i cant imagine why that front driveline wouldnt be turning in 4x2. unless you have both axle shafts snapped inside but ive never seen or ever heard of that happening. or the pinion teeth are all broke off and ive never heard of that either. this is all very strange

 

Actually just one axle shaft could be broken, or missing spider gears which I have seen. Or a broken ring and/or pinion, which I have killed 3 sets with the Dakotas stock front axle.

 

OK...finally was able to get under the truck, and with both front whels on the ground, in 2WD, I was able to turn the front driveshaft freely, so it is obvious I have a gear problem in the front diff...bummer!!! Now I got to hunt up a good front axle set, or some gears, once I am able to get it up on blocks and have the cash to do so...NOT looking forward to this...thanks all for your ideas and help!! I now understand my 4x4 unit like never before...

Now, for all you guys who have more brains than I do ont hese trucks...since I have the live axle setup, what years would have the same setup so I can look for a replacement axle? Or is that even the best way to go? I have never replaced the gears on something like that....

 

Pop the cover first and see what's wrong.

 

ya i wouldnt rush out and buy a bunch of stuff. hek you dont even know what the problem is yet. diff cover takes about 4min to remove and should shed some light on the situation. now i think of it i did see a ford with snapped front axle shaft so maybe thats what you have

 

Hwre is the scenario...I removed the differential cover to take a look inside to hopefully find out why the 4x4 is not engaging...

I found that the gears on the ends of the axles have broken teeth...the driver side has one, and the passenger side has two...

Everything else looked very good.

Also, the tag on the pumpkin has the number 0853 on it...how do I determine the gear ratio from that?

So, I rotated the driveshaft by hand, and it turned the big ring gear but nothing else.

I lifted each wheel and rotated them, and each turned along with the small gear on the end of each axle...but nothing else...

There are no broken parts laying inside the differential, so I must assume everything is still pretty m uch intact except the three briken teeth...

So, since there is no vacuum disconnect on the axle, and I cannot see how the gears inside the differential would mesh to rotate the axles, how in the world does this thing work???????

 

Here are a couple pics, but unfortunately the flash washed it out so you cannot really see the broken teeth...

I hope the pics attach, I have never done that before so this is a trial run...

 

There are supposed to be gears meshed in there horizontally. Spider gears. There is not. So someone just cleaned out the blown up gears and sent the truck down the road it looks like if you dont see the gears in the bottom there.

 

OK< so I believe I see what you mean. I looked up some pictures, and it appears that the shaft which is between the two axle gears is supposed to have two gears on it that would engage the axle gears...those are gone, probably busted off like you say...that would explain it...so I reckon I will do my best to hunt up a used axle that is good...or I may price the gears off the axles, and the two missing ones, and just fix it. I believe I could do that...

Anyone know a good place to buy the gears?

Also, does anyone know what the 0853 means on the tag on the differential?

 

Yup like I said a few times the spider gears are probably gone.
You can get replacement spiders and a ring and pinion gear set as well as bearing kits ect.
www.ringpinion.com The axle is Chrysler 7.25.
http://www.ringpinion.com/b2c/PartCa...ID=2&DiffID=97

As for the tag it probably the part number. For the ratio the sticker under the hood will state it. Or just look at the ring it will have the number of teeth the ring has and the number of teeth the pinion has. Divide them to get the ratio.
The ratios are 3.21(Rare) 3.55 (90%) 3.9(Rare)