Yesterday at the junk yard I found a Trac-lok with 3.55 gears out of an '01 Durango. I'm wondering if the gears and differential will swap into my '70s 8.25".

I have 2 main concern. First, the differential has a tone ring that appears to offset the ring gear when comparing it to my open diffs. Is it removable or will I be able to find enough adjustment with the preload adjusters?

The other concern is the pinion gear, it has a slightly different shaft. The pinion gear that is in the 8.25 is tapered all the way to the splines and slightly narrower (than the new pinion) at the gear end of the shaft. The new pinion has a small bearing spacer rather than the long old style spacer that fits over the whole pinion shaft. Will the small spacer work in my early 8.25"?

EDIT: I know this diff is a 29-spline model and my axels are 27-spline. I'm planning to swap in 29-spline axels, so that is not an issue.

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'66 Dodge Dart

I ended up removing the ring gear to find out that the tone ring sits in a slot below the ring gear seat rather than shimming the ring gear. Turns out that the ring gear sits with the correct offset.

So for anyone interested in using a late model carrier in and early style 8.25", it works just fine assuming you use the correct axels or get replacement side gears with the correct splines. Make sure to also get the tone ring as it provides additional seat area for the ring gear.

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'66 Dodge Dart

sweet....good info to know.

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1979 W150 Shortbox
225, NP435, 9 1/4, Dana 44

The Good Life.