Wanted to confirm some information on the 8 1/4 rear end (carrier swap)!

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Fawkes

Fawkes

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Hey everybody,
I picked up an 8 1/4" rearend today with the 2.45 gear set from a 1974 Dart. There are a lot of threads on here with very convoluted information regarding multiple housings/carriers/etc. Before I go pull a carrier this weekend from the junkyard I want to make sure I understand everything correctly.

From what I understand, I should be able to pull the carrier and pinion from an 84-97 Jeep Cherokee and install it in my 1974 8 1/4" housing correct? The carrier bearings might be a different outside diameter but the inside diameter is the same and the bearings can be swapped and it should work. There are TWO carriers but only one HOUSING.

Does this sound right?
 
From what I have been able to glean:
For any Mopar 8.25 rear end housing
that came with a 2.45 gear or less;
the pinion centerline has been offset away from the ring-gear, to work with the rather large pinion.
This means that, these housings ONLY work with similarly sized pinions, which means, 2.45s or smaller numbers, ie 2.20s

If you want to run 2.76 to 4.56 and beyond, then you need the housing that accepts them, which means; the standard one, which means, not the 2.45/2.20 one.

I know NOTHING about installing Jeep gears into a Mopar housing.
 
Fawkes said:
Hey everybody,
I picked up an 8 1/4" rearend today with the 2.45 gear set from a 1974 Dart. There are a lot of threads on here with very convoluted information regarding multiple housings/carriers/etc. Before I go pull a carrier this weekend from the junkyard I want to make sure I understand everything correctly.

From what I understand, I should be able to pull the carrier and pinion from an 84-97 Jeep Cherokee and install it in my 1974 8 1/4" housing correct? The carrier bearings might be a different outside diameter but the inside diameter is the same and the bearings can be swapped and it should work. There are TWO carriers but only one HOUSING.

Does this sound right?
Click to expand...
You need a pre- '95 ish Jeep XJ (Cherokee, not Grand Cherokee) with a Chrysler 8.25 rear (others, notably the Dana 35 & 44, were also used- know how to ID the right axle) with 27 spline axles (somewhere in the mid '90s they changed to 29 spline axles). Similar year Dakotas are also a good source for the correct carriers and gears.
 
AJ/FormS said:
From what I have been able to glean:
For any Mopar 8.25 rear end housing
that came with a 2.45 gear or less;
the pinion centerline has been offset away from the ring-gear, to work with the rather large pinion.
This means that, these housings ONLY work with similarly sized pinions, which means, 2.45s or smaller numbers, ie 2.20s

If you want to run 2.76 to 4.56 and beyond, then you need the housing that accepts them, which means; the standard one, which means, not the 2.45/2.20 one.

I know NOTHING about installing Jeep gears into a Mopar housing.
Click to expand...
The carriers changed to move the ring gear away from the pinion, not vice-versa. The housing and pinion location remained the same.
Some Jeep carriers and gears are compatible because, well, they're Chrysler 8.25 rears.
 
Also they have a larger carrier bearing on the sides that will need to be removed and the correct side bearing inStalled
 
Is 97 the year the splines changed?

IE 97 is the first year of the different spline count.
 
AJ/FormS said:
From what I have been able to glean:
For any Mopar 8.25 rear end housing
that came with a 2.45 gear or less;
the pinion centerline has been offset away from the ring-gear, to work with the rather large pinion.
This means that, these housings ONLY work with similarly sized pinions, which means, 2.45s or smaller numbers, ie 2.20s

If you want to run 2.76 to 4.56 and beyond, then you need the housing that accepts them, which means; the standard one, which means, not the 2.45/2.20 one.

I know NOTHING about installing Jeep gears into a Mopar housing.
Click to expand...
What makes you say there are multiple housings? Ive only seen reference to carrier changes
 
I have a 1973 Duster rearend, 8 1/4 with 2.78 gear set in it with a sure grip, I can Not put a low low gear set in it say like a 3.23, the housing will not exept it. I hope someone can prove me wrong ..
 
