When the rear axle bearings failed on our Everyday Titan's Dana 44 axle we were forced to find a better rear assembly to keep the project rolling. Our search led us to AAM (American Axle Manufacturing).

AAM supplies rear axles for all the major O.E. builders. One of which is Chrysler for the heavy duty Dodge Ram pickups. As you all know the Dodge Power Wagon is unarguably the most capable pickup produced today. As such we figured it was a good place to find a replacement rear axle for our Titan.

After waiting several months for the AAM 10.5 rear end to arrive the Titan sat dormant collecting at thick layer of dust and grime.

We like the fact that the AAM 10.5 axle has the exact same axle shafts as the 11.5, yet unlike the 11.5 the 10.5 has a selectable electronic locking differential. Did we forget to mention the fact that it also sports a 4.56 ring and pinion?

What's better yet, the Power Wagon rear axle is only about 3-inch wider than the Dana 44 we're removing, so little work will have to be done to make it fit.

Notice the considerable increase in beef over the Dana 44...

Some things we still need to sort out:

1. The AAM spring perches need to move 1.5-inches from each of the current locations to line up with the Titan's spring packs. Larger u-bolts and u-bolt plates will be required. Shock mounts will also need to be addressed.

2. The AAM is 8-lug, we need to convert it to 6-lug like the front of our Titan.

3. Somehow we need to make the AAM axle provide a wheel speed signal to the Titan ECU.

4. The drive shaft will need to be shortened and a different yoke will have to be installed.

5. The E-brake cable will need to be sorted out.

6. A different front gear ratio is not available for the Titan front diff, so we may need to perform a solid front axle swap or simply ditch the front axle shafts until we can talk our friends at Randy's Ring & Pinion into manufacturing a 4.56 ration for the stock Titan front diff.

7. We're going to have to figure out how to wire the Power Wagon electric locker.

To help with this project we've enlisted the expertise of Mel Wade and the capable folks of Off-Road Evolution.

Stay tuned as we plan to update everyone on this project as it moves along.