I have a 96 3500 Ram Van (15 passenger) and need new rotors. The door plate says it has a 3600 lb front axle so i got the rotor that is supposed to fit it, but when I pulled the old one off I noticed it's not the same. My old one has a much larger outer hole than the new rotor, about 2.5" into which the nut and washer fits. The new one has about 1.5" outer hole and an immediate taper in it. They are both 8 lug. The problem is, even any of the other potential rotors listed on the autoparts websites don't seem to have the same hole as my old one and I checked some years before and after to no avail. Anyone know how to positively identify what rotor i have/need?


Thanks!

 

Are they the Duralast 5398?




This is for a 2001 Dodge Ram Van B2500/3500 with 8-lugs. The gear looking hub is only used for the ABS. My van has no front ABS, so nothing bothers with that gear looking hub in that area.

 

Thanks for your reply, that one also does not look like my original. The old one has a much bigger hole and a larger outer bearing. I actually took it over to the dealer today to see if they had any knowledge or insight, and they didn't either, though they gave me the original part number, so I went to Napa to have them cross reference, and they came up with the same rotor everyone else did, the one with the smaller hole and bearing than my original.

At this point, the best guess anyone has is that the rotor with the smaller hole is the newer design and that the old one is not available anymore, so what I am going to do is buy all new bearings, spindle nut kit, and dust cap, and use the new rotors with the smaller hole. Does anyone think this is a bad idea as long as the assembly fits right on the spindle? The dimensions of the rotor and studs are identical between the rotors, just not the bearing hole.

 

I just had that same issue with my 96 B3500. The door sill does say 3600 front axle went to all the part store and they gave me the rotor with the smaller nose bearing. Then I looked under the lid of the hood on the VIN sheet (underside of the hood). This is actually specific detail vehicle information sticker under the hood. This will tell you what the vehicle came with from the factory. It will tell you exactly what your vehicle has ie(4000lb front axle, limited slip rear end, and so on) and it say's it has a 4000 lb front axle. The part stores will have the rotor around 40bucks. The problem is finding new wheel studs or knocking out the old ones. That is were I am at with mine right now.

 

Have your tried Rockauto.com for the 4000 lb front axle wheel studs?

 

I was finally able to get this done. Like you seem to have, it did turn out my van had the 4000lb front axle and the rotor from advance and everywhere else for that axle was correct, but like you also seem to have noticed before me, even though it looks kind of like a one piece or press together assembly, the hub cones is held to the rotor by the lug studs, which are knurled and pounded/pressed/tightened through the back of the rotor into and through the hub.

I figured out that you can pound them out from the front side of the hub, just put a lug nut on the stud so you don't bunge the threads and pound each stud out with a hammer or whatever. Putting the old hub back together with the new rotor was harder because it was impossible for me to hammer the studs in from the back without creating a little gap between the front face of the rotor and the back face of the hub flange, but I found that using an impact wrench worked. Just tighten down the lug nuts onto the studs with the flat side of the nuts against the face of the hub, and go around and around with the impact wrench until they are completely drawn in, no gaps between the rotor and hub and no gap between the backstide of the stud and the rotor.

Thanks for all the replies, I hope this helps.

 

That sounds awesome! I will def work on my van rotors pounding the studs and hub out and put it back together like you just did. I thought I was going to lose it. Wow what a relief, This is great! Thanks for everyones help with this!

 

Hurray! Good work for the description and posting a reply!