On the dirt roads my grandfather prefers the ride of my truck over his Caddy or his old BMW...

 

I think Ham Bone has a very good point. When I first posted here I had 3,100 lbs of stone from the quarry on the 98. As Ham Bones photo shows the 98 quad cab sat lower by 6" (leafs), but the 9.25 rear axle was ok on the haul (by shear luck).

Nice photo Ham Bone. K.

Edit.............I got a Ford bumper on this 97 (says so on the foot step).

 

If I was gonna mix up Ford parts on a Dodge I'd simply get a true Dana 80 with 10 bolt hubs for the rear and a Dana 60HD for the front off of a Ford F450. It is B A S I C A L L Y bolt up AFAIK. You dodge guys have narrower frames (as far as inside of the frame rail to the inside of the other frame rail) and bodies than us ford guys so you could use the F450 axles (frame and body are 2" wider on the Ford, nothing wrong with either setup and the F450 is a C&C so it has a narrower frame and body than the F350 which is why you could use those axles). That'd get you 4 wheel disc brakes too.

But if I was gonna do a axle swap I'd much rather get Dodge axles and throw them under there off of a 2500HD.

As far as the Dana 40/44 and the Chrysler they are tough axles. It's just that my Dana is bent slightly so it makes everything more difficult to work on. My Chrysler axle has never given me a lick of trouble through all the abuse we've put it through.

Edit: WTF is with all of these B A S I C words like P H Y S I C A L L Y and B A S I C A L L Y that get CENSORED when words like CRAP and *** don't get sensored????? Something hits my BS detector there... Anyone care to explain? In the OT thread of course...

 

Uhh, an F450 front axle is nowhere near a "bolt up" swap into a 2nd gen Ram.

 

^true that Wombat. (rhetorical) What kind of suspension system is on a F450? lol

Ham Bone is correct in using D50/D60 outers of Ford to be used on Dodge D60s to obtain manual locking hubs.

 

Not to mention tapered roller bearings that are easily replaceable/repackable.

 

I had a 95 right hand seat cushion & cover installed to replace the always destroyed Dodge driver seat in my 97, fits perfect, a kid w/ a new toy. Now, the hard part to locate a tan right hand cushion & cover for my other 97!

 

You have power seats perchance? I am trying to determine if I can do the same trick.

 

Cut the extra mount for ac off of my intake...after of course I cut off one of the fuel rail mounts oops haha! So much for trying to make it look better.