Is this the Holy Grail or am I opening up a can of worms that I can live without? My truck in sig has the 3:54 rear end and tows our 11,000lb RV up and down the mountains without too much fuss or fanfare. HOWEVER, I found a 4:10 (I think I did, anyway) at the wrecker from a 1997 2500 2WD long bed that should swap into my rig without too much hassle. I just don't know if the 4:10 is going to be that much of a plus for me as I will be stretching my mechanical abilities to the max - I have never swapped out a complete rear end before. The boneyard wants $175.00 plus a $50.00 core charge, refunded when I take my diff back to them.

Can anyone give me a "this is what you do" lesson to explain how easy or hard the swap will be. I am good with tools and have been pushing wrenches for 30 years. Unfortunately, I am old, tired and sore. I am uploading a picture of the pumpkin tag. Please note that I was flat on my belly, under the box of the truck, when I took the pic. The truck is resting on the diff and the guys at the yard said they would lift up the truck for me so that I can get at the nuts and bolts. I'm pretty sure the first three #'s are 410 with an L.

Thanks for reading

Mike

 

That's a darn good deal for my area. If your rear end is good you could probably sell it for a lot more then the $50 core charge. I haven't seen any decent Dana 70's for less then $500 around here. Just make sure it's out of an auto truck if yours is auto, and vice versa for manual.

As for the swap, it's pretty straight forward. Bring a torch if you have one it's a lot easier to cut things off sometimes, like the u-bolts for the springs. Sawzall/grinder are good too. U joint straps also, if they look like they aren't going to come out easy I'll cut the straps off right near the yolk, remove driveshaft/ujoint, then I can get a small pipe wrench on whats left of the strap to twist it all out. Instead of snapping the head off the bolt wich is common on boneyard trucks.

Get new spring u-bolts ahead of time, they are not supposed to be reused. Also the sensor plug may not be the same as yours (they varied through the years, I think 94-98 are different then 98-02) but the sensor is the same, so you can either swap sensors or splice the connector onto your harness.


As for actually swapping the rears in your driveway/garage, jack up rear of truck from frame until the tires are just off the ground and place jackstands under frame rails just ahead of the axle. Then just unbolt one side of the axle at a time and let it down with a jack, then roll it out of the way. After disconnecting your brake/vent/sensor lines of course. Carefull the pinion is going to want to nose dive.
Installation is reverse, but the pinion wanting to roll down can make it hard to line the axle up. 2nd set of hands is helpful.

This is where an atv jack with a removable handle comes in handy.

 

Good advice from Gorms. A torch, grinder, and sawzall will cut major time off the entire job.. the. Plan on using all new hardware for install. I have done a few axle swaps on vehicles, and I always use my adjustable transmission jack, makes lining up the pins to the spring packs much easier! If you don't have a trans or atv jack, check with a rental joint. I say go for it, especially if you have someone helping.

I like my 4.10 gears especially hauling heavy and plowing wet heavy snow.

 

Hey guys!

Thanks for the feedback and very helpful tips for getting this job done. I do have a helper and the salvage yard fellas seem really helpful and willing to do what they can to get it done.

I know that the 4:10 will improve the Beasts towing performance and engine and tranny temps etc. I will figure out the logistics and keep y'all posted.

Cheers!

Mike

 

Im looking for 3:54 gears and I have 4:10! If you were closer to Southern California I would say lets do a swap!

 

You could net a lot more than $50.00 for a good Dana 70.....

 

Ummmmmmmmmm - Good Sir - It just so happens that I am currently in SoCal. We are in Earp for the next couple of months. Where might you be in SoCal? Perhaps we could work something out?

D'oh! Stoopid me! Are you still in San Clemente? If so we are about 4.5 hrs apart.

Cheers!

Mike

 

I'm sure you are aware of a little loss of fuel mileage with the 4:10 gear? Is it a power/pulling issue that you want to go to the 4:10 ratio? Also not sure here, but your speedo will be off.

 

Yeah, I know about the fuel economy thing - a small price to pay for the expected improvement in towing grunt up the mountains etc. I forgot about the speedo thing and I will research this a bit more. The donor truck has the VSS still in the pumpkin so maybe that's a swap over part? I honestly don't know and will check it out.

Thanks for your feedback!

Mike

 

Good luck then!!!

 

Yes I am still in san clemente. I have never done a rear end swap, but if it could be done in a day in my drive way we could try to make it happen?

 

If you do it, start putting penetrating oil on the u-bolts a few weeks ahead of time so they come off easily!!

 

Thank you for the heads up!

 

Maybe I just missed something along the way in this conversation but what exactly are you trying to do again.....? I understand that you have 3.54's and you would like to try 4.10's. You found a 4.10 differential in a junkyard.....and this is where I'm confused.....but you're not sure about how to install what.....?, just the carrier or are you wanting to swap the entire housing? I ask because either way there's going to be a lot more than just "go for it" to make this work. First off, you have a Dana 70 right? Are you sure this is a Dana 70 in the junkyard? If so then swapping housing to housing is going to be the easiest route by far since swapping out carriers is NOTHING TO TOY WITH if you dont know what you're doing but changing housings only require messing with u-bolts. The only thing I can think of to be sure of is that the junkyard diff has the differential ring gear for the speed sensor. I'm not sure whats involved in recalibration either since 4.10's and 3.54's obviously spin at different rates so the speedo would read incorrect.

Now if the diff in the junkyard is a Dana 80 then nothings going to be worth messing with since the carriers are not interchangeable and unless you want to change out quite a few things and have the driveshaft length changed as well and possibly the size of the rear yoke, swapping housings will probably be more a chore than you care to deal with.

So correct me if I missed the point of the thread somewhere.....

 

Hi KATOOM! Thanks for your post. I confirmed with Chrysler, vis a vis the VIN # for the donor truck. Yes, it is a DANA 70 rear end with 4:10 gear set. It should be a fairly easy swap over although my current health aches and pains tell me this project may have to wait for a couple of more weeks. I am driving out to Lake Havasu City recycle yard today to make sure that the donor is still there and has not been crushed. I am interested in this project strictly for trailer towing purpposes even though the current gear set seems to pull our 11,000lb RV just fine. I dunno, maybe I'm off my rocker a bit - I am getting fairly old..

Cheers Man! I'll keep ya posted.

Mike