would it be worthwhile to swap a dana 44 in place of a corp 10 bolt or are they pretty much the same axle?  

in my opinion, the d44 is a little bit stronger then the 10 bolt but not enough to make it a worthwhile swap, the difference is really small  

How bout 2.5 Rockwells to be on the safe side?!!  

Yea, 10bolt - 8.8 - 44 are all about the same axle. The only advantage to the 44 would be aftermarket support. If you have plans of upgrading the options for the 44 will be greater for than for the 10b.  

These guys may be right but from what ive gathered the D44 is twice the axle the GM 10 bolt is. The 10 bolt was designed for S-10s, The Dana was designed for Jeeps, does that tell you anything?  

The GM 10 bolt front was designed after the D44.  The GM D44 front has a 1.310" dia. 30 spline shaft and a GM 10 bolt front has a 1.280" dia. 28 spline shaft (1989-91 has 30 spline).  Tube dia. is different also with the D44 being 2.750" and the 10 bolt almost 3".  You can get lockers and gears for both and alloy axle shafts for both.  If you want to do cross over steering you will want the D44 Knuckles.

The strength difference between a GM D44 front and GM 10 bolt front is very close.  The even the 10 bolt rear was designed well before the S-10, it showed up in 1981 1/2 tons.  The 10 bolt front started showing up in 1977.  

Another difference is the axle tube lengths. The D44 housing is smaller in width and this creates the D44 problem of breaking the tubes on the long side, next to the housing. The pinion is smaller on the D44 but alot of people will say the shafts are bigger and are 30 splines. Oh-wow!!! For the frontends, I found that you can get a 30 spline locker and put axles out of 89-91 Blazers and Suburbans. You can also spend the money and get alloy shafts from Warn. I've gone this route before and it was trick!