D44 Question
Instructor
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 105
Likes: 1
I recently considered both units as a replacement for my D36 that started going out on me. I road race my car (never drag race) so that factored into my final decision.
I spoke to Newman himself about his D44 and it is a top notch unit with the externals being beefed up a good bit but the internals are standard D44 components. He told me that he has not had any of these ever returned for problems or repair. It is a bit pricey at $3200 complete with batwing.
I also spoke to Merle at EM (both him and Newman were very helpful). He has the beefed up internals in the Gladiator that Newman does not but not the beefed up case or batwing. The price I was quoted including batwing was a little higher (~$200) than what is posted on his webpage at $3390.
What I ended up doing instead was locating a used D44 for $1500 and had it rebuilt for $700 locally in Phoenix (AZ Differential Specialists) with a new Road Race tuned Limited Slip that includes hardened spider gears. The ring & pinion were fine so it just needed the typical bearings, seal, etc. Total cost was $2200 for a pretty decent unit and a savings of >$1000. If I went with the standard rebuild it would have only been about $100 less.
I spoke to Newman himself about his D44 and it is a top notch unit with the externals being beefed up a good bit but the internals are standard D44 components. He told me that he has not had any of these ever returned for problems or repair. It is a bit pricey at $3200 complete with batwing.
I also spoke to Merle at EM (both him and Newman were very helpful). He has the beefed up internals in the Gladiator that Newman does not but not the beefed up case or batwing. The price I was quoted including batwing was a little higher (~$200) than what is posted on his webpage at $3390.
What I ended up doing instead was locating a used D44 for $1500 and had it rebuilt for $700 locally in Phoenix (AZ Differential Specialists) with a new Road Race tuned Limited Slip that includes hardened spider gears. The ring & pinion were fine so it just needed the typical bearings, seal, etc. Total cost was $2200 for a pretty decent unit and a savings of >$1000. If I went with the standard rebuild it would have only been about $100 less.
