Has anyone ever swapped in a rear axle from a late 90's 1500 Ram into their Durango? I know they are both 9.25 axles but have different axle shafts. Will the axle shafts for a Durango (6 lug drive flange) slide right into the Rams axle? I know the perches will need to be modified, just curious as to any other issues.
Thanks in advance
lee

 

Curious why you would want to swap them?

 

 

I know you said you did a lot and are frustrated, but vibrations (wiggly stuff, not just noises) are most always balance issues, and I've never seen an axle internal problem manifest itself as a vibration. The drive shaft and u-joints would be my first vibration look. Wheels and tires would be next.

 

Driveshaft was serviced and balanced at a local driveline shop over the winter. I am on my second set of wheels and 3rd set of tires (Michelin ltx m/s2's). Also new axle shafts installed when i had the drive shaft at the shop and new brake drums installed at the same time. That is all the rotating parts except the gearset.

The rear end is not making any noise. However if i put the rear end on jack stands and start the motor and put the vehicle in drive to let the drive line spin there is a noticable intermitten thunking or vibration at the chunk.

 

I'd then pull the cover and check the fluid, look for metal, and rotate the carrier by hand to see if all the teeth are ok. I am comfortable swapping gears and setting up axles though, done many. Even if you are not that into it, pulling the cover to inspect is just RTV and fluid work.

I'm just asking because I'd hate to see you do all the work of getting and swapping the axle before you really 100% know whats causing the issue.

 

Yea, i inspected everything when i put the new shafts in and had the driveshaft out. Visually everything looked ok and the bearings felt fine. It is the damnedest thing i have ever tried to figure out. I agree, i have never seen a gearset cause a vibration, and/or go bad when mantained properly.

 

Is it a LS diff? Do you get the occasional thunk when driving, turning? Could be the LS.

I still don't think I'd swap the axle. If it's not really bad and just nagging at you because it's not perfect, I'd drive it until it gets worse and points to something real.

That's all I got though, based upon our exchange here so far. I'm curious what this ends up being.

 

It has the LS diff. But i do not believe that is what is causing it. I put the LS additive in when i put everything back together. I am actually hoping the damn thing would just break so i know what to fix. I have a mechanic buddy that is going to check it out in the next couple of days so maybe i will get somewhere with his experiance.

 

a ram axle will not fit on the durango, it is longer than the durango unit because the rams are wider