dodgeguy71

I had a leaking wheel seal this last week. Put in new seal and check bearings on the rear and they are shot. So I call several parts houses, they all ask if I have the 13.5" drum brakes?? Drum brakes I say?? This is disc. It's the dana 80 according to the dealer and the vin #, I know the guy at the dealer and I know he knows his parts cause he's the parts guy for one and has been doing this a long time.

I call Randy's ring and pinion to get all the parts at once so I can do it today without any hiccups, I have one vehicle down for a fuel pump and wife has the other so I needed to get it back together, hence the reason for getting the right stuff the first time. I told them 3/4 ton truck, dana 80. Had all my numbers, bom and so on off the axle. We rolled with the fact that I knew/dealer knew it was a dana 80.

First thing this am I get the left apart, and low and behold, wrong bearings. Yikes!! Now I have a daughter that needs to be picked up at 1:30 this afternoon and here I am. I called advance and talked to a guy I know. Now that I have all the bearings out and can practically tell the parts people what I need.........do I need to do this?? So I give him some part numbers and he says, that's a dana 70. What?? The chunk is as big as a small car, the ring gear fills up the inside and the dealer says, dana 80??

I feel like the first guy in history to ever have to do wheel bearings on a rear differential. So now, completely confused as to wether I have a dana 70 or 80 I went to one website you guys had posted on here and it shows that I should have the dana 80 11" hybrid ff 286rbi, no runs batted in here yet still can't figure it out. So I went to dana's website, good one to look at buy the way, here.....

http://www2.dana.com/expertforms/demenu.aspx

You can enter you BOM and do a search. The only thing that it showed that pertained to my situation was this http://www2.dana.com/expert/wc.dll?hvtss~deabill~4~

Where it says, CHRY Model 80CD Rear 2001-2500 W/ABS. Now, I'm assuming that shows that it is in fact a dana 80. I never thought that it would be this much trouble to do rear wheel bearings on this truck. It only takes 15 minutes to get the hub off the spindle and sitting on the ground.......taking forever to get the right parts.

So, now what is the deal? Is it a dana 80 chunk with 70 tubes and bearings, thus giving you the lower axle rating and the "hybrid" specification according to this site?? http://dodgeram.org/tech/specs/axle/rear_axle.html

Because obviously the bearings are for a dana 70 as per the part numbers from Advance.

Any thoughts??

Oh, and no offence to Randy's, they were a pleasure to deal with, got my stuff here quick and I in no way blame them for what is going on. Just seems to be my luck I guess. Feels like I'm working on that old 70' Ford "hybrid" dually conversion with a 68 cab on it, that thing was a bear to find parts for after figuring out what it had.

Big Deezul

there is a label under the hood that tells you which you have.

nitrousn

Dana 80 as far as I know is in the dual rear wheel trucks. My 2002 2500 4x4 has a dana 70 rear with rear disc brakes. My axle information is on a tag glued to the inside of my glove box.

sheriffav8r

2500 with a 5 speed is a Dana 80. Auto trans is a Dana 70..... Didn't think there were any hybrid axles involved, but then again I was in the Corps, too....

dodgeguy71

I did see that on that one site. It showed Auto trans with the dana 70 and the manual trans with a dana 80. From the bearings I got from Randy's I'd say the 1 tons have larger hubs for the bearings giving it that 7500lb axle rating whereas mine is only 6500lb rated, thus the smaller hub bearings, just my speculation though.

I'll have to go out and see if I can find any stickers, but having the vin run at the dealer and them telling me twice it was an 80 makes me wonder about the hybrid thing. Maybe I just need to email or call dana on monday and say, "what the heck??".

SIXSLUG

Mine has an upside down 80 on the pumpkin, drivers side upper and spec'd as an 80 per the vin and info on the truck. I don't know if this'll help, but it sounds like you're gettin after it pretty good.

Kurt

Tate

I've heard numerous times that they are a hybrid axle, D80 center section, D70 tubes and hubs.

The 286 RBI is 286mm in diameter ring gear, and RBI is for Rear Beam design Iron housing. The fronts are FBI housings.

XLR8R

10-4 on the RBI nomenclature... D80 has 11.25" ring gear.

All manual trucks came with D80 rears - or at least D80 tubes! D80 differential bearings ride on hardened washers so the cast housing doesn't wear like the D70s. Limited-slip D80s should have a PowerLoc with a 2-pc. case and 4 spider gears.

There are MANY Dana variants in the 70 & 80 series... the only person I trust for solid info and correct parts is Dan the Gear Man at quad4x4.com - he's the Guru of Gears. Prices are very fair, as well!

You just can't go 100% by what the dealer, Ghetto Zone, NADA, CarJest, HO'Reilly or Retard Auto says...

dodgeguy71

Ok, well I gave advance the pn's and he got all but two races in today for the inner bearings. Measuring the inner diameter of the bearings shows right at 2.000 inches, the other bearings were measured at over 2", I think it was 2.175 or better. So it seems that it is a 80 chunk with 70 axle tubes, but that's just going by my measurments from the bearings I got from Randy's which I believe are for a full blown 80. Should have my two races in the morning which means I'll finally be able to get the truck fixed. Luckily no calls for welding jobs this weekend. Kinda sucks having your livelyhood sitting up on jackstands all weekend.

Oh yeah and the sticker I found in the glove box did say, M80 for the rear diff. The guy I talk to at our local parts house is pretty sharp, he's like me. Been a dealer tech and mechanic for a long time and got tired of the shaft from the manufacturers with warranty times so I know from talking to him that he actually does know what he is talking about unlike some folks I have dealt with at the parts stores in the past.

Well, maybe this thread will help others in the future avoid what I've had to find out in the last week....

RVTraveling

Is this really only a 6500 lb. rated axle? (in the 2500) I could not find a manufacturer's spec. anywhere on the Dana website. The tires are rated more than that! What advantage would there be in having a dually? (other than stability) I've got a great 99 2500 that I love and tows really well..as in 12 MPG towing a 36 ft. fifthwheel at 60 MPH to Colorado and back to Texas. However, I'm pushing my pin weight, still under specs. I was considering making it a dually to give me more comfort zone since I read somewhere that the axle itself was rated near 10,000 lbs. and that the tires were the limiting factor. I'd like to find some hard facts instead of just numbers thrown around on the net.

RVTraveling

OK, the sticker on the door says 6084 lbs. I think that is the rating of the original tires (mine are oversize).

Anyone have a link to some axle specs?

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, just add more info!!

Ken

JoeCanuck

Here is a place I have found lots of useful Dodge specs...

It seems there is/was a hybrid Dana 80.