badburban
12-09-2002, 07:48 AM
Tools that you will need are a dial type in/lbs torque wrench, dial indicator, micrometer. And remember with these types of tools you get what you pay for. More money means a much more accurate tool. A press would also be helpful but not needed. Ok now onto the gears. First remove the diff cover to drain the fluid be careful it smells horrible and remove the tires. There should be a screw that holds like a "pin" in that goes through the middle of the carrier from side to side. Pull that out. The screw is indicated with the red arrow.
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/767345/1437777/16797592.jpg
Then remove the c-clips that hold the axle shafts in do not lose these. C-Clips are first show still installed then in the second picture are shown after being pulled off the axleshaft.
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/767345/1437777/16797588.jpg
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/767345/1437777/16797583.jpg
Then pull the axle shafts out and store them away carefully so as not to mess up the splines on them. There are two caps that hold the carrier in place remove these two caps. There is no need to worry about the carrier falling out because it has a decent amount of preload on it holding it in. Then pull the carrier out it is in there tight you may have to gently pry it out. When pulling it out though you may want some help as that it is kind of heavy I am guessing it weighed about 40 lbs with the ring gear on it in mine. When you pull it out there will be some shims that will be on each side of the carrier that will probably fall out make sure you keep these. Mic them out using a micrometer and record what thickness they are and what side they came from. Then remove the driveshaft and the nut holding the yoke onto the pinion shaft. It is tight you will definitely want a high torque impact wrench Or a big pipe to put over the end of a ratchet. I have an Ingersoll Rand rated at 600 ft lbs of torque in reverse. I put my regulator at 130 psi and it just barely got it off. You will need to hold the yoke with a pair of big channel locks to keep it from spinning. Once you get it off just tap on the end of the pinion shaft with a dead blow hammer untill it pops out then grab it and take it out. You will need a bearing puller to pull of the bearing on the pinion shaft you could rent one from you local auto parts store if you can't get one. Once you get the bearing off of the pinion shaft take a die grinder and grind out the inside of it so it will fit snugly on your new pinion shaft. It should not be too tight on it because you will have to pull it off again to put the new one on in the end. When you pull of the bearing make sure you take the shims off of the pinion shaft. These are called the pinion shims. They are between the gear part of the pinion and the bearing. Mic out the shims using a micrometer to measure the thickness. These will be used as your baseline. Also take the crush collar off keep this you will use it during the set up procedure. Put the shims on your new pinion shaft then put the bearing on the pinion shaft. Once you have accomplished this put the pinion shaft back in and put the yoke back on it and screw it back on. One note though. Before you put the nut back on make sure you grind of the end of it (the neck) because it is a locking nut and take a lot of force to overcome it. Then remove the ring gear from the carrier. BE CAREFULL THE RING GEAR BOLTS ARE LEFT HAND THREADS. They are backwards if you don't know this you can screw up the ring gear and bolts real quick. Let me stress that again the threads are LEFT HAND THREADS. Now you should remove the carrier bearing and install the new bearings onto the carrier. Ok now once you get the ring gear mounted onto the carrier make sure you get the bolts torqued to proper specs but do it in steps. First just go finger tight then go to maybe 60 ft lbs then 90 ft lbs and so on. Take the new shims and put them to the same thickness as the originals. I found the easiest way to put the carrier in and the shims is to put on side of the shims in first then put the carrier in make sure the races are on the carrier bearings all the way. Then push the shim on the other side in as far as you can then take a dead blow and a long punch and gently tap it in. It should be tight you should only be able to push it in about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way by hand. There should be about .010" of preload on it. Meaning if the carrier is 10.500" big you want to be putting it into a hole that is 10.490" big. This will basically spread the housing which is what you want to do. Then you are going to have to play around with getting the right tooth contact pattern and the right amount of backlash. Backlash is the amount of space between the teeth on the gears. You need to have some to allow for heat expansion but not to much or you could have a noisy rear end. On mine specs were 8-10 thousandths (.008-.010) of an inch. I would aim for 8 thou or just below because over time everything will loosen up. With mine when we installed it we had .0075" of backspacing but after a 1000 miles when I did the fluid change I checked it and it was .010". Once you get it where you want it then pull it back out (you will probably get sick of pulling it out and putting it back in by this point) pull out the pinion shaft then mount the new bearing on it and the pinion shims. Use a punch and a hammer to knock the races for the pinion shaft bearing out the put the new ones in. The best way to do this is to buy some dry ice put them in a container with dry ice and then pour some rubbing alcohol into the container. This will take them down to the temp of dry ice really quick. They with some gloves on take the races and put them in the same way you took the old ones out. Put the pinion shaft back in and put the new crush collar on then push the new bearing onto the front of the pinion shaft. Make sure you have replaced the pinion shaft seal before you do this though. Then put the yoke back on using the new nut supplied and tighten down. Be careful not to go to tight or you will ruin the crush collar. Take a dial type torque wrench (inch/pounds) and see how much force is required to turn it. I think it should be around 20 in/lbs. Then put the carrier back in and torque the caps down. Make sure backlash is still good and you have a good tooth pattern both on the drive side and the coast side of the gear. put the axle shafts in and put the c-clips on them. Put the cover and new gasket back on and fill it back up with fluid. Why you have it apart though I would recommend just changing the axle seals and the bearings at the end of the axle shafts. Only costs a couple of bucks though. If you have any other questions feel free to email me back.
