how can I tell

I dont know the year

do i have to take out an axle

 

What year is your car. Assuming the diff or axles have never been changed, 82-89 will have 26 spline axles and 90-92 will have 28 spline. 89 is a changeover year and if the car was built late in the production year, it "may" have 28 spline axles.

There's an axle code on one of the tubes to help find the year. If you can't find the year, you need to pull axles and count the splines.

 

I noticed in your profile on the left it says 9-bolt 2.77, all 9-bolts have 28 spline axles, and you can only use 9-bolt axles with them. You cannot use 10-bolt axles.

 

this is a rear end that I have sitting on the side of the garage

I took a long trip and then my rear went out so I got one at a junkyard and put it in

made for a great vacation

I have a cutlass that has a 2.14 yeah never heard of it before but the ring says 47:22

I want to put the carrier and the pinion from the junkyard rear into the cutlass but the only way I can do it is if the axles are 26 splines on the junkyard rear

I am not going to spend the money to get 28 splined axles for the cutlass

after all the blah blah blah I do have a question

where can I find the numbers on the axle tube and how do I use them to find out if I can use the carrier

 

I don't think the diff from the cutlass is a 7.5" 10 bolt especially if it has 22 pinion teeth. Normally pinion teeth are in the 7-11 range. Depending what year it's from, it may be a 8.2 or 8.5" 10 bolt.

Axle tube numbers are stamped on the front of the passenger side tube. They're always hard to read.

Third gen axles will only fit into third gen diffs. No other 7.5" 10 bolt has the same length axles as a third gen.

 

so you are saying that I might have a rear end that I could use the carrier out of a 1st and 2nd gen camaro or firebird

I was going to use the carrier out of the firebird rear on the side of the garage along with the pinion and put it in the cutlass's housing

I will take a wire wheel to the front of the pass side of the axle tube