Does this sound right?

[DartorDemon]

I'm going to be buying a 8.25 rear end tomorrow and when i get a chance i'm gonna go the wrecker and get a set of gears & lsd from a dakota. Since they are the same rear end, would i be able to reuse the dakota shims and have my gears bolt right in place w/o measuring the backlash?(assuming i grabbed the LSD/ring and pinion from the same rear end.

 

[rumblefish360]

Year dependent, I thnk there is an issue with the Dakota's rear and the anti lock up diferential having a recess area for the magnet. (Which send a pulse so the computer can read it is still spinning, or not releasing the brakes so theres no skiding.)

Otherwise, I do beileve they swap over easy. Double check the year of the dakota to see if the bracketed years of the rear wil work.

On backlash, I'd purchase a tool to measure just to be sure. While it is possible to just swap it in and go without doing so, while your there, it'll take 1o minutes to check and make sure vs. doing it over again a year later.

 

[Purple Haze]

No, it all has to do with the carrier, axle housing and ring & pinion, on how much shims are needed to achieve the proper bearing preload. It might get you close and might not.