Man it's been forever since I've posted! I finally got my 87 d50 fixed and back in daily service. The manual transmission broke 2 1/2 years ago and it's been sitting until last Saturday. I pulled the tranny in Jan of last year and paid a guy to rebuild it. Took him 4 months and a letter from my attorney to finally get it back. I installed it and it wouldn't shift out of reverse. I can't remember a time when I was more angry/frustrated/unhappy. Completely took the wind out of my sails. I finally located a used tranny and decided to pull the original and tear them down side by side to see if I could determine the problem-I was pretty sure it was the linkage, because the shift lever just flopped around without any resistance. Ended up that I left the tranny in the truck, pulled the t-case and gear housing, and fixed the problem with parts from the used unit. What was the problem? The %@*##+!?> lost the springs, balls and set screws that operate the detents that hold the shift forks in place, and hold the shift lever in the neutral position. Had it repaired in less than 3 hours. I am the happiest guy on the planet!!! The engine has 8k on it since a complete rebuild and just plain purrs. I had forgotten how much I love my truck. It's almost like a second honeymoon

Now for my question-I found an 88 Raider with the 2.6 motor and 4.62 gears and I want to put the gears in my truck. I know I could pull the diff and install that, but it's quite involved and I've never set up a diff before. So, can I simply swap the entire rear axle into my truck? Are they identical, or incompatible? My truck is a work truck, and the 3.9 gears on it don't lend themselves to towing or load moving. Also, I want to put my 31" BFG's back on it.

Anyone with info on this topic, I would greatly appreciate your input, and willingness to help a brother out.