After purchassing a 2002 with 410 gears and my old truck 1998.5 has 355 gears, how is the easy way to get the 355 gears into the 2002 unit with out loosing the rear disk brakes? Can the disk brakes be swapped onto a 1998.5 unit by unbolting the back plate? Is there many people who would like to swap from their 355 to a 410 unit? Any advise will help.

 

#1. I'm afraid you will find the ABS sensor does not align when you change gear ratios.
#2. There may be other issues. Contact a dlr. parts man and try to identify different part #'s.
#3. It might be better to find the correct axle assy. and sell the two you now have.

 

Gear swaps are not terribly difficult. I too bought my 02 with 4.10's and a six speed and got real tired of 2100 rpm @ 70. I found a set of 3.55 and swapped mine in the summer of 06. Here are a couple things I can tell you from my experience
1. The 3.55 gears have a different tone ring on the carrier than the 4.10's which will make your speedo read correctly (assuming you have stock tires or reprogrammed to compensate already) and there are no alignment issues with the sender.
2. The front end is a pain in the butt, but make sure you get the lash very close as mine is slightly loose and it makes noise (a sort of click-clack every so often) going down the highway.
3. The rear carrier and gear assembly is HEAVY!!! Almost need a jack to get it in the housing if you do the swap under the truck.
4. The front end gets torn down completely, so if you have wheel bearings that need replacement, now is the time to do it. Brakes as well.

Is the 02 an auto or manual? Before you go any further you need to know if your rear ends are the same model as D70 and D80 do not share the same size ring gear.