Dana 44 or GM 10 Bolt?..Pics inside

[KY..Rob]

This my front Diff. I can't find any markings on it no where, except on the Passenger side of the case. It says K88 and some dos going in a circle with a Triangle point at 12:00 o'clock. Most of the corporate stuff is covered in GM logos. This one is not. And do they make a pinion seal? looks like I'm loosing some lube from the back side where the Drive shaft connects.

Thanks,

Rob..

[Blazin]

That is a 10 bolt. A 44 had a raised boss around the fill plug, and the side of the cover the bolts are all parallel to each other, only the top, and bottom have a round shape to the bolt pattern. It doesn't have GM stuff on it because they were made by American Axle Manufacturing.

[VileZambonie]

http://coloradok5.com/axleguide.shtml

[KY..Rob]

Thanks Guy's. Wishful thinking didn't hurt much..LOL..I'm still having a Ball messing with this old Truck, and learning a lot along the way. How about the pinion seal? do I need to drop the drive shaft and pull the pinion out?

Thanks,

Rob..

[Josh454]

Don't get down on yourself Rob...there is little to no difference between a 44 and a 10B.  Yep, driveshaft has to come out.  Pinion nut has to come out too.  Mark the nut and have an idea of how many times you spin the nut off... if you under or overtorque the nut you'll take out the pinion bearing.

[KY..Rob]

Thanks Josh. I'm not to down on myself, But man those 44's have some cool aftermarket Diff covers..HE..HE..HE

Rob..

[Blazin]

The pinion itself does not need to come out. Only the shaft and the nut. It would be a good idea to have the torque specs for the pinion nut. Then counting the turns won't be needed.

[fitz]

Thanks Josh. I'm not to down on myself, But man those 44's have some cool aftermarket Diff covers..HE..HE..HE

Rob..

ORD has some aluminum diff covers for the 10 bolt.

[KY..Rob]

Fitz..That is one sweet machine! Thanks for the heads up. Do they carry "U"Bolts?

Rob..

[fitz]

I get the u bolts made up at a local spring shop. Just measure from the bottom of the axle tube to the top of the spring plate. Bring them the spring plate so they will know the width and you should be all set.

[Donut]

When I replaced my u-bolts, I just needed the inside dimension of the bolt holes and the diameter of the bolt itself.  The shop had blanks they put into a bender, and left it up to you to cut the length.  (I'll get to cutting them eventually  )
I agree, the spring plate should tell them everything.

[Josh454]

I don't think you will ever find a torque spec on the pinion nut.  The correct way to do it is, remove the diff, get a new crush sleeve and torque the pinion nut down until you have 10-15 inch pounds of rotational torque.  That's a pretty small window...it would be hard to hit with a generic torque spec.

I've done it the other way and been lucky.  I've also seen pinion bearings fail after about 5000 miles after someone just replaced the pinion seal because they hit it with a 1/2 impact gun until it was, "tight."

Just my $.02

[KY..Rob]

Thanks for the info fellas! I can't find a torque spec for it either, I guess I will have to play it by ear. To remove the crush sleeve , do I need to remove the Pinion Gear? or is the sleeve external?

Rob..