73 seems way too early to have a mod for 2.4x gears already built in.
 
memike said:
I have a 1973 Duster rearend, 8 1/4 with 2.78 gear set in it with a sure grip, I can Not put a low low gear set in it say like a 3.23, the housing will not exept it. I hope someone can prove me wrong ..
Click to expand...
Do you have any pictures/info of the two different housings? The thread that you and halifaxhops have doesnt show anything
 
Fawkes said:
Hey everybody,
I picked up an 8 1/4" rearend today with the 2.45 gear set from a 1974 Dart. There are a lot of threads on here with very convoluted information regarding multiple housings/carriers/etc. Before I go pull a carrier this weekend from the junkyard I want to make sure I understand everything correctly.

From what I understand, I should be able to pull the carrier and pinion from an 84-97 Jeep Cherokee and install it in my 1974 8 1/4" housing correct? The carrier bearings might be a different outside diameter but the inside diameter is the same and the bearings can be swapped and it should work. There are TWO carriers but only one HOUSING.

Does this sound right?
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I am running.
73/74 A body housing with Dakota 3.55 sure grip and the disc brakes.
It did take different carrier bearings as you suspected.
I have the bearing numbers you need, though it might take a bit to locate them on the computer.
 
TrailBeast said:
This is exactly what I am running.
73/74 A body housing with Dakota 3.55 sure grip and the disc brakes.
It did take different carrier bearings as you suspected.
I have the bearing numbers you need, though it might take a bit to locate them on the computer.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that is good to hear! The bearing numbers would be great whenever you get the chance, also for others to reference in the future. Did you just use the same bearings that come standard on the 73/74 carrier but installed on the dakota carrier?
 
I emailed Doctor Diff asking about the housings. Cass Eslick confirmed via email that there is only ONE HOUSING for the 8.25" differential.
 
Fawkes said:
I emailed Doctor Diff asking about the housings. Cass Eslick confirmed via email that there is only ONE HOUSING for the 8.25" differential.
Click to expand...
Good to know that, I have 4.10s in mine currently and would like to swap them out for something more highway friendly eventually, unless I sell it.
 
Fawkes said:
I emailed Doctor Diff asking about the housings. Cass Eslick confirmed via email that there is only ONE HOUSING for the 8.25" differential.
Click to expand...
If you are saying only one housing for dodge/mopar I need to learn about loading different bearing I guess, the low gear sets I tried in my 73 duster 8 1/4 hit the housing... hmmm.
 
All I have is my 73 8 1/4 under my 66 Plymouth Valiant to compare..
If I remember correctly the pinion is off set more then they othere, witch puts the ring gear closer to the housing, or farther away.. I couldn't put 3.55 in mine ... @halifaxhops
 
Is a "case stretcher" needed like a gm housing?
 
Fawkes said:
Thank you, that is good to hear! The bearing numbers would be great whenever you get the chance, also for others to reference in the future. Did you just use the same bearings that come standard on the 73/74 carrier but installed on the dakota carrier?
Click to expand...
The Dakota carrier in the 73/74 housing needed a smaller OD race than the newer 8.25 IIRC.
These numbers should be correct to swap the newer carrier into the older housing.

IMG_4468.jpeg
 
memike said:
If you are saying only one housing for dodge/mopar I need to learn about loading different bearing I guess, the low gear sets I tried in my 73 duster 8 1/4 hit the housing... hmmm.
Click to expand...
I think this thread (The 8 1/4 thread) should be edited or deleted because its causing confusion that there are two different housings but no one can prove that. But there have been multiple people who have successfully swapped newer carriers into older housings.
 
I know two people that swapped gears in their 2.45 housing, one installed a 2.94 and the other installed 4.10 gears.
 
Very surprised that Dr.Diff would say their is only 1 housing for the 8 1/4. 1973 thru 1975 used a carrier race that had a diameter of 2.891. 1976 and latter differentials used a carrier race diameter of 3.062. Some of the late 1975's had the larger size.
 
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