Re: Gear swap (was: Looking at a Dakota)

From: Bob Tom (tigers@bserv.com)
Date: Wed May 28 2003 - 17:12:18 EDT


Jason,

>What else do I need in order to change the gear ratio?

There's a shim kit and also a bearing kit. Not everything in these kits
will be used. I've got a lot of stuff left over when I went to 4.56. I need
to look to see if they are ratio specific or not. Probably just casing size
specific?

>This is for the front axle in a 2001 Dakota 4x4.

As far as I can find out, from 2000 on, D-C went to a corporate
8" front differential (seems to more commonly referred to as 205mm
axle, I think). AFAIK, there are not aftermarket gears for this
corporate case so only 3.55 or 3.92 gears are available from the
dealer. Someone in the States wrote that cost of the front gears
alone is $375 (in Dec. 2002).

The site below has a chart of different differentials along with
a visual and text description of what to look for (if you're inclined
to do some ground crawling :-) ).

   http://www.rocky-road.com/diffid.html

Keep in mind that I know next to nothing about 4x4's ...
almost on par with my bracket racing know-how :-D

Bob



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