So for months and months I have been emailing and driving everybody crazy trying to find gears for our front differential. I have been trying to find "High Pinion" or reverse cut/rotation gears as that is what has been said is on our truck. Today I was reading some more info on the difference between Low pinion or standard rotation and High pinion/reverse rotation and found this.

High pinion differential has the driveshaft entering the diff above the center line of the axles.

Low pinion differential has the driveshaft entering the diff BELOW the center line of the axles.

So out to the truck to look under and what do I see? I see a diff with the driveshaft entering the diff below the axles, or a low pinion/standard rotation differential.

Next off to the local dodge dealership and crawling under all of the tucks getting funny looks. Same location on all of the 1500's as my truck. Now I found a 2007 Dodge Durango and looked under there. What do I see but a diff that is the other way around. The Durango has a high pinion/reverse rotation differential as the steering rack is right under the diff and a low pinion would not fit there.

What does all this mumbo jumbo mean? Gears are readily available for my front end and will be ordered very shortly. This also means that if you crawl under your truck and see the driveshaft entering your front diff below the axles, gears are also readily available for you!!
Happy Hunting.

This also means that Superdak must have the same front end as me and that is why he has had 4.10 gears in his truck for years.

I wonder what year they switched on the Dak, or if they ever did. We need someone with a new truck like TomZ to look and see if theirs is like mine. Then we would know that they never did change on the Dakota.

 

the gears were always avail, for our trucks, it was the master bearing kits that were the problem, peter hany at www.ctaxleservice.com did a fantastic job hunting down and piecing together the bearing kit. and trust me, I paid top dollar at 1600.00 and had my truck laid up for 2 days during the install

 

I wish I would of known this like a year ago. I have even talked to knowledgable guys like at Randy's Ring and Pinion and have been told that there are no gears available. The master bearing kit is now readily available as well.
Here is the link to the thread that was throwing me off.
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...her-gears.html

 

Now the real question is does a guy go to 4.10 or do you jump right down to 4.56. I wonder what RPM our trucks would turn at a 65mph cruising speed with 4.56 gears.

 

My truck is 2WD, but I can check the rear diff it it helps.

 

Unfortunately that won't settle the question but the good news is you're good to go on gear swaps, tons available for the rear end on these trucks!

Sleds, according to the calculator I found if you had 32" tires and 4.56 gears you'd be at 2179rpm for 65mph.
http://www.ringpinion.com/Calc_RPM.aspx

 

It's a 3:92:1 Posi unit. I'm good, since I tow a race car on a 2 wheel dolly.

 

If you stuffed 35" tires in there, I think 4.56's would be an excellent choice for the balance between off roading-manship and on-road drivability.

 

Thanks for that calculator link. That is pretty neat. Right now with my 33's I would be running just a touch over 2100 RPM at 65mph.

If I went to 35's (when I make my own diff drop lift kit, 4" suspension lift) I would definately need the 4.56's.

 

I looked under a new body style Dakota today (2008 or newer) and it has the same front differential as I have. I will be ordering 4.56 gears in the next day or two!