3 gen rear axle in a 2 gen

is the 3 gen rear axle a direct bolt on replacement on a 2 gen ?

 

I believe they have a different gear ratio at minimum

 

Yes. They will bolt in. They are the same in all aspects except for the manual transmission and e-locker axles which have an 8.7' diff.

 

i got a e-locker so the 3 gen one is a plug and play ! great thanks

 

2wd or 4wd?

Just make sure you get the front diff too if you are 4wd.

 

i have a 4wd

 

why would i need the front one ?!

 

You can't have different gear ratios in the front and rear. That's bad.

 

Wait why would you say they're the same thing, but fail to mention that they're a different ratio. That's kinda critical.

 

It was mentioned in the post above my first post. Didn't think it needed to be said again.

 

Ah gotcha, I read that as the first post being incorrect and you were saying otherwise.

 

No it's not plug and play because gen2 elocker has an actuator motor and gen 3 is electromagnetic. Which means the harnesses won't play together but you could probably make it work.
I'm also looking for a gen 3 off-road axle with 4.30 gears

 

Ahh, that is correct. I forgot about that.

 

Its not bad if you like catastrophic failure involving grinding metal, right?

 

Precisely

 

Just did this swap. The 3rd Gen OR axle bolted right up to my 2014, no problem. 4.30 gears and a locker. I have a custom wiring harness for the locker on the way. More details soon.

 

Nice! Where did you get the axle? And more importantly, where’s that custom harness from?

 

EBay, but I also saw others on car-part.com.

Josh at Freedom Locker (@ExperimentalBiz on IG ) was the MVP in knowing what to do to make the 3rd Gen locker work in my truck. He’s going to start offering the wiring harness as a regular product. I will install it in the next week or so and will try to remember to take pics of the install.

 

TomHGZ, start your own swap thread if you don't mind?? It does suck getting in the zone when wrenching, to stop and take pics, but that's what the lil ones are for. I'm really interested in how this swap comes out. Harness and all. What parts you had to find and all. You got this bro. This'll be the new case swap thread. You can do it!!!!! 2nd and 2.5 gens kick ass!!!

 

Rear axle is already in, and was truly a straightforward swap, no surprises, so I won’t be making a swap thread for that part.

The only tricky steps were disconnecting and reconnecting the e-brake lines, then setting the star adjusters and tightening the e-brake — (but any number of youtube videos that show how to service the rear drum brakes and set e-brake tension can easily walk you through those steps) — and bleeding the rear brakes after install — (and again, bleeding brakes is thoroughly documented elsewhere).

I just received the wiring harness yesterday, and will try making a swap thread or video for that.