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Posted by Keith in Washington on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 11:21:19 :
In Reply to: Ring and pinion differences posted by Tim on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 16:55:46 :
My Carryall is the same. It is not a problem to leave it that way. You can use 1/2 gear sets in it. That is what I did. I got a used Ring and Pinion that was brand new and put it in mine. No problems at all.
If you go to a 9 5/8 differential you will need to get a different cover plate. The one that you have is too shallow and the gear will rub on it. You need to find a deep bowl shaped cover. They can be hard to find. They are on the early 3/4 ton WCs. After that they started to weld them on.
If you want to go to a 9 5/8 differential you can do the following. In stead of putting new studs in I have seen the following. Use the original studs cut short pieces of thin brass tubing and slide it over each existing stud. Make sure the OD is small enough to fit through the holes in the 3rd member and that they are not any longer than the thickness of the 3rd member flange. Then set the 9 5/8 in place with appropriate gasket(s). There should not be any issues using the smaller studs. Once you tighten the bolts there is not enough strain to break anything.
Another way to do this is to go to your local screw shop and ask for studs that are the needed diameter and thread on each end. Then you can put the smaller end into the axle leaving the larger diameter portion to slip the differential over. I like this way better but finding the studs might be difficult and expensive.
Another way is to swap in a front axle from a 3/4 ton WC or a PW. It is the same axle. You might be able to get just an empty housing and swap in all of your parts.
The Carryall came with small differentials both front and rear in the very early ones. At least I have been told that. They put a 9 5/8 differential in the rear and it had a bolt on cover plate. Then the rear went to a welded cover plate. The latest ones may have had a 9 5/8 differential in the front.
Dodge went through quite a few different differentials in these things. Starting with the 1/2 ton WCs. I believe that there were 3 different small differentials through time with the latest showing up in the earliest 3/4 ton WCs. The problem with the small differentials is that they kept breaking them. It seems that they were happy with the 9 5/8 from the start as there was only one version and it lasted for many years.
DC who is on this site is a good person to talk to and get parts from.