Gear swap gen3

Jlewis468

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Interested in swapping stock gear to 355. Anybody have an idea of what estimates I should be getting for this as far as cost? One shop quoted 16 hours . Is there somewhere to buy a center section on the aftermarket because it seems that may pay for it just the savings of labor because I think they only quoted four hours to R&R if I had my own center section
 

Wanderer1

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I just picked up my 2004 this past week after a 3.55 gear swap. My receipt is in another vehicle at the moment, should have it back Monday. My LSD was chewed up from previous owners, only had it since 11/21, so I had it replaced with a gen 4/5 "Wave-Trac" unit at the time of the gear swap.. The recent is itemized so should prove helpful. Ill message you on Monday.
 

MoparMap

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Pulling the rear end out isn't that bad of a job if you're an okay mechanic. The gen 3 isn't too bad to get apart, worst part of it is usually just getting the axles off the stub shafts. There is a tool for it as well that attaches to a slide hammer. There are only something like 4 bolts holding the whole diff in, though it helps to take at least one corner of the suspension off. I swapped to a gen 4 unit in my gen 3 after I thought it was making some whining noise, but didn't change anything about the gearset while I was there. 4 hours seems a little on the long side to me to just disassemble and reassemble a unit that's already out of a car, but I suppose if you're really taking your time and doing new seals and bearings and all maybe it's not that bad. They probably have a little fudge room in there for when things don't go as smoothly as you would hope (when do they ever?).
 
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Jlewis468

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Thank you Mr. President I don’t know if I was very clear with my first post
16hrs for gear change
4hrs if I bought A new differential assembly and they just had to unbolt and re-bolt
All help is greatly appreciated
 

MoparMap

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Wow, that seems awfully steep to me, but then again I'm not a professional shop. I feel like personally I could have a diff out, rebuilt, and back in within a day at most, but that's me being familiar with my car.
 
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