You sound like you've got a lot of work ahead of you. The 60 will be good in the front. I would go ahead a do the cross-over steering and get tall enough springs to fit the tires I wanted in the future and just run the 35"s now. In the rear I would probably go with the 14 bolt or the 60 just because it is more common. There might be some problems you run into with the 70. As for strength, I've never heard of much you can do to strengthen them. Mabey add axle trusses or skid plates is about it. I don't think I would convert them to 6 lug either. Just find a used set of steel wheels. Another draw back of the 70 is the few locker choices it has. As for lockers, I would go with Detriot, ARB, or just a simple spool. Hope this helps.

 

AJM, I've been salivating over the exact same idea.../wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif Fact is, you'll need to buy new rims if you go with the 1 ton full-floating gear. The Dana 60 sports a 9 3/4" ring whereas the 70 and the GM 14 bolt full-floater sport a 10 1/2" ring. The Dana 60 would do great in the front and rear but the 70 or the 14 bolt would be a stronger setup for the rear. Again, unless you're going with the semi-floater you'll be buying new rims and more lug nuts. Interested to see how it comes out cause I wanna do the same thing./wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gif

 

I vote, D60 in front. And corp14ff in rear.
You will need new wheels. good news is that the locker for the corp14 is the least expensive one!(I think?) so hopefully this will help offset the price of the wheels./wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif Besides 8 lugs look beefy!

 

And as if the lug count wasn´t enough, the rear drums on 1 ton gear are bigger/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif.

Andreas

If a Blazer runs smooth, it isn´t really a Blazer/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif

 

I vote 60's front and rear. The main difference between the 60's and 1 ton rears is ring gear size, and carrier strength. I doubt with 35"s, 38"s, or even 40"s you will grenade a 9.75" ring gear or carrier. 60's are more readily available, and easier to find parts for. You'll get a whooping half an inch more ground clearance (no biggy). You can upgrade their strength. Get a good r & p if not already included. Moser, I think makes alloy shafts. I know with a full spool, and maybe with a detroit, you can get 40 spline axles. Any carrier which replaces the stock one: detroit, arb, will increase the strength of the carrier. The housing strength is not really an issue with any of these axles, unless you have a 9,000 pound rig. Anyhow, just my opinions.
Russ

 

I think it's going to be a Dana 60 front, and a Corporate 14 rear, and live with the 8 lug axles. I can't find s&%t on the Dana 70, so I'll stick with what I know about. So what are the best things to have in a Dana 60 front and a 14 bolt rear? Spline counts, shafts, brakes, stuff like that. Also, I want to put disks on the rear, but also have a real parking brake. Anyone know of a kit that has this? I am going to call ORU next week and see about their axles, but I would like to know more before I do it. Thanks for the help so far guys.

1992 Blazer Sport, 350 TBI, Gibson 3" cat back, 4L60, Rancho 2-3" lift, 285/75R16's

 

ORU has the disk brake conversion for the 14-bolt its not cheap but its worth the extra stopping power I think. The kit with the parking brake is $899 and with the P-Brake its $1499. Pretty steap I think for the damn parking brake. What do the new trucks have on them with the rear disks???? There kit does come with everything you need though for the swap.

Tell me how it all goes, I want to do the exact same thing to my Sport. One thing nice about the D60 front is the wide arange of lockers you can go with. I think I am going to go with an ARB in my D60 when I do it and also a ARB in the back 14-bolt. I just like the idea of being able to have an open diff in the rear when I am out on the street going to the corner store and then being able to lock the diff up when I hit the muddy stuff.

Good luck.....Ryan
Good luck....Ryan.