Josh
badburban@hotmail.com
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/767345/1437777/16797592.jpg
Then remove the c-clips that hold the axle shafts in do not lose these. C-Clips are first show still installed then in the second picture are shown after being pulled off the axleshaft.
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/767345/1437777/16797588.jpg
http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL62/767345/1437777/16797583.jpg
Then pull the axle shafts out and store them away carefully so as not to mess up the splines on them. There are two caps that hold the carrier in place remove these two caps. There is no need to worry about the carrier falling out because it has a decent amount of preload on it holding it in. Then pull the carrier out it is in there tight you may have to gently pry it out. When pulling it out though you may want some help as that it is kind of heavy I am guessing it weighed about 40 lbs with the ring gear on it in mine. When you pull it out there will be some shims that will be on each side of the carrier that will probably fall out make sure you keep these. Mic them out using a micrometer and record what thickness they are and what side they came from. Then remove the driveshaft and the nut holding the yoke onto the pinion shaft. It is tight you will definitely want a high torque impact wrench Or a big pipe to put over the end of a ratchet. I have an Ingersoll Rand rated at 600 ft lbs of torque in reverse. I put my regulator at 130 psi and it just barely got it off. You will need to hold the yoke with a pair of big channel locks to keep it from spinning. Once you get it off just tap on the end of the pinion shaft with a dead blow hammer untill it pops out then grab it and take it out. You will need a bearing puller to pull of the bearing on the pinion shaft you could rent one from you local auto parts store if you can't get one. Once you get the bearing off of the pinion shaft take a die grinder and grind out the inside of it so it will fit snugly on your new pinion shaft. It should not be too tight on it because you will have to pull it off again to put the new one on in the end. When you pull of the bearing make sure you take the shims off of the pinion shaft. These are called the pinion shims. They are between the gear part of the pinion and the bearing. Mic out the shims using a micrometer to measure the thickness. These will be used as your baseline. Also take the crush collar off keep this you will use it during the set up procedure. Put the shims on your new pinion shaft then put the bearing on the pinion shaft. Once you have accomplished this put the pinion shaft back in and put the yoke back on it and screw it back on. One note though. Before you put the nut back on make sure you grind of the end of it (the neck) because it is a locking nut and take a lot of force to overcome it. Then remove the ring gear from the carrier. BE CAREFULL THE RING GEAR BOLTS ARE LEFT HAND THREADS. They are backwards if you don't know this you can screw up the ring gear and bolts real quick. Let me stress that again the threads are LEFT HAND THREADS. Now you should remove the carrier bearing and install the new bearings onto the carrier. Ok now once you get the ring gear mounted onto the carrier make sure you get the bolts torqued to proper specs but do it in steps. First just go finger tight then go to maybe 60 ft lbs then 90 ft lbs and so on. Take the new shims and put them to the same thickness as the originals. I found the easiest way to put the carrier in and the shims is to put on side of the shims in first then put the carrier in make sure the races are on the carrier bearings all the way. Then push the shim on the other side in as far as you can then take a dead blow and a long punch and gently tap it in. It should be tight you should only be able to push it in about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way by hand. There should be about .010" of preload on it. Meaning if the carrier is 10.500" big you want to be putting it into a hole that is 10.490" big. This will basically spread the housing which is what you want to do. Then you are going to have to play around with getting the right tooth contact pattern and the right amount of backlash. Backlash is the amount of space between the teeth on the gears. You need to have some to allow for heat expansion but not to much or you could have a noisy rear end. On mine specs were 8-10 thousandths (.008-.010) of an inch. I would aim for 8 thou or just below because over time everything will loosen up. With mine when we installed it we had .0075" of backspacing but after a 1000 miles when I did the fluid change I checked it and it was .010". Once you get it where you want it then pull it back out (you will probably get sick of pulling it out and putting it back in by this point) pull out the pinion shaft then mount the new bearing on it and the pinion shims. Use a punch and a hammer to knock the races for the pinion shaft bearing out the put the new ones in. The best way to do this is to buy some dry ice put them in a container with dry ice and then pour some rubbing alcohol into the container. This will take them down to the temp of dry ice really quick. They with some gloves on take the races and put them in the same way you took the old ones out. Put the pinion shaft back in and put the new crush collar on then push the new bearing onto the front of the pinion shaft. Make sure you have replaced the pinion shaft seal before you do this though. Then put the yoke back on using the new nut supplied and tighten down. Be careful not to go to tight or you will ruin the crush collar. Take a dial type torque wrench (inch/pounds) and see how much force is required to turn it. I think it should be around 20 in/lbs. Then put the carrier back in and torque the caps down. Make sure backlash is still good and you have a good tooth pattern both on the drive side and the coast side of the gear. put the axle shafts in and put the c-clips on them. Put the cover and new gasket back on and fill it back up with fluid. Why you have it apart though I would recommend just changing the axle seals and the bearings at the end of the axle shafts. Only costs a couple of bucks though. If you have any other questions feel free to email me back.
Josh
badburban@hotmail.com