Hey (sorry If this post is in the wrong place but I have limited time at my job)

I have a 2001 s10 blazer 5 speed non zr2 sadly

And my front diff has locked up (i think the ring gear might of dropped) havent taken it out yet to look

But my theory behind fixing any of my vehicles is if I have to fix it, it's getting an upgrade!

The gear ratio is 3.73 ( had to go to the dealership to find out some dumb a** tore the rpo code sticker out)

Can someone point me to a website where i can get an upgraded front diff guts or the hole thing. I've look quite hard and couldn't find anything.

Thanks for your time!!

 

The only upgrade I know of is the iron casing that came on the manual transmission Blazers, which you should have. Just rebuild it with quality parts and you should be good to go. Oh, the front diff is the same for the ZR2 and non-ZR2, so no upgrade there.

The only true "upgrade" would be a SAS, or SFA. As in throwing a Dana 44 under there. Been done many times but more for serious offroading and costs a bit more than rebuilding the front diff itself.

 

Edit: the front axles listed here are only for ZR2s. However, the people there might be able to help with other questions.

You might see what these guys offer.

https://www.outfitterdesign.com/chev...s-10-kits.html

 

If I were you I'd have new gears put in that cast iron housing and call it a day. You've got the best available housing now. Get a diff out of another ZR2 and use its guts if you need them.

 

​​​​​​​but since myn is non zr2 well it fit?
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The front diff is the same between the base blazer and the zr2. The only difference is the cv axles are a little longer to compensate for the stock lift. They needed the longer cv because they didn’t drop the diff from factory.

 

oh ok, so just find a blazer in a pick n pull. And find the same gear ratio, I don't want to deal with the guts so can I just put the whole thing in

 

100% you could, must be same gear ratio. I highly recommend popping the case apart and having a peek inside before just slamming it all together. You should also check your tolerances unless you like rolling around in the dirt multiple times. If you aren’t comfortable with checking the tolerances find a ma and pa shop that you trust. They will look at it for you and make adjustments if needed.

Bare minimum change the oil and clean the breather out. Unless you want to do another one in 2 years lmao

 

​​​​​​ ​fair enough, thank you! And tbh I kinda really want to do a SAS. Just don't have the money atm. (I go offloading quite a bit and the most common vehicle I go with are jeeps and I can tell they have a much easier time with a SFA!) But that is way out of my skill level do you know how much that would maybe run me? also what years can I get diffs from my local junk yard only has 2 1996 4 doors at the moment

 

I'm really curious why they list this as ZR2 only. I'm certain there is no difference between the ZR2 differential and the non-ZR2 differential. I replaced the factory non-ZR2 diff in my Blazer with one from a ZR2. It's a bolt in swap. No differences. The only differences are that the '98 and up trucks used a plug-in splined style CV axle, and the pre-98 used a flanged bolt-on style like the one on Outfitterdesign.com.