 

Considering that their kit is one of the few with an actual parking brake, I'd say they kinda have the right to charge for it. Until others do the same though. My swap is a ways off, maybe even a few years. I am a Marine LCpl who makes just over the poverty level. Gotta love defending your nation, such a well paying job. Also I may be going overseas soon, not if I can help it anyways, so the truck may be spending a year in a Michigan barn soon. I priced it with ORU a week ago, just an initial estimate. This is what I asked for: new Dana 60 front, rebuilt 14 bolt full floater with drums, locker in the rear, 4.56's in both, 8 inches of lift (that would be a 6 inch spring in the front and 8 inches in the rear), new driveshafts and u-joints, and all the necessary stuff to make it all work with them supplying everything and doing all the work. Guess how much? $11,500. Yep. Eleven and a half G's. At first I was a little shocked, but then I started to think that this is the total replacement of my suspension, most of my steering, and some of the drivetrain. So it makes sense now. But I will do it to make my truck the biggest meanest 92 Blazer on the road. Other Blazer's might have bigger tires, but my 1 tons wouldn't explode in the first mudhole we hit. So it is worth it, I just have to start saving and getting the truck ready for it. Also, I have been looking into it, and have made a few changes. In the rear I want to use ORD's 4 inch shackle reversals to give me more wheel travel, which would mean only 4 inch springs for the rear, and I want to put on ORD's heavy duty front spring shackles. Now I want discs with parking brake in the rear. A dual steering stabilizer, and axle trusses for good measure too. I want to be able to change the springs and add bigger tires without having to worry later. Oh yeah, I only want the one locker in the rear because this thing is my baby and I don't think I will be driving it any less then than I do know. Sorry I went on for so long, but it's my fanasy and my post. Thanks guys.

1992 Blazer Sport, 350 TBI, Gibson 3" cat back, 4L60, Rancho 2-3" lift, 285/75R16's

 

If you have your heart set on the 6 lug idea you can get a semi-floating version of the Dana 60 or 70 with 6 lugs. I'm not sure if the cost justifies the means though.

I myself am most likely going to go with a Dana 60 front and rear in my truck mainly for the reason that there seems to be more parts readily available for the Dana opposed to the 14-bolt.

 

Go with the Dana 60 front and the 14 corp. The detroit runs $325 for this axle-a good $175 cheaper than a 60 or 70. Order disc kit from TSM and get reconditioned calipers off a 76-78 Eldorodo Caddy rear. This have the parking brake built into them and will run around $80 each. Complete rear disc kit should run less than $500. Oh-if you plan on running large tires-use Dot 5 brake fluid, it's better keeping temps. down and won't let water/mud rust pistons. If you go with caddy calipers-you have to hook up parking brake because they are not self adjusting-you have to apply parking park once in a while to keep them working properly

 

Agree with the majority on the rear 14 or 70. The 60 for a rear is plenty strong in the diff department. Problem is the axles tubes.....lots of variances and some you can't tell until you open it. The variances are in tube thickness some are and some aren't (thick walled that is). The 60 was built dor so many applications Light Duty through Heavy Duty. ALL 14's and 70's are made for big heavy trucks.

 

Since we're in fantasy island... Let's throw in a 454, 4l80e, 14 bolt FF, Dana 60 front and then I would probably have the biggest, baddest 94 2 door Yukon on the road. Not till I'm rich though, hopefully within the next few years./wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif

 

Truth be told, if it were me I'd skip the 35's with those big pumpkins. If you're gonna go big, go big. Around here, you can watch the guys with 35" Boggers & one-ton stuff dig holes while similar trucks on 36-38X12.50 TSL's are still moving forward. Doesn't sound like a lot of extra clearance, but it is - especially since the charistics of the tires are different.

TEX

/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif Got Mud?
G.U.M.B.O. Mud Racing

 

I totally agree with you Tex. If you have heavy duty running gear like that I would at least run 38's if not 39.5's. I am planing on running 39.5's once I do the D60 Conversion on my Sport I will be running the 14-bolt FF out back too. The project should start happening with in the next two months.

RYan

 

Since we are now talking up to 39.5's/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif. d60 front and corp14 rear. What gears ? 4.88's/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif I will tell you what, that is going to be a bad a$$ truck. Also I like the earlier suggestion of a 454 as well/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif. Nothin can spin those big meats like a big block!!!!/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif

 

Aaah, I´m looking at 3/4 ton gear from a 70 Surburban (D44 & 14bolt) myself and I got the engine I want (sb406). Question is, when the engines there, all tuned up to near perfecton, the axles are there with proper gearing, the tires are there just waiting to roll over whatever comes in their way, will I be afraid to wreck all that hard earned money I´ve put in and become a trailer queen??/wwwthreads_images/icons/laugh.gif Scary thought !

