Ranger1776
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2012
- Messages
- 87
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Vehicle Year
- 1994
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0
- Transmission
- Manual
well. i bought a 1991 dodge dakota 4x2, 2.5 S4, 5 speed, for $150, it was so cheap because the rear end was blown out of it. specifically a previously welded set of spider gears sheared almost all of their teeth... so being the fabricator that i am i got in there with my hobart and stuck them back together (just to move it around the yard) and now im searching the junkyard for a replacement axle, ive got a few questions, first, with the dakotas of this vintage i know that half of the parts on the truck can pretty much be bolted right up to a half ton (referring to the lack of extra engineering not a heavy duty rating) so i would assume that most dakota axles can be swapped pretty easily, second, i would like to go to over axle springs, so i would probably try to find the axle out of a 4 wheel drive, im planning a V8 swap sometime in the future and i figure that if i go ahead and put a heavier axle in it now, so thats one thing i wont have to do in the future... so what all is involved with switching from unders (which it has now) to overs? like i said im plenty comfortable fabricating things if i need to, im just wondering if the pinion angle is going to change enough to be something to worry about, and little things like that that i may overlook when planning this thing out... Thanks in advance guys!