[wilkin250r]

Interesting. For some reason, I had thought the carrier break on a D44 was at 4.10, but I am probably just confusing that with my rear axle.

The reason for the carrier break is that as you gear lower and lower (higher numbers, 4.10, 4.56, 4.88) the pinion gear diameter gets smaller and smaller. So manufacturers are forced to either need to make the ring gears thicker and thicker to compensate (which gets expensive due to additional material), or change the carrier to bring the ring gear closer to the pinion gear for those ratios that require it.

The nice thing is that many aftermarket ring and pinion gear manufacturers offer "thick" gear sets. They make the ring gear thicker to allow you to use, for example, a 4.88 gear ratio on a carrier that's made for 3.73 and numerically smaller ratios.

The Dana 44 is a popular differential, you probably don't need search around for a new carrier, a thick gear set is likely available, and probably only about $40 more than a standard thickness gear set.