Well a week ago today I finished up swapping in an 8 3/4 into my Dakota. The
swap went well I think, it took me a little longer only having a few hours
per night to work on the truck. I started on a friday and finished Tuesday.
This included setting up the ring and pinion, removing old spring perches,
redrilling the holes in the perches I bought cus they were too small, welding
on new perches and shock mounts, shortening my drive shaft 3/4", installing
and assembeling, and plumbing all the brakes, and setting up axle end play
since I'm using the stock adjustable bearings since they're supposed to last
longer and I put a lot of miles on the truck. All in all the only things I
didn't do was make the axles, and shorten the driveshaft. I redrilled the
drums, set up the ring and pinion, pressed all the bearings and races etc,
etc... One thing I'm VERY glad I did was to install a 1/2" drain plug in the
housing, I did this on the last 8 3/4" I set up too, it's a real time saver.
The upgrade to 10" brakes from 9" was great, I love the new stopping power.
So Far I have about 1300 miles on the rear axle that I've put on since it's
been in last week. I have a spare 3rd member with 2.76 gears for highway
cruising, and a race set with a set of 4.56's for when I go back to the track
:o) Updates as they come along!
Luke
1996 Black 4x4 Dakota 318, Auto
8 3/4" E-Body 3.55 gears Sure grip and 6 Lug Custom axles
16.75 @ 83 with the old rear end...
TBD w/ 8 3/4
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