3.23 or 3.42 gear?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I did my weekly junkyard ritual today and came across a 1984 Monte SS with an open diff 3.42 axle in it (verified since it has 41:12 stamped on the ring gear which works out to 3.4166..., and the service parts ID says GU6). I can get the axle for $62.50 with a core ( I have a 2.41 I will give them), but someone has already been in it and the bolt for the cross pin is missing, and one of the bearing caps is removed. No biggie, it was all on the ground except for the cross pin bolt. I have a TH 200 4R in my car now, which gives me a .67 overdrive and cuts it to I believe a 2.24 with the 3.42 vs a 2.16 with the current 3.23. Either rear axle would need a posi installed, which I have, but the 3.23 I currently have in the car already has new brakes done to it. The car is used mostly for street driving with occasional strip use, but is not a daily driver. Should I pull it and use it, or just leave well enough alone?

The car also had a rebuilt steering box in it that I may pull since mine is leaking (and has the wrong Pitman arm), but I have to wonder if it is just a generic box or the performance box. It has been painted black, so the factory stamping is lost. For $22, it seems like a good deal, but the column is missing, so I can't turn it, but I am wondering if there is any other way to tell if it is the good fast box or the slow, shitty one? I would have pulled it, but like a dumbass, I took the pickle fork out of the bed of the pickup for some reason. So, I gotta go get it Wednesday.

Also, I have a ring gear spacer but have lost 2 of the bolts. Does anyone know where to get them from? The local rear end shop doesn't stock them, and my good posi is a 2 series carrier.

 

[HFX]

The car also had a rebuilt steering box in it that I may pull since mine is leaking (and has the wrong Pitman arm), but I have to wonder if it is just a generic box or the performance box. It has been painted black, so the factory stamping is lost. For $22, it seems like a good deal, but the column is missing, so I can't turn it, but I am wondering if there is any other way to tell if it is the good fast box or the slow, shitty one? I would have pulled it, but like a dumbass, I took the pickle fork out of the bed of the pickup for some reason. So, I gotta go get it Wednesday.

You should be able to turn the axial shaft by hand if the car is off the ground or using a set of pliers if the lines are hooked up.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Already have it.

 

[Vern]

Buy it. You can always easily sell it for more than you have in it and you help out another fellow performance gbody enthusiast.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Mine leaks, and so it will soon be used when I go through the front end again.

 

[HFX]

Mine leaks, and so it will soon be used when I go through the front end again.

Your lucky then it is giving you time. Mine went in 2 and half weeks from using about a 1/2 of power steering fluid per week to pouring out. I could only go about 7 miles with no traffic before having to readd. Luckily I had picked up a new one and rebuilt it. Of course, wouldn't you know I'd find a 12:1 one the day before I was going to put it in. So I'm in the process of rebuilding it and will put it in in a few weeks when I change the sway arm bushings. I took the other and stuck it in temporarily until that 12:1 is ready.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, my Cutlass has not been a regular daily driver in almost a decade, so I have time to wait out the good deals.