Gobistro00
Newbie
Hey all! So as far as i know i only seen a couple of threads (like one or two) about completing a 9.25 front diff swap. Well i just completed my swap and its equipped with front ARB lockers. i will try to answer as many questions as i can since there isnt to many threads about this.
okay if youre planning on doing this swap please keep in mind your lift. If you have a rough country or full drop lift (lift that drops upper control arms) youll need to modify youre cv axles or shorten them. i recommend to have atleast a 4 inch lift for this swap. 3 inch lift is possible, but it will be very tight. anyways for a RC or any full drop lift, the lower drivers side mount on the diff will remain the same, the upper drivers side mount on the 9.25 will be shorten about 2-4 inches depending on whether you have a 4-6 inch lift. as for the passanger side mount, youre going to want to cut the mounts and reweld them or shorten it about a couple inches, thats probably the hardest part, what i did was measure the axle flanges on the diff from the lower drop crossmember and made sure both sides had the same distance from the rear lower crossmember drop bracket. once this is achieved youll need to make sure the upper diff mount wont interfere with the center link, itll be close, but as long as it doesnt touch youll be fine. as for the cv axles, you have 2 options, you can go to the junkyard and find original gm axles and shorten them, or you can order custom ones. reason that youll need original gm axles is because theyre splined an extra inch down and you can just remove c clips holding the tripod and slide the tripod all the way down to the end of splines and flush cut the excessive splines, then weld the tripod onto the splines so the tripod wont seperate from the splines at full droop. most or all after market cv axles are only splined where the bottom of the tripod sits, this makes it unable to be shortened. as for connectors everything will be the same, and itll be plug and play. if youre using a 9.25 axle from 2000-2007 itll be easier to modify passenger mount because itll be flat, the passenger mount on a 99- or lower is at an angle.
if youre using a knuckle style lift, this will be more convenient because the knuckles add about 2 inches of track width and youll be able to use your stock cv axles with spacers, youll also have more space to work with, and the diff will sit higher, as for knuckle lifts youll need 1.75 inch axle spacers for the cv axles, and youll need to have youre torsion keys at stock crank, because on knuckle lifts the diff sits a bit higher and your angles will be to sharp and cv axles will bind up. also youre going to have to cut upper drivers side mount and add a mount on the diff and bolt it to the front crossmember. if you have a 1 piece driveshaft youll need to get it shortened. if you have a2 piece driveshaft it should compress enough to bolt it up, the lower drivers side mount on the diff will remain the same and youll have to grind about 1/4 of an inch of the lower rear crossmember so the diff wont scrape with it, as for the lower front drivers side mount that connects to the front crossmember, youll need to get a 9.25 mount and move the mounting tabs on the front crossmember that connects to the diff and move it about 1.5 inches to the passenger side. (cut mounting tabs and reweld)
im probably forgetting more things so feel free to ask questions, i will post pictures tomorrow since its dark right now, and yes you can probably just slap a solid axle on the front, but id rather have a great riding ifs with a 9.25 front axle.
Edit: i should mention that i orginally attempted this with a rough country 4inch lift. but i didnt want to order custom cv axles, but its easier to install on the rough country because the rough country lowers the front diff way more than a knuckle lift
okay if youre planning on doing this swap please keep in mind your lift. If you have a rough country or full drop lift (lift that drops upper control arms) youll need to modify youre cv axles or shorten them. i recommend to have atleast a 4 inch lift for this swap. 3 inch lift is possible, but it will be very tight. anyways for a RC or any full drop lift, the lower drivers side mount on the diff will remain the same, the upper drivers side mount on the 9.25 will be shorten about 2-4 inches depending on whether you have a 4-6 inch lift. as for the passanger side mount, youre going to want to cut the mounts and reweld them or shorten it about a couple inches, thats probably the hardest part, what i did was measure the axle flanges on the diff from the lower drop crossmember and made sure both sides had the same distance from the rear lower crossmember drop bracket. once this is achieved youll need to make sure the upper diff mount wont interfere with the center link, itll be close, but as long as it doesnt touch youll be fine. as for the cv axles, you have 2 options, you can go to the junkyard and find original gm axles and shorten them, or you can order custom ones. reason that youll need original gm axles is because theyre splined an extra inch down and you can just remove c clips holding the tripod and slide the tripod all the way down to the end of splines and flush cut the excessive splines, then weld the tripod onto the splines so the tripod wont seperate from the splines at full droop. most or all after market cv axles are only splined where the bottom of the tripod sits, this makes it unable to be shortened. as for connectors everything will be the same, and itll be plug and play. if youre using a 9.25 axle from 2000-2007 itll be easier to modify passenger mount because itll be flat, the passenger mount on a 99- or lower is at an angle.
if youre using a knuckle style lift, this will be more convenient because the knuckles add about 2 inches of track width and youll be able to use your stock cv axles with spacers, youll also have more space to work with, and the diff will sit higher, as for knuckle lifts youll need 1.75 inch axle spacers for the cv axles, and youll need to have youre torsion keys at stock crank, because on knuckle lifts the diff sits a bit higher and your angles will be to sharp and cv axles will bind up. also youre going to have to cut upper drivers side mount and add a mount on the diff and bolt it to the front crossmember. if you have a 1 piece driveshaft youll need to get it shortened. if you have a2 piece driveshaft it should compress enough to bolt it up, the lower drivers side mount on the diff will remain the same and youll have to grind about 1/4 of an inch of the lower rear crossmember so the diff wont scrape with it, as for the lower front drivers side mount that connects to the front crossmember, youll need to get a 9.25 mount and move the mounting tabs on the front crossmember that connects to the diff and move it about 1.5 inches to the passenger side. (cut mounting tabs and reweld)
im probably forgetting more things so feel free to ask questions, i will post pictures tomorrow since its dark right now, and yes you can probably just slap a solid axle on the front, but id rather have a great riding ifs with a 9.25 front axle.
Edit: i should mention that i orginally attempted this with a rough country 4inch lift. but i didnt want to order custom cv axles, but its easier to install on the rough country because the rough country lowers the front diff way more than a knuckle lift
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