I am new to the site so if I fumble around please bear with me. I have a '96 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9 v-8 gas, automatic club cab short bed. Truck runs great but I want to put disc brakes on the rear. there seems to be a couple of different kits for this so I need to find out rather I have an 8 3/4 rear or a dana. have no idea of how to tell the difference. Help !!!

 

Moved you to the correct section so you can get some help.

 

Should be a 9.25. The Dana's were in the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks.

 

You could do the swap by changing it out to a disc brake rear from a later model 2nd gen 1500 truck (2001 for sure, possibly other years). See this thread for more information - https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-question.html

 

I wonder if the newer third gen brakes would fit on the 2nd gen axles? I've done the dana 70/80 swap several times and its pretty easy swap. I just cut off the old drum brake axle flange and weld on a disk brake axle flange. They are different flanges on the dana 70/80 for drum/disks. I would use the third/fourth gen rotors, but then you need 17in wheels.

The e-brake uses a set of drum shoes is in the rotor hat.

I prefer drums for trucks that see lots of gravel/muddy roads. My 2001 1/2 ton has drums in the rear that have been frozen for the last year. I plan on re-building them sometime this year.

Keep us posted on what you figure out.

 

Where did you get the brake disc flange
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At first I cut them off the axle disk housing. A thin cutting disk on an angle grinder will cut them off pretty quickly. Afterwards I just made them out of steel plate. The disk flange is thicker than the drum. The biggest trick is getting the plate correctly positioned so everything fits as it should. I just put everything together and tack welded the new axle flange.

 

I had my '03 1500 OffRoad apart for an axle bearing change, so for fun I compared it to my '01 1500 Sport and '98 4x4 both with drum rears. Looks like the Gen3 rear discs will swap no problem. Mounting flange needs to be relocated about .25in. Didn't check the master cylinder. Might be safest to stay with factory bias if possible. Also, the '01 has dual piston fronts as well, haven't measured for the swap to an older Gen2.
If you do it, post it, that would be cool.

 

3rd gen axles will swap no problem. A guy in a Facebook group put 2010 power wagon axles under his 97 2500

 

Wow, y'all are way more knowledgeable than I am with this. Where is the transition from 2nd gen to 3rd gen. I assume my "96 is 2nd gen, and how would I determine what the rear end is and what the gear ratio is or would that even matter if I do a complete swap?