2011 front diff swap into a 2014

[Wild one]

Who all has swapped out the front diff's for the earlier front diff? I found a 2011 and want to swap the 3.55 geared front diff and the corresponding rear diff into my 3.21 geared 2014.I know the rear is a direct bolt-in,but not sure what all is involved in swapping the front diff.More curious on the rack interchange ability and axles then anything,does the electric rack/actuator and axles swap onto the earlier front diff.Not really interested in comments about why I want to only go to 3.55's,so if that's all you have to comment about,please don't comment.

 

[kg93]

Lol you want to just buy my 2014 dif with 3.55s? Just took it out and it'll be for sale soon. Under 24k miles

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[Wild one]

Nope,lol. I want a set of diffs that I can work with.Also the 11's have the better posi's in the rear,and the front doesn't have the ring gear welded to the carrier. The diff's I bought have less miles then my originals,only 18,000 miles,so i'm gaining there.If you have 3.55's in a 14,you also only have the 6 speed,i have the 8 speed,so I don't really want to go to low

 

[kg93]

Lol what? I'm not following your logic. The 3.55s are the same no matter 6 speed or 8 speed. The front has nothing to do with the rear posi. There is no posi for the front. If you only wanted to go 3.55 there was no need to go get a older diff. It will end up costing you more to get it put in.

Besides that....yes you can put an older 6-11 diff in the front. Most people do it to get 4.10 or 4.56. There are plenty of threads asking about the swap.

You will need to get a custom rear driver side bracket made and buy a 06-11 front drive shaft.

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[Wild one]

The 3.55's are the same ,but the trannies aren't ,the 8 speed is geared way lower,so it doesn't really need a low gearset,as it has a stump pulling first gear to start with.I run on a 26" drag radial,so i'll be pretty close to the equilivent of a 4.40:1 ratio as it is with the 3.55's,i also run a 29" tall street tire,so I don't want a low set of gears or else the truck looses it's high speed cruise ability.The truck spends most of it's life on the freeway at 80 mph or more
I never said the front had a posi/limited slip.To put 3.55's in the front you have to hunt up the earlier diff anyways,as you can't change the ring gear,with-out having the earlier carrier assembly.The rear diff will be the older style 9.25 so there's more options in the way of limited slip units,it doesn't need the axle/carrier swap like the newer 9.25's do,if you want to put a decent limited slip in it.The cost to swap my later rear diff over to the earlier style 9.25 limited slip is about the same as what I paid for both low milege earlier diff's.It's close to a grand up here to buy the axle / carrier assembly and install parts,to convert my existing diff,that's what I paid for both diffs.
Thank-you for the advice though.

 

[kg93]

I stopped reading after you related the front diff to a your transmission for a simple diff swap. I understand what you are trying to do. You are just going about it wrong.

You just explained all of that to someone who has an 09 front diff in their 14 And swapped the rear gears.

You can also use a earlier 9.25 carrier lsd locker whatever you want in a zf axle you just need to change one drive shaft.
Hell if you just want an lsd there are a few available for the zf axle and there are 3.55 gears available.


I'll say it one more time for you. As for your front diff spend all the extra money you want you could have just straight swapped in a 3.55 12-16 diff and called it a day


Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[Wild one]

I stopped reading after you related the front diff to a your transmission for a simple diff swap. I understand what you are trying to do. You are just going about it wrong.

You just explained all of that to someone who has an 09 front diff in their 14 And swapped the rear gears.

You can also use a earlier 9.25 carrier lsd locker whatever you want in a zf axle you just need to change one drive shaft.
Hell if you just want an lsd there are a few available for the zf axle and there are 3.55 gears available.


I'll say it one more time for you. As for your front diff spend all the extra money you want you could have just straight swapped in a 3.55 12-16 diff and called it a day


Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

Don't think you're quite getting it. Why would I buy a later front diff for more money. I found these 11 diffs with 18,000 miles on them for 900 bucks,i'd pay a 1,000 bucks for a 14 or newer front diff alone,and I still wouldn't have a diff you could swap gears in. My cost on the rear axle needed to put a decent DTT in my existing diff is $350.00,so if you go back to the drawing board you'll see it was a wiser choice to buy the earlier diffs for less then a grand.
Guess you haven't figured out i'm in Canada,things are not the same cost here.
You aren't factoring in the torque multiplication factor I have with the 8 speed compared to a 6 speed. 3.55's are not the same between the 6 sp and 8 sp trannies when you multiply the torque output by the 8 speeds first gear
Final drive ratio is what you're interested in,the rear gear ratio is only one link in the final drive ratio.The final drive ratio in first gear is not the same if the 3.55's are in a 6 speed compared to an 8 speed . But again thanks for trying to draw a picture . Just for your info,i've been drag racing for close to 40 years on and off,and used to street race a 10 second 68 Camaro in my younger days,i've been around the block and down the track a few times,you might say,lol.

