Been looking up prices of changing the pinions and anything else in the kit that may need changed. After reading up on things, it seems like changing the rear end would be a lot less tedious and precise work, and take less time. I found a rear end at a very reputable salvage yard for $500 (get $75 back core charge). Just for reference, I live in about the most inexpensive place to live in America, so whenever I tell people what I pay for things (houses, used cars, etc) it's always much less than anywhere else.

Anyway, a couple questions for you guys if you don't mind:

My old man and I are amateur mechanics. Have done a lot of things to the truck, but I don't want to get into anything that would take us 3 days and would take a shop 4 hours. I need the truck every day and can't go without it. It needs changed ASAP though. I've let it go entirely too long and its whining really bad and when I go slow the teeth are noticeably grinding.

1.) How rough is changing the rear end? Is it as simple as just disconnecting and reconnecting everything? Could a couple of weekend warriors do it in an 8 hour period?

2.) It's RWD, and I don't pull or haul anything, so I don't care about how it's geared. Would the rear end from the salvage yard have to match my rear end I have now? How do I check to know exactly what rear end I have?

3.) Would it just be easier or cheaper to get the kit and replace the rings and pinions and what not? It just looks like such a pain that getting the rear end looked like a better solution.

4.) Anything in general we would need to do when changing the rear end that might not seem obvious? Laying out things in a certain order, making sure certain things were checked first?

Anyone have any experience?

Thanks in advance.

 

No one?

 

As for time, you could easily swap rearends and do it in about 3 hours if you're motivated and take your time and organize your tools.

Any 9.25 rearend from 94-08 will work both 4x4 and 2x4 rears will work, but on the 94-01 you have to swap your 3rd Gen driveshaft yoke and use your disk brake mounts from your old differential, which is very easy to do. Unless you do heavy offroading you don't need the 4x4 bump stops, thats only difference from 2x4 to 4x4. V6 and V8 rearends are the same quality & strength as well as part numbers, part numbers only change to reflect which rearend has bump stops and which one doesn't, they're not needed unless you're attacking steep side to side inclines. Its a very easy job, takes about an hour to remove, jack the rear of the truck up pretty high and put jack stands on both sides of frame ahead of rear tires slightly then leave the shocks and disk brakes mounts with brake lines connected and hung up in the truck (obviously just disconnect anything attached to differential and leave what can hang on the truck), leave leaf springs in truck just remove the 4 u bolt nuts on each side of axle and drop axle out below leaf springs. Also when installing the 4 driveshaft bolts put blue thread lock on the bolts. Put new/used axle on a 2 wheel cart laying on its back and slide it under the truck and use new U bolts from a suspension shop as they are torque to yield stretch bolts (bring old u bolts so they can reference a size for you).

If you're amateur mechanics, definitely go with a used rearend, your luck will be about the same or a bit better than if you never did one before and try to make it work perfect. A rearend is probably tougher to build than an engine due to it all being a feel operation, you can say X amount of ft lbs on a yoke for torque specs to set the crush sleeve but the sure way is by feel and if you've never done one before you won't know what the feel is. Its something you'd wanna sit with an experienced mechanic and have him hold your hand while you do it for best results. Plus another big hassle is tracking down the carrier shim/cup tool to adjust them, its a ton of bs and needless worry.

As I had stated in a previous thread, the 94-01 rearends are much cheaper and easier to come by especially when browsing craigslist, can be had for $200-$300 vs the 02-08 for $800+ and harder to find. Whatever you choose, make sure it has the same axle ratio as your front if you have a 2x4, or if you have a 2x4 and want to go with lower gears keep gear ratio in mind.

 

I thought the axle ratio didn't matter if it's a RWD?


Where do I look to make sure mines a 9.25?

 

It doesn't, as long as you don't mind the change and have the ability to adjust it. I would stick with 02-08 rears, since the prior to 02 is a different body and they come with drum rear brakes instead of discs. You have a 1500, therefore it is a 9.25. I swapped mine to the D60 from an SRT truck because mine was starting on its way out and it gave me 4.56's all in one shot. Just needed a custom driveshaft.

 

Ok cool. The one I'm getting is from an 04.


Is there a certain amount of mileage they usually go out at, or is it all about how hard she was rode?

 

They're the same width axle, same physical case and size, they attach the exact same, same shock mounts, same rim bolt pattern and same leaf spring mounts and they didn't reinvent the wheel until 2009 when they went with a different rear axle mounting on the 4th Gen Rams.

Also if you read threads before posting you would have seen that I said you can put your 3rd Gen Disk Brake brackets on the 2nd gen rearend and swap 3rd gen yoke to be up to 3rd gen spec, 4 bolts per side easy 10 minute swap. Its a common 2nd Gen upgrade to use 3rd gen disk brake brackets.

In FACT I actually am using my old 3rd gen differential temporarily in my 97 Ram until I can find a limited slip rearend for it, swapped over to disk in the process and only had to use my 97 drive shaft yoke on it. Theres no difference between 2nd & 3rd Gen axles, except what they're equipped with that can be easily swapped with your readily available 3rd gen parts.

 

Seems to vary, some lower, some higher. From an 04 will be plug and play unless it's a different ratio. Then your additional step is adjusting the gear ratio in the computer.

 

Got a 3.55 today out of an 04. Me and my old man searched on mine and couldn't find anything that showed what mine was but the 3.55 was all they had anyway.

Will i need to adjust anything in the computer being that my truck is a RWD?


I have a local shop putting it in tomo, do I need to buy anything and bring with me to put it on? Seals or clamps or anything like that?

 

First off your abs/speed sensor in the top of the diff will automatically calibrate the differential as the sensor is a hall effect sensor that counts the teeth on the differential tone ring for a speed reference, so its just plug & play with the differential. Secondly, you will need new U Bolts, any shop worth a damn will know not to reuse U Bolts as they are torque to yield stretch bolts and will probably provide them for you or know where to get them. If they're a suspension shop already they can size up your new U Bolts with no problem. The correct U Bolts are not something that you're going to get easily from Auto Zone or Napa, they have a few universal ones but none that compare to the beef of the stockers.

If you want to be picky about calibration a tuner such as Superchips or Diablo Sport can fine tune your speedometer for tire size.