I just removed the cover on my 2wd dakota to find that the two gears in the middle (upper and lower) are in a million pieces and rounded off... as well as a tooth sheared off of the passenger axle. I found a whole used read end here locally but I need to know that the gear ratio is right. The only tag I found was on the lower center bolt and it looks like it reads 0447. Can anyone help me? Thanks either way.

Does the number match any of the vin number? If not then it might be the gear ratio, The zero in front of 447 is confusing though. But that means you have a 4.47 to 1 gear ratio. I have an '02 Dakota with 3.55 to 1 ratio

Count the number of teeth on the ring gear and pinion gear.Doing some math,divide the number of the teeth of pinion gear into the number of the ring gear and you have your gear ratio.