 

[greychevy]

Man, I'm so confused on what you're trying to do. I was the first or second person to do the front diff swap back in 2012....the only reason to do it would be to install 4.10's or 4.56's if you have a 6 speed trans.

 

[Wild one]

Okay once more.I don't want 4.10's as they'd be to low for my tire combo.I run a 29" tall street tire and a 26" tall drag radial at the track. A 29" tall tire is a little over 10% lower then the stock 33" tall tires,which effectively turns a set of 3.55's into a set of 3.92's when it comes to cruise rpm,and my 26" tall drag radials effectively turns a set of 3.55's into the equilivent of a set of 4.40 gears, compared to the stock 33" tall factory Goodyears. You young guys aren't quite grasping the concept of "Final Drive Ratio's". Final Drive Ratio is where you multiply the transmission gear ratio by the rear-end gear ratio,and then factor in the tire height. If I stick a set of 3.92's into the truck,with my 26" tall drag radials,i'd have the equilivent of a 5.00:1 ratio or deeper (I didn't figure out the exact ratio,,but it's in that ballpark or deeper),and on my 29" tall street tires i'd have the equilivent of roughly a 4.30 gear ratio,when it comes to cruise rpm.
You guys aren't really grasping the concept of total combined gear ratio's and tire heights,to give you the final drive ratio,i'm gonna give you guys the benefit of doubt because of your younger age,but you have to start thinking about overall gear ratio,not just the gear ratio in the rear diff,it's only one link in the overall drive ratio.
I end up with the earlier front diff which I can change gears in if I want down the road,and I also end up with the earlier rear diff,for which I don't have to buy a $350.00 axle just to put a decent limited slip unit in

And now back to the actual question,who's actually done this swap themselves,are the actuators swap-able and anything else that might be an issue when I go to bolt the front housing in place would be appreciated

 

[Wild one]

I stopped reading after you related the front diff to a your transmission for a simple diff swap. I understand what you are trying to do. You are just going about it wrong.

You just explained all of that to someone who has an 09 front diff in their 14 And swapped the rear gears.

You can also use a earlier 9.25 carrier lsd locker whatever you want in a zf axle you just need to change one drive shaft.



Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

Just a heads up young feller,the driveshaft is usually the long thingy thing that connects the transmission to the diff.An axle is generally the long thingy thing inside the diff housing that connects the carrier to the wheel and actually turns the wheel.You need another axle not another driveshaft to make the swap.

 

[kg93]

Just a heads up young feller,the driveshaft is usually the long thingy thing that connects the transmission to the diff.An axle is generally the long thingy thing inside the diff housing that connects the carrier to the wheel and actually turns the wheel.You need another axle not another driveshaft to make the swap.

If you are so smart why are you even on this forum? You obviously know everything. People who have done the swap apparently don't even know what they are talking about.


Oh and fyi its the axle shaft that can be swapped to put in an older carrier. So when you go to correct someone for a simple typo how about you make sure you correct them correctly.

You want to go ahead and swap out your rear axle for a simple gear swap be my guest lmao but take your stubborn self somewhere else because you aren't helping anyone on this forum.

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[charonblk07]

Rick, making friends again I see. kg93 is probably the best person to ask about swapping the front diff but you've gone and made best friends with him so it'll be harder to convince him to help you out now; I thought we talked about playing nicely with the other kids in the playground.

cc

kg93, if you can ignore everything that's happened, what does he need to do to swap in the early front diff into a later 4th gen to replace the ZF front diff? The gear ratio he's using doesn't matter, if he'd said he was installing a 4.56 there wouldn't have been an issue. 3.55s are the proper ratio for him with how his truck's set up but ZF 3.55 diffs are hard to find in our area, it's all 3.92 or 3.21 in the available wrecks and they generally ask a hell of a lot more for them than he got both front and rear diffs for. We will be installing the diffs either in my shop, his driveway, or in a buddy's diesel shop so the only thing it's going to cost us is time and the pop/soda he will be supplying.

Can you send me a pic of the driver's side rear bracket you are talking about, we've got the front driveshaft already. Any issues bolting the electric rack to the '11 housing?

