My truck has had front and rear end replaced a long time ago. Swapping over to another frame, and would like to ID these diffs a little better. My question is, is there a way to it narrowed down to a year? They have 4.38 Gears, which from what I understand were only a factory option in 1980. However, I can't rule out that they could be aftermarket R&P. They are both 8" solid, only markings on ring gear are "35X8" and only 3 digits on the webs of the 3rd member. "24E" or "2AE" do those mean anything?

 

Short answer = No

Why does it matter?

 

Would just like to know what I've got. are all 79-85 parts interchangable? Brake,s bearings, seals, gears etc.

 

The gears would be. But the pre-84 pinion flange has smaller bolt holes(8mm vs. 10mm). The rest I don't know for sure...at the moment.

 

Alright thanks man. If you find out anything else please let me know. I've been doing some part number interchanges and so far only wheel cylinders and rotors are different throughout 79-85. So maybe that will help something. So did you mean 8mm heads, or M8 bolts at pinion flange? Wasn't aware of that but that should be helpful!

 

M8 bolts 79-83
M10 bolts 84-95 4 cyl.(or 7.5" diff)
M11 bolts 85-95 Turbo/V6

 

Cool thanks