Can a dana 80 rear axle with an open differential be changed to a limited slip differential? And what does that entail to swap it? I have been able to find a bunch of rebuild information but nothing on if you can change what kind of differential you have. I'm tired of getting stuck so easily. Thanks in advance

 

You need to change your carrier from an open to a limited slip.
https://www.drivetrainamerica.com/di...ation/dana-80/

 

That's what I was thinking, thanks for the response.
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I felt the same way with my Dana 60 not long after I purchased the truck. You should be able to find a good used Power lock differential out of a Dana 80 in a salvage yard to provide you with limited slip functionality. If not, you can also purchase a new unit as noted by Moparite. Unless you know how to swap out the differential and setup the gears properly, you will need someone to perform that work for you. Here is an example of what one looks like - note that this is in a Dana 60 - the Dana 80 unit is just larger, but of the same design.

 

Looking on rockauto, the (diff. carrier) is available. What you want is one that says trac loc. version. What you have now is a open version..... It appears there are several for the dana 80. Year of truck, axle spline count, and gear ratio all make a difference.
Sometimes you only have to swap the 2 carriers and the gear setup stays the same. But the backlash needs to be checked. I "think" that is all that would change with a carrier swap.
The carrier alone looks to be $850 to $1,000.) Throw in oil, labor gasket, mark up, ect. and this may run you $2,000.00

 

Its a pretty easy swap. The trick is you will need two set of carrier bearing. One set has to be grinded out so they can slip on/off the carrier. Dana uses shims to position the carrier for backlash, AAM/dodge use threaded adjusters to position the carrier. You can re-use the open diff ring gear and install onto the new carrier. You might have to heat up the ring gear to drop it onto the new carrier.

I bought an ARB locker for my 02 about ten years ago, which is suppose to be stronger and better for hiway/street driving. Its locked up pretty fast. I also installed an ARB into the front diff as well. We have lots of mud up here.

I'm currently installing a LSD unit into my 2020 1500 ram, I can't believe that dodge sells 4wd trucks with open rear diffs.

My carrier dropped out pretty easy with a pry bar and rubber hammer. No sense to put lots of preload onto the carrier bearings.

You thinking about true track, detroit or yukon?

 

I don't know anything about doing this work but I did recently pay someone to put a Truetrac in the back of mine. Highly recommended. I love that thing. You wouldn't know it isn't a locker except in the corners and if you ever lift a wheel. It didn't cost that much more than the posi.

 

Put a Detroit Truetrac in if you do decide to get a limited slip, no clutches to wear out like the crappy factory limited slips and it works way better.

 

This. So much this.