Rearen Question

[mikedavis]

I want to put 3/4t axles under my 72 Blazer, but I also want factory disk brakes at all 4 corners. What sould I be looking for to make the swap as trouble free as I can?

[IlliniK5]

Mike, might need a little more info from you in regards to what exactly you need help answering but here is a start.. A dana 44 or a dana 60 is a direct bolt in minus U-joint for the 60. A 14 bolt in the rear will be a direct bolt in if it is out of a one ton truck with the exception of the U-Joint which will have to be a conversion one available at any Napa. If out of a 3/4 ton, then the spring perches will be too wide. If this is all you can find then it is relatively simple to grind them off and weld new ones on. I went this route b/c the ones from ORD are adjustable as they have 3 spring pack centering/keeper holes so you can slide the axle back and forth to center it in the wheel house and the are little taller than stock. Aftermarket 14 bolt disk conversion kits bolt right in and are straight forward plus there are many threads on this with all the details on caliper selection and such. The hard part is upgrading the brake booster/MC combo to compensate for 4 wheel disk. There is a great thread on this site explaining parts to use. Let me know what exact details you need. I just went through all this myself in the last yr.

[70-K5]

Advice above is not all that great....

Dana 44 uses the same u-joint as the D60. D60 will require you to run a minimum 16" aluminum rim or shave the calipers to run 15" steel rims.
the D60 will require different soft brake hoses than the D44 or 10 bolt.

Regarding the 14bolt ff axles the 3/4 axles have spring perch that is 42.5" apart, this is the same as 1973-1991 half ton trucks suburbans and blazers. 1 ton axles have spring perches that are 40.5" apart, the same as the first gen K5's. Bring your measuring tape when you buy just to make sure.

There is no such thing as 'factory 4-wheel brakes' in this generation, I know what you mean though. You'll need to do some reading and figure out how to fit a later style proportioning valve that is located on the frame to a master cylinder and hard line routing that wants it next to the MC.

[IlliniK5]

70-K5, you are right about the one u-joint. I misspoke. The rest of my advice is valid and mirrors what you said. I could provide more details too but the poster needs to be more specific about what he doesn't know. other things to note that Mike will have to research further include e-brake retention when converting to 4wheel disk. Either run Eldorado calipers with built in e-brakes or run a driveline e-brake. If converting a 14 bolt to disk brakes install the longer dually wheel studs to compensate for thicker aluminum wheels. And the list goes on...