Chevy Colorado

Dustyn.Schmelzla

New Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Location
Colorado
HI,

I'm looking to replace my rear axle on my colorado with a dana 44. but i've been researching it and have found nothing on the conversion kit to do it, or what i may need to builod in order to covert my axle. if anyone has any idea please feel free to reply so i get an idea where to start.
 
I moved this to tech, hoping some of our resident experts might pipe up.

Good luck and welcome!
 
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Key thing to installing the D44 is knowing what gear ratio, width and bolt pattern the original axle is. Once you know these things you can determine a donor vehicle to get the d44 from. I am not real familiar with Colorado’s but I believe they are leaf springs in the rear. This makes this swap very simple if you have a welder and limited fabricating skills.

Gears aren't as critical as bolt patter and width you can always re gear to match your front. How ever bolt pattern can be problem unless you want t try to find an adapter or run a different bolt in the rear bolt. Width is flexible a little you can use a little narrow one and then run spacers in the rear or if it is a 1" or 2" wider you can run spacers in the front. So don't think you have to find the exact witdh right.

Once you have the donor axle it is a simple installation it is highly unlikely to find one that will bolt right in so this is where the welder and fab skills com in. I would start with a set of universal spring perches and shock mounts from any of the many suppliers on here. Once you have this you need to cut all the original mounting points from the original axle then clean up the axle tubes with a grinder.

This is where it gets a little tricky you need to get the axle centered under the vehicle and set the pinion angle. I typically do this by finding the width of the leaf springs on center I then divide that by 2. The I find the center line of the axles and use the previous measurement to set the width of the perches. Then I tack the perches on the axle. Once this is complete I bolt the axle in the vehicle and cut the previous made tack loose. I then rotate the axle to get the proper pinion angle and tack the perches again. While the axle is still bolted in locate your shock mounts and tack them on. Now all is left is remove the axle finish welding the perches and mounts.

Reinstall the axle and hook up the brakes and makes sure everything is tight and you should be ready to go.
 
Might want to also look at swapping in a yota axle. Same lug pattern and just as strong as a d44 depending on who you talk to.
 
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