For the guys that have done an sas swap for a 95+ blazer, jimmy, or bravada, you used a dana 30 for the front and dana 44 for the rear? Or how did you configure your setup?

Also, what does a dana 30 go for these days? I saw one on Craigslist for $150. That a decent deal? I haven't looked around much at a dana 30.

 

I obviously havent done the swap but i would stay away from the D30... They are a piece of crap IMO. I have seen to many of them break, and everyone i know who wheels hates them. Unless you're just going for a road warrior ( like mine ) and wont do a lot of wheeling then its fine. The D44 is pretty good tho. And $150 for an axle isnt bad. I think thats about what any axle at most junk yards go for.

 

agree with cherry, d30 r junk. unless its gonna be an asphault wheelin machine tearing up the streets of north carolina, stay away from them. u can get a d44 for about the same price and ud be better off, u can venture to the woods without concern then. . i ran d44 for both front and rear on mine.

 

agree with cherry, d30 r junk. unless its gonna be an asphault wheelin machine tearing up the streets of north carolina, stay away from them. u can get a d44 for about the same price and ud be better off, u can venture to the woods without concern then. . i ran d44 for both front and rear on mine.

 

Man , I guess I should have asked more question before I bought all my stuff . I'm putting a dana 30 in my blazer right now I just rebuilt it , and I was going to upgrade to the chrome moly drive axles , but now I think I'm on the hunt for some rockwells . I heard ( read ) that the dana 30 is comparable to the gm 10 bolt , wich isn't a great axle either but I haven't ever had a problem yet with mine . I new just looking at it that it was not going to be some super axle that I can run in a hill and hole event . Shoot I wish I didn't buy the D30 , I have over 1000 dollars in these axles ( front and rear ) right now . Its to close to race season to switch it up now anyway , so I will just run the **** out of these untill they brake . The main reason I wanted the d30 is for the driver side diff and the d44 has the pass side diff . And thats what made me go with the ford engine , transmission ,and transfer case ; they are just about the same as the 4.3, and the 4l60e , I didn't have to do alot of fabrication . I know I'm all over the place here but my sisters husband has the d30 in his jeep and he has yet to brake a axle , he's broke several drive shafts . And now he's got a 350 in it , we went up to check it out the other night and he was popping ****** and broke the rear one again . But I will let you know how they work out for me after a few test runs and some mud bogs .

 

d30 is comparable to the ifs front diff, or the 7.5 rear, d44 is comparable to the 8.5" 10 bolt.

not all d44 are passenger drops, a lot of them are driver. the ford d44 are all driver, as well as the jeep d44's. newer dodge's are also driver d44's.

 

atvwarrior, putting the chrome moly's in will help a lot after the stock ones break, Which if you take a sharp turn in 4WD they WILL break.

Or when your d30 breaks just go on CL and find a d44 for about $150 thats what they go for out here i think

 

Dana 30 & 35 3.73

What do you guys think about something like this for a SAS, would mainly be a on road (75% on road, 25% off) Also how much would you guess at the cost to rebuild the front pinion. Just a thought i had

 

There is a guy around here selling dana 44 front and rears for $500. Seems a little high, but maybe not. They look like they are in good condition.

But I had to put repair bearings on the rear around Christmas time. So when those go out, it'll be time to replace the axle. Might as well upgrade ya know? So the best way to go is d44 front and rear if I can find them?

 

As has been stated, there really is no need to swap out you IFS for a d30 as strength wise they are close. You can spend some $$$ to build up a d30 to make it stronger... or just get a d44 with more strength and less $$$.

If you are just looking for the cheapest way to get a lift above what currently available for our IFS, then by all means use a d30 and keep your 10 bolt. Just be very easy on the skinny pedal or you'll be wishing you'd swapped out both in the first place. This is assuming you don't have the 8.5/8.625 10 bolt.