front diff options

[Four0Sport]

first off.. im not a differential expert, with that being said..

im disappointed that my 93 has a 3.27 open rear diff, so i talked to a friend of mine at a local salvage yard who is giving me a really good deal on a 2nd gen 8.8 with 4.10s and LS so ill be getting a better rear end, rear discs, and LS. my question is, what should i do with the front? keep in mind everything i do is tightly budgeted. im getting the complete rear end with all brake parts and springs for $250. i dont want much more in the front.

let me know what you guys think a good setup would be, im running 31s and have ext. coils and AAL. not a serious off roader, just like to explore stuff.

theoretically, do i even have to mess with the front?

 

[MrShorty]

You have to do something with the front.

1) Change the front gears to match the rear
2) Find some way to effectively disable the front so it becomes a 2wd truck.

If you engage 4wd with 3.27's in the front and 4.10's in the rear, you will likely break something.

#2 is probably cheapest, because you'd just have to unplug the transfer case shift motor or control module or pull a fuse or remove the driveshaft or something like that. Then you could take some time to find a D35 (don't settle for a D28 or D28/D35 hybrid) TTb front end with 4.10 gears, or something equivalent to get the front gear ratio to match.

 

[dogfriend]

If you change your rear diff from 3.27 to 4.10, then you need to change your front diff to 4.10 also.

edit: ^^ what he said

 

[Cobraguy]

You've also got speedo issues to deal with. It's going to need a gear swap for that. And with that large a jump, it wouldn't surprise me if you had to change both the drive and driven gears.

 

[Four0Sport]

i just realized i kinda worded that wrong.. re-gearing the front is a given. what i meant to get across is if i could leave the front open or not. im leaning more towards a 3.73 setup now, as ive been calling around and there are more of them. i havnt gotten stuck anywhere with the 3.27 open diff but it would be nice to know i actually have something worthwhile out back and up front. besides, i need a hobby and this would be fun to do. thanks for the replies, keep em comin.

 

[CodePoet]

Sure you could leave it open. If you wanted to gain some traction alittle later you could add a lunch box locker or weld the spiders. Does the d35 have a lunch box locker??? Been so long since mine was in the truck I forgot!