Went to the dealer today to take advantage of the $12.95 oil-change coupon they sent me a couple of days ago. While there, I took the opportunity to find out what years of pre-'97 Dakotas came with rear ABS. The answer, as it turns out, is late '94 through '96.
As for why I wanted an answer to this: I'm wanting to eventually replace the D35 I've got now with something beefier. The pre-'97 Dakotas used the same-width axle as the XJ 8.25", so it should be a relatively straightforward job to drop it in. However, I'd like to replace the D35 without losing ABS for on-road use. Note: if you personally don't like ABS, that's fine. Please don't tell us about it here; this is not the thread for it.
Apparently the ABSed 8.25"s placed the sensors in the diff housing at the inner end of the axle shafts (inboard, effectively) whereas the XJ's are outboard. Can anyone confirm if this is indeed the case? Also, were there any differences in axle shaft diameters, spline counts, etc. between the Dakotas and XJs I should know about? If this starts getting really complicated I'll continue figuring out how to press the tone rings onto a D44, but if this is a relatively easy path to take I may start looking in the boneyards for older Dakotas.
As for why I wanted an answer to this: I'm wanting to eventually replace the D35 I've got now with something beefier. The pre-'97 Dakotas used the same-width axle as the XJ 8.25", so it should be a relatively straightforward job to drop it in. However, I'd like to replace the D35 without losing ABS for on-road use. Note: if you personally don't like ABS, that's fine. Please don't tell us about it here; this is not the thread for it.
Apparently the ABSed 8.25"s placed the sensors in the diff housing at the inner end of the axle shafts (inboard, effectively) whereas the XJ's are outboard. Can anyone confirm if this is indeed the case? Also, were there any differences in axle shaft diameters, spline counts, etc. between the Dakotas and XJs I should know about? If this starts getting really complicated I'll continue figuring out how to press the tone rings onto a D44, but if this is a relatively easy path to take I may start looking in the boneyards for older Dakotas.
