all this info applies to the 26 spline front and 26 spline rear for years '94-'97.

alright, here we go:

the rear axleshaft necks down about 6" from the inner end. at that point it is 26mm thick, not 27, but due to the rolled splines slightly increasing the thickness, it is given a 27mm thickness at the splines.



before the neck-down, it is 30.5mm thick.



the rear 7.5" ring gear (confirmed) will NOT fit the front carrier. both the center diameter of the ring gear and the bolt spacing is different to compensate for the added 1/2 of total diameter in the rear ring gear. ALSO, the rear ring gear and front pinion do not mesh, they will not turn together.





and now for the good and the bad news:

the entire rear 3rd member will fit in the front housing.



removing the tone ring is not as important as it sounds, but it was simple anyway, just pops right off. the reason for removing it is because the rear housing has a notch for it, but the front doesn't. it doesn't even look like it would hit though, but since it serves no purpose, might as well remove it. the axleshaft holes line-up perfectly, the depths are the same at something like 3-3/4" to the outside edge of the seal on the aluminum housing and to the end of the exposed axleshaft before the CV cup. there is a recess for the front shaft snap-ring on the rear EATON LSD side gears, so, no problem there, but here's the bad news:



the rear third member does not have this. it can be built onto it, or another form of mount can be built, but it needs SOMETHING to stabilize axlewrap.

.....................................................

interesting, while removing the driver's side (2" shorter) rear shaft, i noticed this:



must have been tweaked on of my trips, glad it didn't let go, though, i didn't ever carry a spare.

good to know it can handle 32" tires, low pressure and an LSD, though.