[84brian]

im looking at getting a new case, with better gears, and I seem to be finding alot of dana 44s, vs the dana 36. apparently the 44 has better main caps that hold the posi and ring gear better?

it all boils down to what will bolt in to my car, as I believe my 84 to have the dana 36, are there diffrent styles of bolt patterns, or can any one be swapped for another?

here is a link to one im eyeing up on ebay right now,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dana...tegoryZ33731QQihZ013QQitemZ230152101819QQrdZ1

I am shooting for a rear with 3.73s. have decided they will give me the punch im looking for out of the hole. shouldnt be too bad with my 26.5 in tall rear tires down the highway either.

 

[Joe B]

im looking at getting a new case, with better gears, and I seem to be finding alot of dana 44s, vs the dana 36. apparently the 44 has better main caps that hold the posi and ring gear better?

it all boils down to what will bolt in to my car, as I believe my 84 to have the dana 36, are there diffrent styles of bolt patterns, or can any one be swapped for another?

here is a link to one im eyeing up on ebay right now,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dana...tegoryZ33731QQihZ013QQitemZ230152101819QQrdZ1

I am shooting for a rear with 3.73s. have decided they will give me the punch im looking for out of the hole. shouldnt be too bad with my 26.5 in tall rear tires down the highway either.

The Dana 44 is "by far" your best bet if maximum strength is your goal.....there is litterally NO comparison at all between the dana 36 and the dana 44(strength wise).........1984's and all Automatic transmission cars came with the dana 36's....and all manual transmission cars from '85 on, got the larger and much stronger Dana 44's.........any corvette that previously had a Dana 36 in it from the factory can swap the Dana 44 in it's place.......it's just that the Automatic cars that came from the factory with Dana 36's have to use the stickshifts cars center driveshaft(it's a bit shorter), and the stickshift cars torque arm(or you can re-drill the holes on the Dana 36 torque arm for the shorter mounting location).....and ofcourse the Bat wing(rear end cover) is totally different on the Dana 44......But, other than that , everything bolts right in............Built correctly(with all cryro treated gears, the Dana 36's can hold up to cars running in the 11's for quite some time(especially in automatic cars "without" slicks)....but you'll spend a good amount of cash on the Dana 36 to make them strong like this(well over $1000 just in parts in labor to an "existing" Dana 36 rear) and it'll still be no where near even a bone stock Dana 44 strength wise............In the end, for most guys it's usually worth picking up an entire Corvette Dana 44 rear from a wrecked or parted out Vette... Hopefully one with the factory 3.45's(which was the deepest factory gearing they had).......then at that point at least you have something really strong, and if you then(or at a later date) want to get a slightly deeper gear set for it, and sink money into it....it's worth it cause it has a much greater chance of lasting you..........or if you don't plan on too much power, and not really ever running real stickie tires in the rear....you could just pick up a set of 3.73 gears from www.precisiongear.com and have a good shop set them up for you in your current rear end....gear cost, plus the re-build kit + labor will run ya about $750-$900(more if you want parts cryro treated)..............Joe:thumbsup:

 

[Joe B]

im looking at getting a new case, with better gears, and I seem to be finding alot of dana 44s, vs the dana 36. apparently the 44 has better main caps that hold the posi and ring gear better?

it all boils down to what will bolt in to my car, as I believe my 84 to have the dana 36, are there diffrent styles of bolt patterns, or can any one be swapped for another?

here is a link to one im eyeing up on ebay right now,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dana...tegoryZ33731QQihZ013QQitemZ230152101819QQrdZ1

I am shooting for a rear with 3.73s. have decided they will give me the punch im looking for out of the hole. shouldnt be too bad with my 26.5 in tall rear tires down the highway either.

The rear in the Ebay link ...would be alright, as long as the people that did the ring and pinion set-up were competent.....Many guys and unqualified shops out there just slap lower gears in without really having the tools and experience to do a good job......the gear set-up on Corvette Dana 36 and Dana 44 rearends is even more crusial than that of a regular cast iron type rearend...the aluminum housing on our type rear "mixed" with the aluminum torque arm that runs from the rear end to the transmission....can cause and magnify the sound of a shotty gear installation.....this can cause a bad whine, bad vibrations at different rpm's, and even premature gear breakage.....this is why it's "real" important to find a good shop that just does ring and pinion installations(if you can)............I would say that if you can get the rear end on the Ebay link for under $1000-$1200(or so) that would be a fairly good deal(if it's alright ofcourse)......the Dana 44 batwing covers alone usually go for aprox $500-$650.............Joe:thumbsup:

 

[84brian]

thank you for the good info. if I do swap to a 44 I now know that I need the proper drive shaft, and will drill my stock torque arm to fit the new bolt pattern. sadly, im running the crossfire inj. but have begun to find performence parts for it, but I know its slightly inferior when compaired to the other systems out. so power out put should be moderate, to low, :laughing:

realley good info. thankyou

 

[grumpyvette]

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55599&highlight=dana

read this thread then look closely at the picture on EBAY notice the top center cover bolt

Look at the size difference, especially at the case above the yokes: and the top center cover bolt the dana 36 has that the dana 44 does NOT HAVE
KNOW what your buying

Dana 36

Dana 44

 

[Joe B]

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55599&highlight=dana

read this thread then look closely at the picture on EBAY notice the top center cover bolt

Look at the size difference, especially at the case above the yokes: and the top center cover bolt the dana 36 has that the dana 44 does NOT HAVE
KNOW what your buying

Dana 36

Dana 44

Just wondering....(from what you said)are you thinking the one in the link from Ebay is a dana 36?......looks to be a Dana 44 to me , but the pictures are just upside down making it look like it has a top center bolt on the rear batwing cover, but it really dosn't ..........Joe:thumbsup:

 

[Joe B]

thank you for the good info. if I do swap to a 44 I now know that I need the proper drive shaft, and will drill my stock torque arm to fit the new bolt pattern. sadly, im running the crossfire inj. but have begun to find performence parts for it, but I know its slightly inferior when compaired to the other systems out. so power out put should be moderate, to low, :laughing:

realley good info. thankyou

No problem :thumbsup:

 

[muddpile]

If you are going for big power in the future, a 44 is the way to go. Grumpy's pictures are all you should really need, as the top center bolt is the giveaway. The Dana 44 sure is a lot beefier to look at as well.

 

[grumpyvette]

yes I realize the dana 44 in the ebay add is upside down, but IVE seen several dana 36 rears sold as dana 44s by scammers on EBAY and just wanted everyone on the site to know what to look for.
BTW
I could easily be wrong, and theres dozens of reasons for a rear to look dirty & ugly but that ebay dana 44 looks like its was pressure cleaned after the vette caught fire, is there any guarantee that the rears in good shape

hard to tell in the pictures if thats dirt,ash,soot,grease , corrosion or what it is

 

[87shark]

Grumpy, that is exactly what I was thinking. Alot of unusual crud on that rear and not real uniform in where it collected... Maybe just a really shotty preasure wash job....

 

[glasrtlr]

looks like its was pressure cleaned after the vette caught fire,

nope...looks to me like it was washed off by the fire dept while putting out the fire, while the car was still up-side-down after the explosion.

btw, there is a ''midplate'' available that strengthens the d44 and also adapts the d36 batwing to the d44 chunk, abt $150 last i knew.

 

[Joe B]

Looks to me like nearly EVERY Dana 44(and 36) rear that I've pulled out over the years on higher mileage vettes(nothing unusual about it)...........many of the batwing covers get a pitted type look, and the rest is just normal dirt caked on.......:thumbsup: