, you should know that those very same 7.5" 10 bolt rears were stuffed under Trans-Ams, Camaro's, and Firebirds... they can take a bit more of a beating than people give them credit for. Case in point:
"Dave Henninger raced a '71 Camaro in the NMCA's Super Street class with a 3,100-pound running 8.70s at 150 mph with a 10-bolt rearend!"
Granted this cat (i pulled it off the inter webs) was using an 8.5" 10 bolt (considered the strongest of the bunch) but still, it's a ten bolt.

Now if you have a 1971 chevy truck parked in the weeds behind your house, you might have a 12 bolt rear tucked away. If you do, and you look around the internet you see a bunch of people beating their chests about how bad *** there 12-er is. Know that the 12 bolt rear is only an 8.875" rear end...not all that much beefier than the biggest 10 bolt. Don't get me wrong, the 12 bolt is a tank, but the numbers dont lie.

Over the years there has been 4 different 10 bolts, with 4 different carriers. If you plan to swap one-for-one after length and everything else is sorted out, just know that one size does not fit all.

 

not wanting to go off topic. and i apologize for it but. ABN31B are you using 31 b in your name because your military designation is a 31 bravo ? if so whats its title. way too many years since i wore the jump boots and left aircraft in mid flight

 

Ah! a in your avatar AND in the thread!

yeah, it was 95b, but was redesignated 31b a few years back. i'm military police, but not the douchey kind that lives for tickets i'm a line mp, and was with the 16th bde for 7 1/2 years in Bragg before getting the recruiting boot

even online, it's not everyday you run into another hard-charging, straight-shooting, stealy-eyed killer of a super duper paratrooper! falling off an airplane is easy, it's landing that blows

what did you fall off of airplanes to do MOS style?

 

Awesome. Looks like ill just be beefing up that axle then. I was gonna swap in a 10 bolt anyway haha.

Haha no thread jack 75th Ranger Reg here

 

i started as an 11 bravo (dumb grunt/ground pounder) added airborne cause i thought it would be cool to jump out of perfectly good planes so i could sneak up on the bad guys.

went to 25th infantry in HI. got hurt on a bad landing screwed up my leg. they changed me to what i call a medical clerk. spec 4 processed paperwork till i got out. never left the big island till i came home to Utah. missed my chance to kick ***. i dont miss being a paratrooper anymore but i miss the life it gave me. the friends and the fun.

 

similar happen to me. I started out 11 xray. I wanted my options open then did airborne and got lucky and found an empty slot in Ranger school. After Ranger school I stayed at fort benning. Jumping one day came down too fast and messed my knee up pretty good. Ended up with a good ol DD214