Differential replacement options on a 06 6mt

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

This seems to be the place to go for advice so here it goes!
My stock open differential has seen better days.
The carrier is worn where the pin for the spider gears goes in. I have a manual transmission and major slack in the drive train results in lots of clunking! Replaced the spider gears and pin already once. PO had different brand tires on the rear which likely caused the gears to wear fast.
I also want to regear to 4.10s so this give a lot of options.

Stats are 2006 KJ 4wd 6MT. Lifted. Daily driver and tow vehicle. Light off road use. Need to deal with snow and ice. The 2006 model has ESP traction control / stability control ect.

Option 1. Get a new 8.25 mopar open diff and regear. This is the cheapest option but the mopar 8.25 diff is known to have issues with wear and getting sloppy.
Option 2. Put in a Dana trac loc and regear. Many hate the tracloc but I think it would ok on a daily driver. It should have very little play in the spider gears due to the clurch packs. No idea if this will be better in the snow than the open diff with the traction control. Maybe worse?
Option 3. Everyone's favorite Detroit True Trac. Costs a bit more but should not wear out. I do have concern over play in the worm gears. I have read about other applications this unit has a lot of play and is not recommended for a manual transmission. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks
Jason

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Nov 13, 2015 7:58 pm

Simple answer would be a junk yard

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

tommudd wrote:

Simple answer would be a junk yard

I had thought about that as a way to rebuild one in my garage in my spare tine. There are no 4.10s available on 2006 factory KJs so I would tear it down and rebuild it.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:29 am

Diff is the same,
only thing is ABS etc which is not a huge deal to switch over
leave the plug for the speedometer in there, wouldn't hurt anything

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

tommudd wrote:

Diff is the same,
only thing is ABS etc which is not a huge deal to switch over
leave the plug for the speedometer in there, wouldn't hurt anything

So I transfer over the axle shafts and brake hardware and lines and I am good to go. Thanks Tom! You just saved me a bunch of $$$.
Now if I can just find a pair 4.10s with the tracloc!!

u2slow · **Joined:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 7:26 pm **Posts:** 160

A trac-lok is only a minor improvement over open... so don't pay much extra for it. If its more than $100 extra, I'd put it toward a Lockright, Detroit, etc instead.

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

It looks like the 4.10s only come on the 4cyl base models so open diff only.
I'm about to pull the trigger on this. Best I can do is $800 for the pair.
Has anyone confirmed the brakes/ abs and axles from a 2006 can be transfered to a 2004?

Can anyone comment on play or lash in the (rear) true trac vs tracloc vs open diff?
Thanks for the help so far!

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

u2slow wrote:

A trac-lok is only a minor improvement over open... so don't pay much extra for it. If its more than $100 extra, I'd put it toward a Lockright, Detroit, etc instead.

Thanks.
The only reason I'd consider the tracloc over a truetrac is if the truetrac has slop or play. The stock open diff wears and gets sloppy pretty fast. I expected the dana unit would be better than the stock open for wearing out.

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

Update.

I went to a salvage yard and looked at a 2005 4 cycl.
Front diff was OK and they are scare where I live so I grabbed it. Likely needs a pinion seal...

Now the interesting part; The rear axle is different on the 2005 (rear discs, 3ch ABS) than the 2006 model (4 ch ABS) such that the abs type axles shafts CANNOT be swapped over.
You guys with the older 2002-2005 have it much easier for axle swaps.

This is why;
On the 2005 (and older?) the axle tube extend well past the axle/brake mount flange, to an inch or so from the axle shaft flange (where the wheel mounts!). On the 2006(2007) the axle tube does not stick out much past the axle/brake mount flange, since the tone ring needs this space. I'm sure this is old news for some of you guys.

I assume you can't just chop off the axle tube where it extends past the axle/brake flange, and relocate the wheel bearing inboard?

So the other options are to just buy the gears and a rebuild kit and drop it off at the shop.
Or get a 2006/2007 axle and rebuild it myself (after many hours reading of course). Would an axle from the same year for an automatic be compatible with the manual transmission model as a donor? Are the axle flanges and stuff the same?

pontipine · **Joined:** Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:55 pm **Posts:** 26

Found an article on Cherokee axle swaps dealing with the tone ring clearance issue.

http://naxja.net/forum/showthread.php?p=245701726

Pics from that article show the axle tube.
This guy machined his axles and tone rings so that the tone ring cleared the axle tube!

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j314/ ... 070331.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j314/ ... 110738.jpg

Differential replacement options on a 06 6mt

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