1962 dana 44

[42willysmb]

Looking for information on a 62 dana 44-1.
I swapped out my dead eaton for a gmc dana 44 that had a fresh build on it but the dana has 3.07 gears and my 236 can barely get moving in 1st gear but I can run 62 in 2nd gear on a straight away
the question is-----

can I use the ring and pinion from any dana 44? or are the 60-62 different
same question on bearings and install kits

Any info would be helpful...thank you!!

engine is good that is not the issue- new clutch and through out bearing too

[Captainfab]

I don't know for sure if a '62 Dana 44 is any different than any other Dana 44 but I would think any part for a Dana 44 should interchange.

[AtomicYJ]

It should as long as you use the proper spider gears for the axle shaft spline count. You could also get a Power Lock limited slip for that axle if you wanted. It should be coarse spline.

In early Jeeps, Dana 44s were 10 spline, then changed to 19, and changed again in '70 to 30 spline with one piece flanged axle shafts. The coarse splines in Jeeps were all two piece tapered axle shafts.

[42willysmb]

thank you gents!!

[Brad54]

The Dana 44 in my '62 Suburban was fine spline... Been a LONG time since I counted, I'm pretty sure it was 30 spline.

I bought a take-out limited slip from a new Jeep and installed it with new factory 3.42 gears.

The Dana 44 is the longest-serving axle in the country, going back to early '50s Studebakers and continuing up through today on Jeeps and Fords. It's been in everything from Corvettes and Vipers to street sweepers and mail jeeps.

The differential itself is the part the ring gear bolts. That's commonly referred to as "the case." There are "case breaks." Meaning, different gear ratios only fit on certain cases. This is for purposes of an example, they are not the actual case breaks:
2.90-3.25 gears fit one case. 3.31-3.90 gears fit on another case, 4.10-4.88 gears fit on the third case.
For this reason, Jeep and 4x4 truck guys will often be a good source for cases that have decent all-around town gears, like 3.55 gears. Their Jeeps come with a 3-series gear, they want to put bigger tires and 4.10 gears, so they have to buy a new case.
That's how I got mine for $100 off Craigslist. (Ebay is a good source, too).

The limited slip differentials are rebuildable too, with new clutch kits readily available.

When buying a new case, it's important to find your axle spline count.
To just replace the ring and pinion gear, spline count shouldn't matter. (having said that, never-say-never.).

I bought a replacement axle for my '62 Dana 44, and it was the same spline count as the one I had that broke, so my fine-spline count wasn't a fluke.

-Brad

[AtomicYJ]

Interesting, I thought they would have changed splines around when Jeep did. That's good to know. I wonder if that's what made GM switch the 12 bolt to fine spline?

[61K10]

My 61 k10 org front dana 44 has 30 splines. The difference i found when changing r&p was the carrier bearing id was different than the later one. I thank 68 and up. I put in a new posi carrier and the ID of the bearings were bigger. More meat in the carrier bearing area.

[Brad54]

Originally Posted by 61K10

My 61 k10 org front dana 44 has 30 splines. The difference i found when changing r&p was the carrier bearing id was different than the later one. I thank 68 and up. I put in a new posi carrier and the ID of the bearings were bigger. More meat in the carrier bearing area.

That's right! I thought there was something when I bought the kit, but couldn't remember... "early or later" bearings when ordering.

-Brad