stupid_mud_gremlins

ok...bit of Christmas cheer happened, but to make a long story short, I'm gonna be swapping diff outta the runner. What I'm looking at, seeing as there aren't many 3vze's around to grab parts from, is taking the diff from a 22 re and dropping it into the old 3.0...now, my questions are:

1) I know I'm going to have to change the flange on the input of the diff to match up to my bigger drive shaft, how hard is this to do? Just the one big nut right?

2) Will the 22re's match up ratio wise, or will I be doing both if I want to use 4 by?

3) From those of you that have done this, what are the advantages/disadvantages that you have found to doing this? From what I've read here, there are more selections for the 22re diffs if you're looking at lockers, right?

4) How much beer do I need to buy for doing this job?

5) Should I be looking at a different driveshaft as well? IE will one from a 22re match up to the 3vze's?

6) ANy kind of specialty tools that I will need if I plan on replacing u-jaoints and cv joints as well...?

Tofer

1) you shouldnt have to swap the flange.... any 3rd member from 79-95 will work.
2) as long as the gear ratio is the same as your front you'll be fine
3) advantage: 4cly housing has the aussie locker as an option, disadvantage the 3rd will not be as strong as the v6
4) if your only swaping the rear 3rd it should only be a 3beer job... assuming its not a rust bucket.
5)no need to swap drive shafts
6) 10,12,14,17 box wrench and sockets. a 10mm flair wrench might be usefull too.

stupid_mud_gremlins

I know I should be able to search for this, but how do I tell what the ratio is?

abecedarian

most reliable is the ratio of teeth on the pinon gear to the number of teeth on the ring gear.
next is the ratio of turns of the driveshaft/pinion flange to turns of the wheels (if one wheel is on the ground, divide the number of turns of the wheel in the air by 2).
Or by the axle code on the door jamb (only 100% accurate if you know for sure the gearing has never been changed).

stupid_mud_gremlins

hmm..yeah...all of the above ways of telling on my old diff won't work...no teeth left (seized pinion bearing too methinks) so I'd have to check the front then and match it up...thanks much guys...I've got some thinking to do...and u joints to replace...I'll post some pics of the damage, lol

the_ocho

the door jam will still work if your 3rd has been blown up or even completely missing .. its crazy like that

ScottyC

iTrader: (1)

When you knock the D-shaft off of the pinion, it should be painted a color. Pink is 4.10s which most are. Its the same color on 4cyl and 6cyl. Match your color and then make sure you have 41 teeth on the ring gear and 10 on the pinion. Also, you will need to swap the V6 flange onto the 4cyl 3rd. The V6 driveshafts on 1st gens are larger as are the bolts.

stupid_mud_gremlins

ok...is there a different color code for ratios on the front? My rear is pink and the front is blue...Someone already do a swap possibly?

Slowstrike

Look on the ring gear it should be stamped with the ring and pinion numbers on the side of the gear for example for 4.10 it should say 41x10, 4.56 would get 41x9, 5.29 is 37x7 etc. It is not a large stamp so you may have to look closely and it does require removing the thirds yet it is a sure shot way to know what the ratio is and im pretty positive every r&p set is stamped just look real close.

ScottyC

iTrader: (1)

If 4wd worked without any issues prior, then I doubt it would be different. But for your info, blue means its 4.30.

Okay, On your DS inner door, look at the vin tag.
Look up this code:


If its a G292, then it should be 4.10s.