Dodge truck rear end

Maintenance/Repairs
1

i’m getting a 88 dodge 1/2 ton 2wd 360 stick and was woundering what rear end they put in them. are they the 8 3/4 or the dana 60 or something else.



also how hard would it be to chance out the trany to a 727 insted of the stick?



thanks



mopar man

2

I doubt that they put the Dana 60 in a half ton, that’s usually reserved for 3/4 and 1 ton applications. Might be a D44, might be the 8 3/4.

I would think that it wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to swap to an automatic transmission, have to do the old swap-the-steering-column routine to get the shifter, probably a new transmission crossmember and driveshaft. Lots of little stuff like that. Best bet would be to find a truck with an automatic in it already and cannibalize its parts.

3

“Best bet would be to find a truck with an automatic in it already and cannibalize its parts.”

Or better find a truck with what you want to start with.

4

My book, for what it’s worth, shows the truck should have a Dana 44 in it. It’s a heavy duty 9.25" that is identified by having an octagonal cover with 12 bolts. The Dana 60 is 10 bolt.

The trans swap is a doable deal but it could get expensive if you can’t do the work yourself. Other than the transmission and trans mount, you would also need the flexplate, cooler lines, possibly another radiator if the current one does not have a built-in cooler or use an add-on cooler, possible driveshaft (there’s more than one or two of them), etc.
Not to mention shift linkage, steering column or floor shift mods, wiring modifications to add a neutral safety switch, etc.

Memory is real fuzzy on this but I seem to remember Chrysler used various bolt patterns on the bellhousing and any auto trans you use would need to come from a vehicle with the LA series engine (318s, 360s, and whatnot).

I would just leave it as it is unless you have a cheap source for all of the parts and don’t mind devoting some time to the conversion.

5

i all ready have a 340 with a built up tran on hand. also for the shifting i was going to put in a bm racing shifter on the floor off the truck. the tran has a manaul valve body in it. as for the cooler i have to replace the raditor any way. the reason i ask what the rearend is how much hp will the dana 44 take and also could i put a 8 3/4 in? becuse i have one that i know will take more power and all ready has 3.54 pos gears.

thanks
mopar man

6

The 44 will take a fair amount of abuse, but the axle shaft diameter is kinda skinny, and it is a C-clip style axle, so if you break a shaft, your wheel is going to take leave of the rig. What kind of torque do you think you’ll be putting down?

7

about 450 hp and 450 ftlb

8

I don’t think the D44 will survive long… At least it wouldn’t if I had it with that kind of power:)

I would try and find a 9.25" rear with the ratio you want.

9

thanks

mopar man