near the right front shaft.. there's a line with 2 ports dangling and according to my haynes manual itWAS hooked up to a vacuum canister.. Doe's my front drive even operate properly without this. There's a electrical conn, hooked up still. But alot has rusted away..anyone?

 

That is your central axle disconnect (CAD)
It is part of the 4wd system. The vacuum pot engages the front axle when you select 4WD.
The electrical connector turns on the 4x4 light on the dash.

 

So my front axles probably aren't engaging? Is there parts avail. for this or do I have to buy an entire assembly?

 

buy a posi-lok cable, and do away with that stock crap.

 

How does the posi-lok cable work, and where can you get it?

 

You should be able to buy all the parts separately

 

there's not a lot to the CAD, and most problems are rust or gunk, which can be cleaned up and fixed w/o much cost.

on the other hand, the posi-lok is solid, simple, and foolproof.
https://dodgeforum.com/m_718119/tm.htm

 

What about the CAD eliminator kit by EMS off road??

http://emsoffroad.com:80/shop/index....ddfbe17a7f4632

 

well,
the CAD eliminator is a one piece right side axle, which by itself, would simply turn both axles, spiders, ring, pinion, etc, all the way back to the freewheeling front drive shaft. i don't think that would hurt anything, except you'd turn a lot more iron, and possible decrease gas mileage by a tad. its $185.

but i think it designed to be used with the hub conversion kit, which unlocks the hubs from the axles, allowing the hubs to freewheel. the hub conversion is $1000. it looks like its a manual locking hub, which means you have to get out and wade around in the mud to lock the hub.
http://emsoffroad.com/shop/index.php...ddfbe17a7f4632

i'd say its the strongest setup for hardcore offroading, but for the occasional mudhole and a limited budget, i'd stay with stock cad or posilok.

 

So your saying that the stuff normally sit still?

I am not an off-road guy and knock on wood 4WD seems to work OK to me at this point. Just curious what people thought about this kit.