I've looked in several catalogs, and I see quiet often the 63+ fine spline (30 spline?) shafts, but I have yet to see the 60-62 shafts (coarse 10 or 12 spline?). I was hoping to find a set that converts to 5 lug, or even to have the 6 lug shafts redrilled for 5 lug. I don't want to proceed with this if I can't ever find even the 6 lug 12 spline stock replacement axle shafts , so I was thinking...
In the carrier, do the splined ends of the shaft insert into two of the spider gears, which I would think are what have the female ends of the splines? Could you just get a later 63+ Dana 44 carrier and do some parts swapping to get the 30 spline spiders, and therefore more readily available axles?
Due to a smokin' deal I just got on a set of 5 lug Torque Thrust wheels, I'd like to keep the current rear end width due to the wheel backspacing, and I know that most newer truck rear ends are about 2" wider overall than the 60-66 rears. I also really like the Dana 44 axle removal design over the C-clip system. Bad thing is the drum brake backing plates are welded onto the axles on these... I read of a guy on the 60-66 GMC guy mailing list who broke a 60-62 axle while traveling, and mangled his backing plate, and needed a whole new rear on a road trip... Don't want that to be me! I could always go for welding on disc mounts if I really wanted to do the swap and keep that rear, but that'd take some serious precision. It's that, or else find another rear that's narrow enough and weld on the trailing arm and panhard bar brackets (most are wider).
Also, I have read that the Dana 44's in these older GMC's use a smaller carrier bearing diameter than 99.5% of Dana 44's. I still need to check mine out to see if it's a limited slip (just got the truck in late May, been busy), but I was wondering what kind of posi carrier I need to look for if I were to swap in a 30 spline posi into this? I am working on the assumption that the 60-62 and the 63+ axles are the same length and take the same wheel bearing size.
Somebody help me!
