As the title suggests, I'm doing a partial drive line replacement. Found a used Dana 44 front axle and a transfer case for cheap. Like I spent 140 total. Anywho, besides the point. I'm just wondering roughly how much time and beer this is gonna take to do. Weekend? Week? Transfer case needs to be swapped asap, I live in Wisconsin and the roads are ****.

Another question I have is what am I gonna need to do to swap the transfer case? I wasn't there when the guy pulled it. Am I gonna need to drop the cross member? And what lines and sensors need to be unplugged? Any help would be greatly appreciated, because some is better than none.

Truck is a 96 ram 1500 4x4 Laramie SLT

 

Why are you changing them?

A lot depends on what year the donor of your parts was. Some will work just fine, others, well, not so much.....

 

Should be able to swap the transfer case in a couple hours. The drive shaft, vacuum lines, speedometer sensor, and maybe one other connector have to be removed. I think 6 bolts hold it to the adapter. I would change the seal and possibly the bushing for the rear drive shaft. Make sure you turn the speedometer sensor the right way or the gears won't touch. I recommend adding a Gilly's Transfer Case Saver at some point, you can do it later. Check the driveshaft U-joints while they are out. Did you get the same year transfer case? I think they changed, maybe in 98? I don't know if they are a direct swap or not. I think the shift pattern changed.