Andreas

If a Blazer runs smooth, it isn´t really a Blazer/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif

 

I would go with a 10 bolt front and 10 or 12 bolt rear. Before you call me stupid, here me out.Up front you get ORD chromolly shafts, an ARB, Warn Hubs, and a custom truss over the top. Out back you get a Warn full floating kit, detroit, summit differential cover, and have a custom truss built over the top. For tires you should get 36x12.5 swamper radials or Q78 bias plys. A 383 smallblock would make a great engine. Now you will have a rig 300 pounds lighter than you planned, and you will have as much ground clearance as with 38s and that 14 bolt. Yes all this cool stuff is expensive, but the way you talk, I don't think money is a problem.

 

I thought about doing this on my 94 GMC. I had located the axles and just started adding up every thing else. It got very expensive very fast. I quit adding at $6500, and decided to put a couple grand into my trail only CJ5. The biggest problem is my 94 is my daily driver, so I don't it would have been a good idea for me. We also have 9-10 months of snow wheeling in Montana. A lightweight vehicle on 35's will run circles around a fullsize on 38's or 40's in these cicumstanses, so I was going to run 44's. What you are building would be incredible off road, I would still like to do it, but it seems to me that you can do more with less. I heard it could be done for about $3500, But I don't believe it, just start adding the price of lockers gears and tires. Depending on what you use, your over $2000 already.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks Ray

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the comments. Seems like everytime I get online I have 2-3 notices that someone replied to it. I called ORU on sat, and with all the other stuff I changed and or added, the cost is up to about $15,000. That is without the new tires and rims. Well, I'll do it in peices and slowly. I never planned on it being anytime in the next 2 years. I know what you mean about the big block, that could be a plan one day. Same with the 4L80. Currently I was just planning on building up the 350 and the TBI to run the 35's. Also eventually building up the 4L60. If I ever got up to anything really large, 40's to 44's, then in would go the 454 TBI setup, and a 4L80 if I hadn't put it in yet. Also, the guys at ORU say that 8 inches of lift will clear 35's that are 14-15 inches wide, or 37x12.5's. Hmmmm, I'm thinking a set of wide 35's for driving around and light duty fun. Then a set of 37's so that I can go through some serios s%$t. I want to use the 1 ton gear so that I never have to worry about breaking it. Even after I put more lift on and 44's if I ever got that idea. The 10 bolt and 12 bolt just couldn't do that. I'm thinking 4.56's, maybe 4.88's. That would keep it nice to drive around, it's my baby and my daily driver, but not handicap offroad. Also less weakness issues compared to anything bigger. Thanks guys!

1992 Blazer Sport, 350 TBI, Gibson 3" cat back, 4L60, Rancho 2-3" lift, 285/75R16's

 

That 8" of lift is that just the springs or with the 2" the kit gives you? I am still wanting to know how much lift it would take to clear 39.5's. Any chance you asked them about larger size tires?

Ryan

 

It would be a 6 inch spring lift up front with 8 inches in the rear. I consider it a 8 inch lift because the kit gives you 2 inches of lift with the springs, and the back really is that number, so it's a 8 inch lift. I'm going to have 4" ORD spring shackles in the rear with custom made 4" spring packs to make up the 8 inches of rear lift. If I could clear 37's with 8, I think 10 would do it for 39.5's. The front springs are just 73-91 front springs, and I don't ever remember seeing 9 inch springs for the old trucks. So probably 8 inch springs up front and 10 inch springs in the rear. Hope this helps.

1992 Blazer Sport, 350 TBI, Gibson 3" cat back, 4L60, Rancho 2-3" lift, 285/75R16's

 

Sure does help. I think I am going to go with the 8" springs up front and then my 6" Skyjacker springs that I have now and then the 4" shackel flip from ORU. I have also heard that going from a D44 to a D60 will give you some lift due to the size of the axle tubes and the spring pads. Anyone know if this is true???

Thanks..Ryan

 

Yes, the front Dana 60 gives another 3/4" to 1" of lift. I measured the difference from my old Dana 44 8 lug. I measured from the center to the top of the spring perches.

Shawn
87 K5