Time to regear/swap axles

[90'rado]

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[90'rado]

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[71 cuda man]

.If I was going to put a grand in it I'd probably go Dana.Your Ls will probably have more than 450hp right? I personally always run Danas in my cars & never broke one.ran them behind hemi & 6pks.i broke everything else cranks,driveshafts,hell i broke a 727 into 2 peices never the rear.I'm a strong supporter of that rearend.I think you can buy a complete one for around $1500-$1700 brand new.I'll look for the phone # this weekend.i'm running one right now behind a 440 stroked to 493 with a Termac 5spd kicking 650hp with no problem.i don't know exactly what your intentions are with your truck but 4:88 is a real low gear try looking at a 4:30 instead it will be much better on the street & still hole shot great.

 

[90'rado]

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[Aloicious]

hah, I did find your thread.

I'm not 14 bolt guru or anything, it does look like some rust issues, but from what I can see there's no holes or anything, so it would be worth it IMO to look into just using it as long as it is structurally sound.

oh, and get some POR15. thats good stuff.

I'll be putting in my 4.88's here next week. looking forward to it. though I've been wondering if I should have gone like 5.13's, that would have been fun, but I think 4.88's will be all around perfect with the T56 and 29" tires. if I can get my wife to take some pics while I do it I'll try to do a re-gear writeup for the site here.

 

[90'rado]

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[Aloicious]

cool, let us know what you find out.

I'm starting to get stoked about my regear I'll start on monday. been researching some more, and I really think 4.88's are just ideal. with a T56's and 4.88's on 28.8" tires, we'll have virtually the same acceleration as the same truck with 4.30's and a 4L60e, and we'll be able to cruize virtually the same as a truck with a 4L60e and 3.42's. best of both worlds, lower gear acceleration, and higher gear cruizing. yay for the T56. our clutches will like us better too since we won't have to work them as hard taking off from a stop...

 

[90'rado]

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[JAYB1RD]

That housing looks plenty fine to me. The 4x4 one I put in my rear wasn't in any better shape underneath the u-bolt brackets. I did the swap at the first of the year, no problems at all with 33s and a healthy foot in the dirt. The 1978 front axle I'm working on now looks the same too. Those tubes are 1/2" thick! 1/16" missing here and there isn't going to change much of anything. Put the 4.88s and any traction aid of your choice in there and forget about it. Also, all SF14 bolts are 9.5" ring gear and 30 spline axles. Same as a dana 60. Except the spline count depending on what application the dana 60 is from (30-35).

FWIW I also used a conversion u-joint to keep my stock driveshaft. Precision #447.

 

[90'rado]

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