I have been looking through the local yards and have been unable to find any decent rear ends. Most of the yards have been cleaning house and don't even have any cars much older than 10 years old. Has anyone used an S10 rear end in their rod? Looking at the size it would fit my 48 Chrysler nicely, but would it hold up to a stock 305 small block? I am building more of a cruiser than a racer and trying to keep costs down. Would I be better off using the stock 48 rear end? Has anyone else noticed the cleansing of the yards or is this just a local DNR thing in Wisconsin? Thanks

I have an s10 rear end in my 48 chevy, and it works great. The width of yours might be different than mine. The s10 is 60".

S-10 diff and whole chassis are a common swap item now

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At the Bonneville Salt Flats... 130mph is known as First gear ...............

Been rodding around with a stock rearend in my 355 cu in S-15 Jimmy with no problem for 20K miles, 220K on the rearend now, you should be fine.

Sometime in the early 90's they went to 28-spline axles instead of the older 26-spline. Look for the 28-spline ones. I think it was the same time they changed to the regular Chevy car backing plate 4-bolt pattern from the goofy G-body 3-bolt type.

Get one from the 4x4 S-10 if you can..And yeah the wrecking yards are cleaning house on a lot of stuff..Any time one comes up on usable parts grab em as they may not be there when you need them..

OMT

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I would rather make it work than make it popular..And if it does not work it will not be popular..

In 88 they changed to 28 spline 7-5/8th's. from the earlier 26 spline 7.5 in. In 95 they released a 8.5 in diff in the L35 (I think) 4.3 vortec trucks.

4x4 diffs are 4 in wider than 2wd, and ZR2 diffs are another 3.9 wider than the 4x4.

hope this helps

most of the time people will reccomend the camaro/firebird f-body rear end. guess what? the S10 rear end is the same thing! 7.5 or 7.625 gm 10 bolt which was used in a bunch of gm applications. the S10 4wd rear is wider than the 2wd version & was just 3/4 of an inch narrower than the original rear end in my '50 chevy. lots of them were available with posi & good ratios.
robert

The price of steel is going crazy........even down here in the Southland......people are crushing up steel like crazy. I believe I would try to find a late 60's Mopar rear end ...if I could.....a 8 and 3/4 . It is a better rear end.....has better bearings, better brakes and is easily serviced.....gears, bearings, seals and such easily changed ..........and IT's MOPAR ....in a Mopar....

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Older whiskey, Younger women, FASTER cars, and more money $$$

Just the goals of a retired " car guy "

If you get a rear that's in good shape it should definitaly hold up behind a stock 305. My 85 Caprice has a 7.5, the rear gets abused pretty regularly the way I drive, no problems in the 3 years I've been driving it.

Crushing old cars?

May I be political for a moment?

The USA has sent the Commie Chinese ONE TTTTrillion dollars (one million millions) trade deficite in the last 8 years. USA Today, front page, Feb 2005.

They are using our money to fund their record growth. They are buying wood, steel, and OIL at record rates at record prices because they don't care about the price,,,,,, WE are paying for it. That is why oil is high and will get higher. They are now the # 2 oil consumer in the world and at current growth rates they will double their oil useage and surpass the USA in oil consumption in 7 years. Think about that.

Didn't we lose 2 wars to them? They promised to defeat the USA without firing a shot, and now they are buying up bonds, treasury notes, etc at record rates, so is the Japs. In 6 years or less the Chinese will be able to bankrupt the USA at will...... and they will. The next depression will make the 30s look like a church picknick. Hide and watch.

Just think what would happen if Chinese imports instantly stopped.....

By at Wal Mart, the Commies need your money.

I wish I could find a mopar rear end to fit. They are not easy to find at a low cost. My 48 Windsor rear end is 60" outside width. Getting an S10 rear is going to be easier at the moment. From the info everyone has provided I gather I should look for a mid 90's S10. The width appears to be different between 2wd and 4wd, so I will need to check before I buy. The only real let down is having 2 different bolt patterns front/back.
Thanks for all the help.

Actually that can get solved as well as the hubs can be redrilled to the correct bolt pattern (in some cases) do some checking and there may be a machine shop in your area that can do such a thing..

OMT

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I would rather make it work than make it popular..And if it does not work it will not be popular..

S10 2x4 rears are 48" backing plate to backing plate
s10 4X4 rears are 52" backing plate to backing plate
The weakness is in the spider gears or posi Unit. If you plan on smokin the tires a lot, buy a aftermarket posi (alburn) or leave it open..A lot of guy's are now using Ford Explorer 8.8 rears. You can get one even with a posi and disc brakes pretty cheap. I believe they measure about 54 to 56" backing to backing plate. The spring perches are viturally the same as an S10

One other thing to think about would be a Ford Ranger Rear end preferebly from a 4.0 liter it would be a 8.8 inch and more than likely have 3.73 or 4.10 gears the newer 4liters have 210 hp and 240 ft lbs and many guys have supercharged for more than 300 hp and they still live happily... there is a butt load of them in the wrecking yards