The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rearend width

Well the rearend I was going to buy was sold. I was originally looking at 4X4 six lug rearends from the '70's but they are all to wide. I am putting this under my '52 3100 which has a 62" rearend. All of the 4X4 rearends I have measured are about 65". Yet I hear of people successfully putting blazer and 4X4 pickup rearends under their AD trucks. Am I measuring these rearends incorrectly or will the wider rearends fit? Are their two different widths under these trucks? I was kind of hoping to keep the truck six lug but will convert to five lug if I have to. The truck will have 283/TH350 and front disc brakes. Depending on the rear ratio I will probably use 215/85/16 radials or a similar narrow radial. I am looking for a 3:08 to 3:43 gearing. Please give me suggestions on what rearend will fit my truck. Thanks, Wayne

S10 rearends are popular swap for 1/2t. 2wd and 4wd are different width and will place your tires differently..

The tech section has this info too:

http://50chevy.freeservers.com/Suspension_Widths.html#Suspension

Good luck with your project! Jim

Perhaps you could find a 10 or 12 bolt gm rear the right width, and change out the axle shafts to keep the 6 on 5 1/2 lug pattern. I would be nervous about putting an s-10 rear behind a 283. If you can find a 55-59 gmc 1/2 ton 3 speed, they came with a 3.08 spicer 45. Not sure if it interchanges with a dana 44. You should look at parts availability for any rear you chose.

Spicer 45 and Dana/Spicer 44 are the same unit, the only difference is the application. The 44 was generally used in light applications such as passenger car and Jeeps, and as a front axle on 4x4's, the 45 was used a a rear axle on 1/2 and some 3/4 ton pickups. As far as I know, the parts will interchange without any trouble.

Are S10's that weak? I wouldn't think so, seems a 4.3L put out more torque that a 283. Torque snapped both(on seperate occasions) rear axles on my task force with a well worn 283. Looking at this s10 rear it looks like my Nova rear end I beat the crap out of with no problems. Worth a little research I guess. The s10 rear end I have now has 200k on it and came from an obviously abused truck. Still seems pretty tight. Aren't they the same as the 10 bolts that have been around in GM's for years? I know they come in three flavors and the 8.5 inchers are what the drag racers love next to their 12 bolts and Dana 60. A lot of dirt trackers run the 8.2's and 7.5 modified for positive retention. 7.5's came in:
'75-'79 Omega
'82- up Camaro/Firebird
'82- up S-10/S-15
'76-'79 Skylark
'77-'90 Fullsize Olds/Buick/Pont
'77-'96 Fullsize Chevy
'78-'81 Century/Phoenix/Ventura
'78-'87 Cutlass/Grand Prix
'78-'87 Monte Carlo/Regal

Most of these beasts make more torque that a 283, some a lot more.

have you thought about a lincoln 8.8 rear they have disc brakes and are approx 62" wide. you can redrill the axel what ever lug pattern you want. If the axel flange is not big enough to fit a 6lug pattern carefully weld a plate on top of it and drill your 6 lug pattern remember ther is no drum to fit over the axel flange.

see
http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=011805;p=1#000013

4.3 s-10, now thats a different bird! 4 cylinder s-10, I wouldn't waste my effort!