One of my friends has a mid 70's blazer and he was telling me that while replacing the tie rods, he discovered that the front differential had a different gear ratio then the rear. I had never heard of this and wanted to see if that was possible. It seems to me that unless the tires are of different size, (which they are'nt) or the transfer case compensated for this, the while thing would bind up whenever you put it into 4WD.

Anybody ever heard of a setup like this?

Someone before him must have swapped gears, I dont think there was a factory set-up like that.

Hmm... If that is the case, would it even be drivable in 4WD? I am not sure what transfercase he has (I thin it may be a NP208 but am unsure) and if it happened to have a internal diff. in the transfer case (like the NP203) would that allow it dirve normally?

how far off was it? was it like 4.09's and 4.10's or 4.11's? because the early dana 44's used a 4.09 ratio with the 4.10 rear gear. if it was any further off than that is was someone that wither installed one set of gears and not the other, or swapped an axle with a miss-matched ratio.

-Scott

It's because the front axle is made by Dana/Spicer and the rear is a corporate 12 bolt, so if the rear is, say, a 4.10 the closest ratio Dana used was a 4.09. It's normal. Heck, Ford used a 4.11/4.09 combo. So, I wouldn't be too concerned unless we're talking about a major difference in ratios:eek: