say i have 2 identical 2500 rams srw 4x4 2001 both lsd

one with 3.55s and the other with 4.10

i wanna swap gears between trucks.......3.55 into the 4.10 truck and the 4.10s into the 3.55 truck

what is the minium amount of parts i need to order to make this swap happen?

shims? crush sleeves? bearings?

 

just swap the axles. it will be easier and cheaper. But if you really want to go thru the trouble yes you will need install kits and alot of time. Changing used gears has to be done perfectly or they will whine.

 

I agree, I would swap the whole axle assemblies instead of changing gears.

 

I learned the hard way on another truck, change the whole axle!

 

The vote is in on your hypophetical switch, based on your parameters. It always seems as if something is not quite the same in my endeavors.

 

The way to do it with the minimum parts is to swap complete axles. That will also be the least amount of work. However, Ring and pinions are not as hard to set up as many make them out to be.

 

A little bit OT but: if leaving the ring and pinion, but replacing the differentials to say ARBs, do I still need to re-adjust the gear meshing, backlash and all this nice fine tuning stuff?

 

Yes, if your lucky the pinion depth should be close, but you still need to backlash.

 

Backlash and diff preload are necessary when replacing diff in this hypophetic repair. Still a lot of work IMO.