Was thinking of dropp'n a '91 S-10 rearend in my '49 shoebox Ford, the width will work, but will it live? The car is a full kustom sled, small block, auto, bias plys, slow 'n low. Any of you HAMBer's have any experience with these? are there certain years that are beter than others? Any advice here would be great. Thanks
Alot of people run the older S10 4x4 rears in their 49-54 Chevs w/ SBCs and have alot of luck with them. As long as you don't have a crazy assed amount of HP it should be fine, especially if it is just a cruiser.
Hey "Stiltskin" thanks for the reply. So should I bail on the 2wd rear I've got in mind, and try and find a 4x4 rear? Is there any way to physicaly tell the two apart?
They are tougher than most people think. If you have seen Madfabricators 4, the 49 Ford Brian Bass drives has an S 10 rear in it and has held up under a lot of abuse for a number of years. He has a 350 with 2 fours and a 4 speed. The 4x4 rear is wider than the 2 wd, so you could have some clearance problems with a big tire/wheel combo.
Ive seen how tough these rears are first hand. a good friend did a v8 s10 swap and put a minispool and gears in his original 85 S10 rear thinking it would get him by until he coud buy a 9". the rear held up to 2 summers of launching hard on the street with a 383 and 4000 stall. the engine pulled a stud in the head and blew before the rear did.
Hey Dave, I have a 4X4 S-10 in my 54 Chevy, it's a 3:73 posi. Picked it up at JKL Auto for $300. A friend of our's "ratstu" (do you know him?) has the 2 wheel drive version in his shoebox. The 2 wheel drive ones are about 4" narrower than the 4X4 ones. Talk to "ratstu", he da man. Here's a link to different rear ends and there widths, might help. You dialing her in for Vegas, or just too many burnouts? http://www.quickperformance.com/Technical%20Info/sus_measure.htm
The 2wd and 4wd axles from the S-10 are the same except for width. The 4wd was wider for use with the high offset wheels the front axle required. Grab one from about '88 or later to get the 7 5/8" rather than the earlier 7.5". It is noticably stronger. If it makes you feel any better, that is the same hardware that is used in all the camaros and firebirds. I've used them in an 84 Camaro with about 350 hp and 2 V-8 S-10 conversions. Never came close to hurting one. Regularly turned low 13 sec 1/4 mile times. You can also dig up the Auburn limited slip carrier from a Camaro for it. I guess they were used all the way to the end of the Camaro, 1998+.
If you can find one out of a truck with a 4.3 you will have a good chance of getting a posi unit as well. Everyone I know with a 4.3 had a posi. Also the S10 blazer units ill work but I do not know the width, they may have all been the same width as the 4 wd units.
Blazer rears are identical to S-10 rears (meaning 4x4 Blazer rear = 4x4 S-10 rear and 2 wheel drive Blazer rear = 2 wheel drive rear width). I have a 4x4 Blazer rear under my '53. Now, can anyone answer MY question: Other than 3.08, 3.42, and 3.73 what gear ratios did the 4x4 rear ends come with? (I'm hoping for something in the mid-to-high 2s, like a 2.72 or something.)
I don't know if these ratios were available in the 4 X 4's but they are listed for S-10's: 2.73-RPO GU2, 2.93-RPO GU3 and GW9. The codes are found on a paper sticker on the inside of the glovebox door. By the way, G80 is for a Posi.
i had the stock 3.73 rear in my s-10. it had a 350+hp 350 in it. it's still working fine and has 180,000 on it and i beat the crap out of it
Heres some codes I had while researching these rears awhile back: GM8 = 2.56 GU2 = 2.73 GU4 = 3.08 GU6 = 3.42 GT4 = 3.73 GT5 = 4.10 HO4 = 4.11 G80 = Posi
I used a 7.5" ten bolt from an 83 Olds gutless [same as an S-10 inside] under my old 50 chevy sedan delivery. The gearing was 2.29 to one. Any of the ring/pinion/carriers from these cars will go in the S-10 axle housing and there are a wealth of hiway gears availible. BTW, I used fat BF Goodriches under my delivery with a 406 sbc and a 4 speed. I usta HAMMER on it and nothing broke. The new owner also hammered on it and finally broke the 4 speed but never the puny 10 bolt rearend. I've seen kids at the local friday night drags use nitrous smallblocks to run 10s and 11s in their late 70's/ and 80's malibu's and regals with that same rear....not too many broke..weird.
Some of the 2nd generation S-series used the 8 1/2" rear also, just like the Buick Grand Nationals did.
Look on the top front of the passengers axle tube near the chuck the rear end code is stamped here any gm dealer can tell you the ratio or just do a google search for S10 V8 they can give you all the dope on S10 rears
I have broken many of these rears. I swap in 8.8" fords from explorers. MUCH stronger rear. If you have sticky tires it will explode. If you just spin, it will live. Same width as the 4x4 rear, 4.5" x 5 bolt pattern, and even the spring seats are in the same place. Later ones have disk brakes. 94 and up have 31 spline axles. Most exploreres are trac lok rears and have decent gears (got a set of 3.73's with a traklok in my exploder).
Another option is to get the carrier from a 98-02 V8 F body, as they have the Zexel posi unit. I run an SLP takeoff unit in my 83 Berly and it runs quite nice.
I have this site bookmarked: http://www.carnut.com/specs/rear.html--has a whole bunch of rears' widths. I believe I got it off of Chevytalk. Tucker
2.73, 3:08, 3:23, 3.42, 3.73, 4:10, 4.56 Two hog head cases the smaller one 3:08 down some requires a spacer on the ring gear for some replacent gear sets. Camaro, Z-28, Firebird, Trans Am 1982-2002 S-Series trucks/Astro 1983 up 7.50 ring 1.438 Diameter 27 Spline pinion
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