Hey all,

A friend of mine wants to put a straight axle dana 44 under his 97' Chev 2500. He's got a 6 inch pro-comp lift on it with 285's BFG MT's (i think) and he found this old 44 in a pile of stuff in his new house. how much work is there to swapping a straight axle in? Is there any kits available. I'v already tried searching but cant find a thing! I need some help.

Harris

And how about gear ratios in the two?

call off road unlimited and ask for chris or steavie

tell them fred from the magazine sent ya

they have the kit

http://www.offroadunlimited.com/

what kind of lug pattern is on the d44 he has?  is it the same as the rear 8 lug?  also on the d44 is the differential on the driver or passenger side if it is on the passenger side like chevys had to ifs you will have to swap t-cases to use it and run into adapter $ if it is driver side like old fords it will be better and all you will need is springs and hangers unless you are going for some kind of 4 link which i have not learned to much about.  If going high may need to look at rotating pinion up to fix angle of drive shaft but if money is short live with it for awhile you can get shims to get caster right.  there are kits for this that make it near bolt on i don,t know right off but go to a 4wheel parts ad and search each suspension company like fabtech and rcd skyjacker etc.. and you will find a kit.  also for it being a chevy he could get help on questions at www.coloradok5.com better than here.  If it is a ford axle spring pearches will have to be welded on and the shock mounts too.  gear ratios have to be the same in both axles.  

He needs a Ford or Dodge axle with the diff on the driver's side to match up with the NP241 xfer case. Off road Unlimited's kit is made for the Ford axles.  3.73 or 4.10 gears would be fine, as long as it matches the rear gear ratio. Or if he wants to go with a bigger tire, now is the time to get 4.56's  

I have a `98 Chevy 2wd ext. cab that I was seriously considering doing the swap to.  I already have a `73 Dodge W200 with a Dana 60 rear, divorced NP205, and Dana 44 front.  But, since the Dodge is a crew cab with a stepside bed and a former rural fire truck, I felt bad parting it out.  So, it's getting restored, and the Chevy is getting sold.

Anyway, I found tons of good info. on this site: http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forum/showthread.php?s=9bbfb2effc657b9f1042dbace2cab212&threadid=59097

The link is to a thread devoted to the numerous questions and concerns involving such a swap.