a rebuilt caliper is the same thing as a refurbished one...
which you said youd get in a seperate post... i dont know maybe i read this post wrong, but with this post, and a later post contradict each other.

just messin with ya man, and clairifying things for others as well.

and mudshack, you can geta rebuilt one at your local auto parts store.

 

I picked up both front calipers. $35.99 with a $20 core charge at O'Reilly Auto Parts.

The swap went so freakin smooth it was scary. Put the new pads in before putting them on the truck. The worst part was getting the brake line from one caliper to the other without getting brake fluid all over everything. Had someone pump the brakes while I bleed it about 8 times, and viola! Done. Now..on to figuring out how to replace a wheel bearing.

Thanks guys!!

 

the wheel bearing is a no brainer. you just have to take off the brakes and such, then theres 3 bolts that hold the bearign assy to the knuckle, they are 9/16" use the boxed end of a combo wrench to get the bolts out as they are 12-point bolts. then you also have to brake the spindle nut loose as well, the easiest way is to break that loose before take thing caliper and such off, and have someone stand on the brake pedal and use the brakes to hold the bearing still to break that nut loose (its a P.I.T.A to break loose but its possible, i had to do it with a 4foot breaker bar 3/4" drive socket and my and my stepdad pulling on the bar to get it to break loose. not sure if soaking it in penetrating fluid will help any)

 

it doesnt hardly cost them any thing to rebuild the calipers and they charge u a $20 core when u buy new ones so that is why they are so cheap. there is nothin wrong with a reman. caliper. if u dont feel safe buyin one then spend the extra money and buy a new one. i was just tryin to help the OP out and save him a little money thats all. and i bought a reman. caliper and it has worked fine and it has about 20000 miles on it.

 

FYI on the axle nut for the wheel bearing replacement. Dont forget to remove the cotter pin first. Probably wont be so hard to loosen that nut. It should only be torqued to either 175ftlbs or 195ftlbs cant remember off top of my head. Mine were a piece of cake to remove. If you had to get on it with that big of a bar something was seriously wrong and thats probably why it went bad.

 

With the money saved, perhaps you could buy more letters for your keyboard and use complete words.

As an aside, I would rebuild my calipers myself since, as I've been "skool'd" here, it is so cheap. I don't just tell people, "I wrench on my ride" -- I actually do know how to work on it and repair rather than just swap parts.

 

I was going to tell you to try the 2001 calipers first, they have a dual piston design and better stopping force than the single piston design.

 

Will they bolt right up to the earlier spindle?

 

It would be good swap but I don't think the slider design is the same. You would have to change out the hub...if I'm wrong about that please correct me, but I'm pretty sure the Delco Moraine design on the older Rams is different than the Bosch setup.

In my twisted logic, it's cheaper to replace the component and let the manufactuer/retailer deal with any problems under a warranty, than spend my time rebuilding.
Although... I would recommend any budding mechanic try thier hand at rebuilding a caliper as long as you're willing to purchase the tools to do it correctly.

Let me mention, on the wheel bearing swap. WHEN you get you get the old bearing out, do yourself a favor and clean out the housing real good and use an ample amount of anti-sieze/never sieze on the bearing housing and hub. It will save you a bit of effort the next time.

 

That I don't know, as I don't have an older Dodge to compare to. But, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a pair the next time you change the brakes and hold them up there to find out. 4WD is also a slightly different animal than 2wd too...

If the hubs are the same number across multiple years, it might. If you're a rockauto.com person you can cross reference part numbers to verify.