Chevy & GMC Vans

I’m wanting to swap out my front axle carrier for a 3.73 S-10 unit. The drive shaft yokes between the two are different, but the u-joints appear to be the same size. Is there any reason to swap out the input yokes? If I remove the round flange from my driveshaft, it looks like u-joint would fit right in the saddles of the S-10 yoke. Has anyone made this swap?

When I did my swap I backed the pinion nut off and swapped it over to Safari style. Give it a shot, maybe there is more than one way to skin a cat

When I did my swap I backed the pinion nut off and swapped it over to Safari style. Give it a shot, maybe there is more than one way to skin a cat

I'm thinking I will give it a go. My only concern with swapping yokes would be the difficulty in accessing the crush sleeve to replace with a new one. The last S10 diff I disassembled, the yoke side pinion bearing had a bit of an interference fit to the pinion shaft. I had the cases already split,(just to salvage the gear set), and had to use a bit of force to remove the pinion bearing's hold on the pinion shaft. Removing said bearing with cases intact could prove to be an issue.

So you had no issues with using the same crush sleeve?

No issues. Counted threads and put it back to where it was making sure it felt the same as far as rotational drag was concerned. Mine was freshly professionally rebuilt as I had a sizable investment between the cast iron diff and the MFactory Torsen and had no interest in going down THAT rabbit hole. I have no idea if there would be any drawbacks to using this method with a high mileage unit. Good luck