One of the advantages of buying a Dodge, back in the "old" days was that Dodge would automatically do parts upgrades as better parts or systems became available, and not wait until the end of the year model change to incorporate those changes, like most of their competitors did.

One of the problems with Dodge trucks was that they made changes during a production year rather then waiting until the end of the model year. Kind of a double edge sward. Often you didn't know which version you had until you took it apart. Its a really big problem on bigger trucks and RV chassis.

The biggest problem with the Dodge process is that there could have been more then 1 change in a model year! Maybe the "new and improved" wasn't so "improved" or there wasn't enough supply to meet the demand. Dodge may have reverted back to the original design, or they may have installed another new design. Are we having fun yet?

I believe someone at some warehouse found a stash of Dodge brake drums & parts from a short run model year, and decided to sell them off as an option for that year, and everyone that deals with that warehouse offered the "optional" parts.

The one saving grace of the Dodge process, is that usually, the "new" and the "old" parts are interchangeable as a unit. The change took place on the assembly line, so as the parts came down the line, the old parts were converted to the new parts, which means a person could resort back to the old parts (or convert to the new parts) by changing whatever parts were required per unit. The biggest problem is, you have to figure out what all needs to be changed to make the "other parts" work. Gene