[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by cj847

Trying to remember back to my jeeping days....the 8.8 was a favorite replacement for the weak dana 35 that came stock in 1987-2006 wranglers.

Not sure what you mean by "without too much work". I would be concerned about the following that I think you will have to do at a minimum. But I think you are going to have to do this to any axle that you swap except one from another C10.

-The 8.8 axle tubes are probably not the exact same diameter as your current axle (but they could be). I'm not sure. If it is different you will have to modify your cradle that you weld onto the axle. (After you have determined your pinion angle).
-You have to open the pumpkin to remove/replace the axles. But you don't have to get into the gear lash settings etc, which is what I think you are worried about. You probably want to change fluid and inspect it anyway.
-The 8.8 came in a lot of ratios, open, and limited slip differentials. Be selective, they are plentiful and cheap.
-The 8.8 came in a few different widths (ie explorer and F150). The explorer was really narrow, hence it's suitability for the wrangler. I am a little surprised that it is the width you want, but honestly I haven't measured the width of the C10 rear end and not sure if they varied by year.

I am not sure what you are wanting to do here. The 8.8 is similar in durability to the 12 bolt that came in C10s. I don't see what you are going to gain. I would find a 71 or 72 C10 12 bolt (has 5 on 5 lug pattern) assuming it is close or the same width as a 68 (again I am not sure). If disk brakes are your goal, it will cheaper/easier to add disks to a 12bolt than to fit any other axle into your 68 that has disk brakes from the factory.

This! I’ll also play devils advocate and throw this idea out there. The 00-06 1500’s, suburbans and Tahoe’s have factory disk brakes... it’ll take the same amount of fab as the 8.8 would but your truck would be all mother GM parts. The big advantage to the late model gm disk rear ends (same for the Ford really) is the reliable park brake. A lot of the disk brake conversion kits for the old axles use cadillac eldorado calipers and aren’t known for having good park brake setups.