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Need schooling on the 8 1/4 carrier breaks.....if any

Cranky

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Or is there a site that I can 'learnt' from? Would like to slam in some 3.90 gears or even 4.30's in my beater 95 Dakota V6 since I can't find a V8 truck. Wouldn't mind doing the 96 too since it acts like it's even slower. Is it correct that these are pretty much a wham bam thank you mam gear swap if using factory gears? I know someone that did that in a 9 1/4 equipped 2000 truck and they were quiet. Sick of this slow no guts stuff. Can't even put on decent size tires without losing pep from it. And don't do much freeway running anymore so even steeper gears would be fine with me....and right now both have 3.55's
 
You sill have to pull the pinion and the ring gear. So complete disassembly will be needed. It would be awesome if you could just swap the ring gear. But it has to mesh correctly with the pinion gear. I'm not sure if that is what you are asking..
 
Back in the old days I went through quite a few 8 1/4 axles. I never found found one broken, just neglected, needing bearings and cleaning. If your not going too big in the power department, pulling lots of hole shots with big tires I think you will be fine.
Mike
 
I put 4:11s and a grip in my 72 charger with a warmed over small block, it’s fun and have had zero issues .
 
You sill have to pull the pinion and the ring gear. So complete disassembly will be needed. It would be awesome if you could just swap the ring gear. But it has to mesh correctly with the pinion gear. I'm not sure if that is what you are asking..
Uh not exactly.....just needed to know some info about the 8 1/4 and the carrier breaks for high vs low gear ratios since I've never worked on one before but have done many others. Still appreciate the reply regardless!

Now that you mention it....forgot about that thread being over there! I suppose the A body guys would be dealing with the 8 1/4 much more than us B guys though. Thanks!
 
If you do use the 8 1/4 and it has screwed side adjusters a large nut (forgot the size) can be welded to a piece of pipe/tubing to set the backlash/preload. The adjusters have an internal hex the nut will engage.
Mike
 
I've worked on a 9 1/4 that was like that. There was an access hole that I was able to get into to turn them but probably wasn't enough preload on the carrier bearings. It was a junker rear end anyways and was just trying to get a little more life out of it and well, that did happen :)
 
I remember reading some of that thread years ago and after reading it again, it hit me why I didn't read it all. Think I'm just going to slam an 8 3/4 under this pig and call it good LOL. I have a couple of empty housings from a 66-67 B and another from 68-70 B but there's not much difference between them so I'll pick the cleanest one :) Plus I still have a 3.91, 4.10 and a....drum roll please....a 4.88 :D That V6 should really wake up with that behind it! :D The transmission will never know what hit it.
 
Or is there a site that I can 'learnt' from? Would like to slam in some 3.90 gears or even 4.30's in my beater 95 Dakota V6 since I can't find a V8 truck. Wouldn't mind doing the 96 too since it acts like it's even slower. Is it correct that these are pretty much a wham bam thank you mam gear swap if using factory gears? I know someone that did that in a 9 1/4 equipped 2000 truck and they were quiet. Sick of this slow no guts stuff. Can't even put on decent size tires without losing pep from it. And don't do much freeway running anymore so even steeper gears would be fine with me....and right now both have 3.55's
Sir you know better just depends top or slow .
 
I remember reading some of that thread years ago and after reading it again, it hit me why I didn't read it all. Think I'm just going to slam an 8 3/4 under this pig and call it good LOL. I have a couple of empty housings from a 66-67 B and another from 68-70 B but there's not much difference between them so I'll pick the cleanest one :) Plus I still have a 3.91, 4.10 and a....drum roll please....a 4.88 :D That V6 should really wake up with that behind it! :D The transmission will never know what hit it.
You will be surprised at best it throws you speddo off if you want power pick the correct motor.
 
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