willysmjeeps.com

For my Dana 44 rear with a 5:38 ratio. I also need them for my Dana 25 front. I'm looking, and I see everything from Ron Fitzpatrick who has them for $200 https://www.vintagejeeps.com/pc-799-155 ... 02568.aspx to to Willy's Jeep Parts, which has them for $549, or Kaiser Willy's that has them for $399. Any advice on who to go with?

Why all the sudden do you need these now?

Depends on who has what.

Axle assy used vs axle assy rebuilt, vs axle assy new. You haven't told us which has which. If all three fit into only one of these categories then by all means use the cheapest.

Sergio, my friend who works on differentials for a living, had the rear apart for the locker and pointed out that the gears were real iffy. I would assume that the axles have never been touched and are 60 years old. To the best of my knowledge, all the vendors that have the rear gears I need have them new. I was just wondering if there was a brand I should look for, or a company I should avoid.

Iffy wouldn't justify me dropping $1k+ into diffs. If it were me and they were put back in and set properly and make no noises, I'd run them. No sense in tossing money at a non issue.

If the new gears are Spicer as they should be then it's still a no brainer. If any are offshore aftermarket avoid them.

I agree with Bretto. You can still find the majority of the pumpkin parts available surplus NOS in seal bags.

My bad. Jimm is right.

Dan was pretty specific that he was asking about a ring and pinion set, not a whole differential. I put replacing worn gears in the "repair" category. The lower cost parts from the vendors he lists are probably going to be OMIX-ADA, not Spicer. I agree with Wes on which one of those brands to go with. I got lucky and scored a brand new Dana 25 Spicer set on Ebay for $75.

"Iffy" is a pretty broad and vague term that we can't evaluate here, not that Dan was asking us to. My rear gears were great, my fronts were toast, "iffy" would be somewhere in between and I would have been faced with having to make a decision of whether to replace them or not. How bad are they? How many more miles do you want to put on the vehicle? How deep are your pockets? etc., etc.

Ron F has come into a lot of M38/M38A1 surplus the last two years. I would call and ask him the manufacturer of the ring & pinion set he is selling before I discounted it as repop because it's priced the lowest.

I called and Ron has them for a Dana 25 front, not a Dana 44 rear. I got some good takeouts on the rear Dana 44 from John at Midwest Military. I did alot of checking, and almost all the others are Omix Ada