So a friend cooked his 11.5AAM would it be concievable for him to chase down a 2nd gen d80 that has the 2001-2002 outers and spindles (for the disk brake brackets since the earlier 4 bolt patter for a drum brake backing plate will not work with any of the 2001-caliper brackets) and then swap in a set of 3.54's into the AAM9.25 in the front. we both can setup R&P's so doing thats fine but the aam hes got right now is not usuable and the fact that i have a power lok and set of 3.54 gears for a D80 offer much more appealing traction options for the rear than the stock LSD that the AAM came with

 

Last I had heard, there still weren't any other gears for the AAMs except 3.73 and 4.10.

 

i heard that was the case on the 10.5 and 11.5 AAMs buit on the 9.25 they list a production 3.54 set.

 

the 11.5 is a strong rear. stronger than an dana 80 in my opinion. ive never heard of one breaking. i think going to an dana 80 is taking a step backwards.

 

How did he "cook" his rear end? I agree these are some tuff rear ends, but I couldnt say if they are better or worse than the D80

 

a dana 80 is a stout rear but ive seen them broke a couple times. never seen a 11.5 rear broke. i guess time will tell because with what you can do with a cr now and the fact that they weight more than a second gen we will see .

 

Ive seen both break. This one siezed a pinion bearing.... welded the pinion bearing to the housing. Ive also seen the LSD carrier crack on two so far. I think the power lok lsd from spricer is a better setup than the AAM unit. The weak spot on the 80's was the spiders and cross shafts. \The two are very close in strength when you look at the wheel bearings, hubs, axle shaft diameter ect the ring gear and pinion definately are a little bigger but the 80 never really ate those. Fronts are 33 spline, 1.4" diameter. Rears are 30 spline, 1.5" diameter. axle tube diameter and bearings throughout are all similarly sized ect. I dont think that when dodge changed to the AAM it was a huge upgrade more so it was a straight across swap specs wise. though it has a higher load rating from dodge I have been told that the rating is usually directly related to the brakes in this case because the wheel bearings and spindles are similarly specd on both axles. The pumpkin has more gussets cast in.


More so i was wondering what some thought about the idea and the possiblity of the 9.25 taking 3.54's and then using the 80 rear to get a 3.54 ratio as well as different traction aid devices to choose from.

I wish dodge would have just kept the 9 3/4" D60 and gone with a high pinion for the front would have made LSD and gear ratio options much better plus parts were well stockpiled in my garage.



DD