I looked on the sticker in the glove box and it said the following:

3.55
Conventional (i think) 9 or commercial 9 or something along those lines...
anti skid

Can anyone give me the low down on this setup?

Is it the gas eating, exploding rear end that many ram owners share?

When I turn a corner i notice i can hear a whining noise and I am WAY WAY over due for a fluid change so the noise i expect however only when i am reversing turned at a very slow pace it almost sounds like the gears are not meshing and it makes a loud noise. Sounds like a dull clicking..

Any ideas?

Since I've owned the truck for 3 years and put 105,000km on it and havent changed the fluid, I'm pretty much expecting the rear end to be shot. Its been making this noise for the better part of a year now. If it is gone, what are my options? I would need to fix it on the CHEAP though since being laid off means I'm almost broke.

 

3.55's IMO suck i ordered mine with 3.92's just cause of the crappy things i heard about 3.55. just scrap them and get 4.56's

 

you didn't catch the part about him being short on fund, huh raminator?

well, first thing to do would be to change out the fluid. you might have worn them out to a point that they are going to whine forever. or they might just be whining the the oil in there is terrible and no longer lubricates.

 

Sounds like the spider gears in the opn carrier may be worn to where they have excess slack in them. My silverado had that problem.

Open diff. + short on funds. Put a lunchbox locker in there if you want traction. The problem with the 9.25" is the LSD which you don't have.

 

whats the deal with the lunchbox locker? price, installation, all that jazz...

I'm going to change the fluid monday. At the same time, I'm going to be dropping the oil pan and cleaning out the sludge.

Is there an easy way when I have the pumpkin open to check the spider gears or anything else for that matter?

 

Well, the lockers fit inside the open carrier so no fancy measurements are needed like if you were to have the whole carrier replaced. The locker runs a little bit cheaper than an actual limted slip unit, but the install cost is where you save $$$. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chrys...lenotsupportedAll you do is remove your spider gears and install this unit. The only down side is that these units are sometimes clunky feeling and sometimes loud when they engage. It's a super easy way to get posi if your limited on funds. You could do it yourself.

Spider gears should look smooth and not pitted or chipped looking. Metal should be uniform. if there is any pitting or chewing marks, they have too much play.

 

Keeping from having to do expensive repairs and rebuilds would mean you should probably do some kind of regular fluid changes at least within a few thousand miles of the recommended schedule.
Forty bucks spent a year ago could very possibly save your unemployed butt from having to worry about coming up with $2000+ for a rear end rebuild...