Hi guys! Keep a long story short, I just picked up a '95 Blazer for free. Been my moms for years and I've always done the maintanence/repairs for her so when she finally got a new vehicle last week, she gave the blazer to me.

My plan is fairly simple, SAS up front and a new rearend as well. keeping the stock engine/trans/t-case, I will be running 36"-37" tires. As of right now, i am looking for axles. I can get away with D44's I believe and am wondering if there is a certain year/make/model I should be looking for? just doing a leaf front. Thought about keeping the stock rearend but its already been replaced once and sounds like it might need it again soon so I would just assume do 'em both and be done with it

 

Most of my 4x4 axle experience comes from my jeep, so I have very little experience with what is required for a SAS swap.

That being said, a 37 is the largest you want to go on a D44 without worrying about issues with breakages.

If you are going to do both axles at the same time, you can usually find a pair of D44's off of an 80 or newer Grand Wagoneer and some Wagoneers. The width should be about right at 59 or 60-ish inches. D44 can be a more costly conversion. Putting a pair on my Jeep ran me about $3k, but I was sort of forced to pay someone to do some of the work. The bright side is that you gain the ability to go a lower ratio in the axles.

You could do just the front axle from a grand wagoneer, and swap axle shafts and brakes (or an entire axle) from an '02 or newer astro to have the same lug pattern (6 lug gm/toyota/etc)

For both of those you will most likely have to regear the axles as they came with numerically low gear ratios.

Another option is to go with a Jeep Dana 30 up front with a ford 8.8 in the back. Both axles are quite common, the same bolt pattern, and the 8.8 is slightly stronger than the D44. Google "D44 vs 8.8" if you doubt. The dis-advantage is that you should dump a little moe money into the D30 to make it capable of reliably handling a 37" tire. If you go this route, do not get conned into thinking that you MUST have a non vacuum disco D30. Since it should get chromolly axle shafts anyways, it is nothing to convert the vacuum disco housing to a non disco housing. Google TJ axle shaft swap.

 

grand wagoneer axles work very well. Dana 44s, differential on the proper side. its possible to set up a hi-steer setup far easier on a D44.

 

Well, I actually have a couple Explorer rearends laying around. Trac-Loc, 8.8", 4.10 gears, 59.5" width, disc brakes, etc...

It would be awesome if I could find a front end with discs, and 4.10~ gears from the factory to save me some money. bolt pattern isn't a huge deal as I am planning to buy new wheels/tires anyways. even if the front axle width isn't perfect, I can match total widths with backspacing and/or wheel spacers.

 

Edit...

 

Good rear axle. a front dana 30 would be a decent match for it. YJ XJ TJ Jeeps are all possibilities. a Jeep Rubicon has 4.10 gears and the right bolt pattern.

 

I don't see a D30 holding up to 36-37 tires though... I wish though, I can get one for $100~ complete around here. I seen a ton of jeeps and crap around here running 35"s all day but they don't really seem to go off the road ever. LOL There aren't a ton of places around here to wheel but I plan this to be mainly off-road.

 

you can go fullsize 10 bolts. my 10 bolts just wont break, they were under fullsize trucks for many years with 38s and never really had any issues with them. only problem is they stick way out past the fenders, which on a offroad truck is a good thing. tires help protect the body and theres been a few times i tried flying up a muddy hill only to slide down sideways where as narrow axles would have definitely allowed me to flip over

bad thing about the fullsize 10 bolts is the front diff is on the wrong side so i had to swap out the transfer case

my 93 with 10 bolts and 33 inch boggers.



i even had to widen my trailer so it would fit, yes i did put wood on it

the axles were even on this thing for a while. 82 suburban with 38s and a 400ci engine and survived



10 bolt will last as long as you treat them as 10 bolts. you enter a rock crawling competition or just flog the heck out of them yeah they wont last very long

 

Yeah, I think I will do the smart thing and just go D60 right from the start. I've found a couple matching pairs (front & rear) locally for $800~. Old ford and newer dodge, so they're already the drivers drop that I need. I will try to sell the stock axles and the stock wheels/tires to try and offset the axle price a bit. Just realized the tires are only a few months old so I should be able to get like $400 for the setup. Axles, hoping I can get $100~ each...?