I got a 94 or 95 rear posi/disk rear, 3.23 ratio. I currently have a 91 3.42 open drum.

Does anyone know if I can take my 3.42 gear set and put in on the 4th gen carrier????

 

Yup. Bolts right up. There is no difference whatsoever between a 3rd gen ring gear and a 4th gen one, except for the date stamp.

The rear end internals do not care about the wrinkles in the sheet metal. If they do though, they might discover they like the 3rd gen sheet metal better than the 4th gen.

 

I have an additional question: What about swapping 3rd gen gears to a newer rear carrier with the ABS/trac. control reluctor gear that is sandwiched between the ring gear and the carrier? If using an earlier ring gear from a 3rd gen, do you simply discard this reluctor ring(since our cars are not so equipped), or reinstall it as removed to keep the same clearance? Just seems like extra rotating mass to me, but maybe the carriers are designed somewhat wider to accept this reluctor ring, which would mean that I would have no choice but to reinstall it. Anyone have experience with this?

 

AFAIK there's no "sandwich" action going on in there.

At least, on the POS Auburn out of about a 96 or 97 that I have, there's not; it's more like the way the ring gear is put onto a flywheel, where it's pressed or shrunk on. It just fits around the outside of the carrier. It does not interfere with anything at all in a 3rd gen installation, it's just some extra useless rotating mass on the carrier.

 

AHH! I see. Just took it apart. The ring gear fits flush against the carrier as well as the ABS gear simultaneously. I've discarded the useless weight!
Thanks a bunch!