Well the EB proves to not be reliable enough.. costing way too much... and not satisfying enough for my only vehicle. I'm THINKING about getting rid of it in favor of a 94-99 (?) Dodge Ram 1500 4x4shortbed. Can anyone tell me what front and rear axle comes on these vehicles, about the engine (i want the v8 of course), and is it leaf sprung or coiled up front? I'm moving soon and won't have the tools/funds/etc to be tinkering with my bronco all the time when I need it to take me to school and such. I need any information you can provide me with such as stock axle spline count.. detailed shit like that.. all of the weak points and strong points, what transfer case did it come with? is the 5 speed a nv4500?well thanks for the help.

Originally posted by teknalee
Well the EB proves to not be reliable enough.. costing way too much... and not satisfying enough for my only vehicle. I'm THINKING about getting rid of it in favor of a 94-99 (?) Dodge Ram 1500 4x4shortbed. Can anyone tell me what front and rear axle comes on these vehicles, about the engine (i want the v8 of course), and is it leaf sprung or coiled up front? I'm moving soon and won't have the tools/funds/etc to be tinkering with my bronco all the time when I need it to take me to school and such. I need any information you can provide me with such as stock axle spline count.. detailed shit like that.. all of the weak points and strong points, what transfer case did it come with? is the 5 speed a nv4500?well thanks for the help.

Well, I prefer the 97 year for offorading. Most if not all the bugs were worked out by then and in 98 thigns changed. They put the steering stabilizer on the bottom of the axle, lowered step in height an inch, put the seatbelts through the seat shoulder area (sucks if you are tall like me) and changed to a crappy cup holder.

As for the V8, the 318 is fine for most uses (I have not needed the 360) and you really need to check for pinging in the 360 and check the PCM for a label that it has been falshed (commonly known as the "death flash" where the tweak things so much to get rid of the ping, that you loose power and mpg)

The auto trannies need a cooler and a shift kit if you want it to last. The manual is a NV4500 behind the V8, but is not an option with the 360 (at least in 94-98).

Transfer case in 1500s is a NV231D (wide chain so 4:1 kit does not work) and the 2500-3500 V8s have NV241

Axles in the 1500s are 5-lug D44 and DC9.25" c-clip SF. Front shafts are 1.31" 31 spline, but with a neckdown right before splines. It uses a CAD system with 2pc passenger side axle shaft. I never had a problem with mine, you can get manually operated cable actuators if you don't like the vacuum setup.

The front axles use unit bearings though and there is no way to get rid of them with out swapping the axle ends and getting all new knuckles. I am only on my second set after 130k as well.

RWAL is std, 4WABS optional.

2500s with the V8 have D60 front and rear.

Factory options are front open diff, rear openor track-loc LSD. IN the 1500, you can get a Detroit. No ARB or OX avail, several "lunchbox" lockers avail.

Rear suspension is a pretty flexible leaf spring and the front is a coil sprung 4-link. Issues with front end include track bars that like to go out (although mine is original with 130k on it and lots of wheeling).

If you need more info, check out my site or drop me an email.

manual tranny should be nv3500. 4500 available in 2500 and 3500 only

AFAIK, in 94+ Rams, the 5.2 and 5.9L get a standard duty NV4500 and the V10 and Cummins get the NV4500HD

You know the story, If you beef 1 thing up yuo break another.
I've kept my EB as stock as poss., 2" lift ,RV cam, very reliable.
I do love my 2500 diesel club cab LB 4x4, but it takes a little getting used to after driving the EB. The turning radius on the dodge suprised me!
Good luck Hope you can have them both

Factory options are front open diff factory as in dodge or as in aftermarket "factory". you can use an ARB or OX locker in the front 44.
rear openor track-loc LSD. IN the 1500, you can get a Detroit. No ARB or OX avail, i thought ARB had a locker for the 9-1/4?

the manual trans for the 1500's is the nv3500, and is not available with the 5.9. nv4500 is behind 2500/3500 trucks. 4500 is a direct bolt in for 1500's though, i've done it.

how big/spline count is the input for the dodge nv4500.:usa:

i think it differs between the v8 and diesel/v10 version. i'm not sure what either is right off hand, i just know the v8 nv4500 is the same as the nv3500 since it was a direct swap. seems like it may have been 10 or 12?? i can't really recall though.