Alright so my front end on my 1999 isuzu hombre xs tried to engage itself a couple of months ago doing 70mph down the highway towing a sailboat.(blame the $20 vaccuum switch that caused $400 damage) I replaced the gears that lock the axel together and thought I was fine....nope. Now my front end is starting to make noise and gas mileage is going down the tube....So Instead of buying all the bearings,and tearing the differential carrier apart) I'm going to try and buy a junkyard front end. Now, I have finally tracked down my gear ratio to be 3.42. This corresponds with a 1999 chevy s-10 (base model reg cab, 118 WB &/or a LS reg cab, 118 WB) my only question is my truck has a 122.9 WB(assuming that it's refering to wheel base). So will this affect anything or am I going to have to do some frankensteining on the donor axel?

Don't be alarmed my retard of a truck is almost exactely comparible to an s-10 of the same year(emphasis on almost). I don't want to have to tear apart the diff carrier of either trucks as I am lead to believe there is a special skill set I don't have.

 

Sounds like the Front Axle is not dis-engaging. Are you a manual shift or does your truck have an encoder motor?

Check this guy out. http://stores.ebay.com/CHEVY-S10-TRU...ZER-PARTS-S-10

Drop him an Email and let him know what you're looking for.

 

No, the 4x4 is working properly, there is just a vaccuum acuator that locks the 2 halves of the front axel together, via a fork and sliding ring gear. This I fixed, when the vaccuum switch wasn't venting the pressure it was getting the ring gear slowly tried to engage rather then just going all in. The result was the ring gear being ground to submission in the front differential. The resulting metal shavings from that incident has gotten into the bearings and began running amok(front end noise and pore fuel economy) so rather then taking everything apart. I was going to swap out the front diff carrier along with the axel tubes, and re use my: axel shafts, cv shafts, hubs, and calipers. The donor carrier should in theory bolt right up. My question was if the differences in wheel bases would cause a problem.

 

I should have read the entire post... sorry. To answer your question, the diff carriers are the same for the given year. 2wd or 4wd. Trutracs are different though and not often sought after but are interchangeable.

Reguardless, make sure to reinstall with a torque wrench and loctite to keep things together. That rotating stuff gets wild and crazy when it comes apart on the road!

 

I couldn't see them being different. I know 5 sp blazer's have iron front carriers as well as ZR2's, which are stronger housings but still bolt in the same.

It's not a straigh axle, it's just a carrier that cv's slide into, 1st gens and 2nd gens are different as to how the CV's mount.

Anything 96+ I believe will work for you, with the rpo code gu6(3.42's)

Wheelbase has nothing to do with it, it just stands for the difference between center of rear hub to center of front.

 

To answer your question. NO, wheelbase has no effect on gear ratios. IF the units swap, and it has the same gear ratio as your rear axle, go for it.

My S10 Blazer has the same gear ratio, 3.42. My wheelbase is 108". Plus I'd be willing to bet my front diff would bolt into your truck.

 

This is true, found out something useful, in the glove compartment is a list of part identification codes, 3.42 front axle=GU6 axle regardless of were it came from. Found a 98 blazer for donor, planning on swapping this summer when I get home from school. I'm going to attempt to post pictures of the swap step by step if I can.