I need to rebuild frt diff. Is it possible to remove frt diff and axle shafts and drive the truck as a 2WD for the summer. I don't have the funds to repair yet and could use some help in the mpg department.

 

Welcome to the site. I will move this thread to the first generation Durango section,
FF

 

I believe if you remove the driveshaft completely from the equation, you should be able to drive it as a 2WD. I wouldn't go as far as removing the front differential and axle shafts.

 

as whitewidow said it can be done and driven that way, but it will not help with your gas mileage, for that you need to keep up w/ the maintance

 

The problem with that is that the internals of the front diff will still be turned by the front wheels connected via the CV shafts. She said the front diff needs a rebuilt, so depending on how bad off it is, simply having it connected to the wheels may still be a problem...

However, I still would strongly recommend against just removing those components for any sort of long term use. I'd personally be a little nervous about driving it around the block that way....

Rather than rebuilding the front diff, I would call around to salvage yards and just replace it with a used one. Can probably buy the whole thing for less than the parts to do the rebuild would cost.

 

Good call on trying the yards first, corey. You don't want anything going into the open front diff and causing more damage.

 

I would drive on across the entire country with the front diff removed. It won't hurt anything. I am however not a huge fan of doing more work than needed to fix something. I would try to find a properly geared used replacement and do the work once and be done.

 

This is why I gave my view on things. I wouldn't want to do it twice and it's easier said than done removing the differential.

 

There's no problem with removing the front driveline from the D and driving it in 2wd. If you were to do it however, the front driveshaft, front diff. and both cv axels would have to all be removed before driving it. You won't loose any fluid from the transfer case because the front shaft connects with a yoke (at least on the older nv242 and nv231 cases that have a yoke up front). When my rear diff. "imploded" I removed the rear driveshaft once, capped the back of my t. case so no fluid would spill out and drove it as a FWD truck for about a month with no issues.

Now yours is a 2001 model which means you either got AWD OR 2WD, in either situtation put the transfer case in 4WD high if you have the AWD option, or keep it in 2WD if you have the 2WD option.

With all the work I've done on cars I realized if it's all mechanical and you think it will work, then it will work. If it's eletrical then forget about it. Most people are intimidated by cars and think they are complete "precision machines" but really you can rig up almost anything you want and it will drive fine.

 

I have been told by techs at my dealership it can be done, I would just need to take the stub shaft off the cv joint and put it back into the hub with the nut on to hold the hub together. I would totally remove the frt diff assembly and frt drive shaft, so there would not be any openings exposed to the elements. I would think without the wheels turning all the mechanicals, it would be easier on the fuel mileage.