Hey guys my son picked up a bit of a beater not too long ago for 200 bucks that had been sitting for a few years, family friend sold it to him to get his wife off his case about the beat up old truck in the driveway.
So far he's had to drop a battery in and we replaced the fuel pump and paid a shop to tackle the breaks (Due to timing, he needed it done quicker than I was able to help). All in all, he's got like 5-600 bucks into it.

Heading home from the school the rear diff seems to have 'exploded.' I haven't popped it open yet to really get a look at what's damaged but the diff cover has a nice hole/tear in it.
Being a youtube / shadetree mechanic working on my own stuff I don't know a ton about differentials, yet.

I was curious if we should be trying to find a whole rear axel and just swap it out or should I even bother popping open the cover and trying to replace broken gears and whatnot?
If that's the case does anyone know what I should be looking for? I've heard people refer to dayna 60,70 or whatever?

 

What is the model of your truck (1500, 2500, 3500) and how many lug nuts are on each wheel? Unmodified Dana 60 and 70 axles use 8 lug wheels. Based on the way your axle failed, it is likely cheaper/easiest to replace the whole axle.

 

The type of axle is determined by the truck weight rating (1500/2500/3500). Replacing the whole axle is somewhat easier because you don't have to set up the ring& pinion which can be tedious. On the flip side you'd have to find an axle with the correct gear ratio (especially if it's a 4wd) and probably have to fight with a lot of rusted parts that ultimately need to be replaced.

 

Solid point guys. It's a 1500 5.9l 4x4 single cab. Not sure about the lug count, I'd have to go out and see.

 

I'm gonna assume it's a 1500. I agree that trying to repair whatever happened won't be time or cost effective. Wondering if the center pin walked out, but ANYTHING is possible.

Anyway if you can find a donor '99 and down that should be the easiest for you. Numerous small things happened in 2000 that can be overcome but will add time to what is otherwise a plug 'n play swap.

The ratio is almost surely 3.55. Look for a tag under a diff cover bolt stamped "3.5". If 2wd the ratio isn't necessarily so critical, but if 4wd you must verify. Lacking a tag you can reference part numbers off the ring gears; IIRC Chrysler didn't just stamp number of pinion and ring gear teeth like Dana and Ford, but searching the web for the Chrysler part # got me there easily last time

 

Most likely, the rear axle is a 9.25". Should be 5 lug wheels. 3.55 gearing is the most common, unless its an SST or an ORE, which would likely use 3.92 gears for better off the line acceleration. I just sold a complete '96 9.25 3.92 rear axle with limited slip locally that was in great shape.

 

Yeah I've seen a few guys like VGG rip apart a diff. Based on the shape of the whole I was wondering the same thing about the center pin So I basically want a 94-99 rear end to be "plug and play" 2000+ is harder. Nice.

 

Also the stupid spring plates hold crap and erode the tubes so whatever donor you get inspect the tubes opposite the spring perches. If you live in the rust belt heaven help you

Don't agree to purchase anything that's still installed until you've cut off the u-bolts and inspected the tubes. Even here in the arid SW where rust is minimal I've experienced significant tube erosion. I've built a u-bolt flip, too, but for a high school beater likely not worth the effort

 

In Iowa along the Mississippi so... Yeah We've got rust :P

 

Differences with the later model rear is basically the yoke connection from the rear axle to the drive shaft and the speed sensor. With speed sensor, I just use the earlier model year speed sensor on the later model rear. The yoke change issue isn't a major problem and isn't a major issue to adapt to.