 

[kg93]

kg93, if you can ignore everything that's happened, what does he need to do to swap in the early front diff into a later 4th gen to replace the ZF front diff? The gear ratio he's using doesn't matter, if he'd said he was installing a 4.56 there wouldn't have been an issue. 3.55s are the proper ratio for him with how his truck's set up but ZF 3.55 diffs are hard to find in our area, it's all 3.92 or 3.21 in the available wrecks and they generally ask a hell of a lot more for them than he got both front and rear diffs for. We will be installing the diffs either in my shop, his driveway, or in a buddy's diesel shop so the only thing it's going to cost us is time and the pop/soda he will be supplying.

Can you send me a pic of the driver's side rear bracket you are talking about, we've got the front driveshaft already. Any issues bolting the electric rack to the '11 housing?

Since you asked haha. Its very straight forward doing the swap. CV shafts go right back on. Front driver and passenger side brackets will bolt right on. The drive shaft will need to be swapped but you already have that.

The actuator will plug right back in from the older diff. Mine worked, should you have a bad actuator i'm sure that you could put the one from the 14 diff on the older diff. They are the same size and design.

I have a feeling you will run into a problem with the rear driver side bracket. My bracket was designed for a 6" lift. Without getting the other brackets hooked up to see where you are at you might have to cut the diff bracket on the frame and drill new bolt holes to make enough room to build a custom bracket.

Here is a pic of the bracket i have to get a rough idea.


A full axle swap for the rear end im not sure about. I dont know if the driveshaft yokes were smaller or larger for the older design.

 

[charonblk07]

Thanks Kris

 

[Wild one]

Thanks Kris,Kurtis is right I probably should of said I was swapping in 3.92's,then there wouldn't of been a problem. I'm not lifted,i'm dropped with spindles on the front,so i'm hoping my stock brackets off my original front diff set-up will bolt up. I didn't get the front driveshaft with the deal,didn't know there was any difference between the 2011 and 2014 front shafts.What is the difference.I'll re-use my original actuator ,it's only ever been used at most a 1/2 dozen times. I never use the 4X4,in hindsight should of bought an R/T but they are nigh onto impossible to find up here.Have found one difference in the rear housing though,i'll have to grind a notch in the end of the housing to be able to use my existing backing plates,when they moved the ABS sensor to the back side of the housing,they also moved the notch in the bracket,nothing a few minutes with a die grinder won't fix.I want to use my backing plates with the later ABS sensor,plus the e-brake assembly on the rear housing I bought is a bit rusty,still works good,but would be a royal pain to get clean enough for my **** ass,lol
My apologies Kris
Rick

 

[charonblk07]

Rick, I have an early 4th gen front driveshaft you can use for a while. It's not like I'm going to be needing 4wd anytime soon at this rate. I believe it was the front yoke that is different between the two driveshafts, using a different bolt pattern or a different length.

 

[kg93]

Its cool. The front driveshaft is smaller on the older diffs, therefore the yokes dont line up. We tried to just swap the yoke from the 14 onto my 09 diff but the rubber seal was too small and the seal from the 14 didnt fit the 09 diff.

Im sure there is a way around that but that was my experience. Switching the driveshaft is the easiest route. They aren't too expensive down here. Not sure about up there. I got a used one for $85.

 

[Numnutz]

sorry

 

[Wild one]

Thanks Kris. After reading your post I went out and got under mine to look at it really close.You're right it looks like the drivers side rear bracket and mounting points are totally different. Were the mounting ears on your original front diff housing angled? The ears on the diff I bought have the ears basically vertical to the housing while my original back mounting ears are sitting on an angle. I see what you're saying about the front driveshaft,the pinion yokes are noticeably different. Do you still have your original front diff,and how much do you want out of it,lol.

 

[kg93]

Thanks Kris. After reading your post I went out and got under mine to look at it really close.You're right it looks like the drivers side rear bracket and mounting points are totally different. Were the mounting ears on your original front diff housing angled? The ears on the diff I bought have the ears basically vertical to the housing while my original back mounting ears are sitting on an angle. I see what you're saying about the front driveshaft,the pinion yokes are noticeably different. Do you still have your original front diff,and how much do you want out of it,lol.

yes the 12+ are more of an angled mount. Pre 2012 are vertical. Not sure why they changed them.

Honestly you might be better off just going forward with fabbing up a bracket and getting a driveshaft at this point since you already have the diff.

I was only looking for $200(USD) + shipping for my 14 3.55 diff but since you are in Canada shipping might be seriously outrageous. I can check for you though if you would like.

Edit: i looked up shipping..looks like it would be 130(usd) give or take for shipping to alberta