...aside from springs, in some cases gear ratios, shocks, what else is clearly different? I've not had a chance to put my 1500 next to a 2500 or 3500 to make a direct comparison.

are the unibody strengths really significantly different? or is it primarily the suspension components? How about the spindles? control arms, etc...

Thanks in advance for any insight...

note that I'm asking because I'm redoing the suspension on my 1999 1500, and am thinking about how much support / strength / stiffness I want to add to the unibody while I'm doing pretty much everything from there down...

 

...the beefyness of the chassis and suspension are my best guesses. Handling maybe.

 

Heavier vans will have heavier rear axles as well.

 

That's right, some 3500s had dodge 9.25, but others had dana 60s or dana 70s, correct? did any of the 2500's

overall, I'm not at all concerned with the strength of the 9.25 I have had good experiences with them and I'm not planning to do any heavy towing. I'll also go to lower gears if/when I go to much larger tires... I am interested in any dimensional differences above the springs and mount points (ie differences in the unibody and front subframe assembly.) I was somewhat surprised at just how much flex my 1500 has along the "frame" rails - especially in the front subframe, the connector area with the unibody rails and at some points long the unibody rails... There's some rust here and there, but at this point it was only heavy and obviously structural in the area under the battery. (who designs a vehicle such that rain water runs down between the hood and finder onto the battery then to the metal below :-/ oh well... the rust is already replace with new metal and the drainage issue I can work out.).

I'm just deciding just how far I want to go in strengthening / stiffening the frame / chassis while I've got it up and everything off of it... and trying to balance that with how much weight it will add.

If nothing else, I'll see if I can find an accessible 2500 and 3500 of the right era in a local salvage yard and run by with notepad, tape measure and calipers...

Thanks!

 

Since I have myself a 3500, I'm more familiar with it's differences between them and the 1500/2500, though it does look like those two are the most similar. The 3500 was the only one that came with the 5.9 360 Magnum, and I know mine has a 9.75 Dana 60 rear, with 8 bolt hubs all around. Beyond that, it appears the two have differing wheel bases. I believe for the most part it's all in the drive train.

 

Pretty much. Drivetrain, and suspension. It's all about carrying capacity, the bigger the number, the more stuff it will tow/haul. I don't think any thing else is different. (aside from what badges are on it. )

 

I got under my cousins this weekend. aside from axles, springs, etc... not very much looks different - the "frame" isn't thicker anywhere that I can tell, nor are shock or spring mounts...