Wellllll.......out to the go-rajj with the camera!!!!!!!!!!
(PAST) Time to start the gear swap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heeeerrrrre we go.......rear wheels are off the ground.....
spare tire is remove & tire rack is tie-wrapped out of the way......
differential cover is removed (almost busted....I forgot it was plastic when I was prying it off)......small retaining bolt and pin are removed so axles c-clips can be reached.....
axles are pushed in & axle c-clips are removed one side at a time (only one pic is taken).........
axles are removed from rear end to keep from damaging axle housing seals (I'm gonna replace the seals but wanted to safe anyway + there's more leg-room with the axles out of the way)..........
spiiiiiiiiiider fears are removed (only one pic was taken--all 4 spiders were removed--mark em top/bottom/left/right for re-assembly)).........
here's a pic of all the spiders taken out.......
the driveshaft and pinion shaft NUT get removed---***I should have done this before I jacked the back wheels off the ground so the pinion gear wouldn't spin while I was trying to break the NUT aloose...waaaahahahaaa)
I ended up sticking a piece of 2" X 4" in the housing to keep the differential from rotating while I removed the driveshaft & the pinion nut...(Me = Rookie!)...
This is a partial pic of breaking the pinion nut aloose after the driveshaft was removed......
the pinion yoke & nut & washer after being removed from the pnion threads.....
Here's a pic of the bearing-carrier caps being removed (one pic for both caps...keep em separated for re-assembly)
I tapped on the threaded end of the pinion shaft lightly after I removed the carrier-bearing-caps so the carrier would slide out into my hands...****THERE ARE SHIMS ON THE LEFT & RIGHT SIDES OF THE CARRIER--MAKE SURE TO MARK THEM SO THEY GET RE-INSTALLED ON THE CORRECT SIDES OF THE CARRIER*****
I finished tapping the pinion shaft out of the housing--hold it so it won't get knicked up when it works free of the housing.....
Here's the carrier bearing SHIMS hanging on the correct sides of the differential housing (repeated pic).......
Here's the empty housing.......
Dat be it until tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It's tomorrow.......time to de-bearing & de-gear the carrier .......................
I cut the cages off both carrier bearings with a dremel tool/cut-off wheel and was careful not to cut into the carrier-bearing-fits...then I put a flat chisel in the groove of the bearing inner race/tapped it a few times with the ball-peen/and the race cracked open enough to pop it off the housing with a screwdriver......(1 pic shown)
Then I stuck the handle of the trusty ball-peen hammer thru the carrier for leverage so I could break all the ring-gear bolts aloose.....
I took 3 flat chisels and worked them betwee the ring-gear and the carrier with the ball-peen until the ring gear dropped off the carrier housing...
I also tapped off the toothed ring that I won't need any more since the truck is no longer operated by an ECM.....
Dat be it for now.....back to the go-rajjj to begin installing the new gears & bearings onto the carrier housing.
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I'm back from the go-rajj.........do you think she will notice these----or will she go straight for the Hot Pockets ???
The freezer helped a lot by shrinking the carrier about 000.001....I was able to use the old inner race as a driver to put the new carrier bearings on each side....and some grease to hold the outer races in place during installing...
There....both outer races are in place......ain't it purrrrdy.......
While I was on a roll, I mocked up the pinion bearing assembly.....I drove the large "rear bearing" into place and temporarily put the outer race on it. Then I polished the front fit on the pinion shaft so that the smaller bearing would slip on smoothly....I also place the thin oil slinger/spacer & the pinion seal & splined flange & nut in place (so I doesn't misplace em)
I used the trick you guys posted.....I gradually torqued down opposite bolts....they pulled the rong gear flush with the carrier housing...then I torqued all the bolts to spec...(the carrier was still cold from sitting in the freezer for 2 hours)
I've driven out the OEM rear outer pinion bearing RACE---it's hanging onto the rod that I used to drive it out from the front of the housing.......
Now I'm driving out the front race of the front pinion bearing from the rear of the housing.......
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Time to re-assemble all the stuff..................................................................
Now I'm driving IN the New rear bearing RACE using the old bearing race as a buffer so I don't knick the new race while driving it into place (you can't see the New race because I'm holding the old race in front of it--I'll tap on the old race until I hear the solid metallic sound of the new race seating itself against the back of the housing...
There it is in place.........
Now I'll use the same steps to install the front pinion bearing race into the front of the housing......
There it is driven in place....it was easier to drive in because it was close to the front of the housing....
I screwed the old pinion nut on a little to keep the pinion shaft from vibrating out the back of the housing while I' driving the pinion sealinto the front of the housing--I put some silicone gasket sealer around the outside of the seal bedore I tapped it into place.....
I've got the old race that came out of the housing---it's the bigger of the two & it's the perfect size for holding against the new seal as I tap it into place.....
There, the new pinion seal is did..........
I forgot to take pics of this step, so I'll explain what I did. I installed the new front pinion bearing onto the pinion shaft---it's a slip-fit so I pushed it all the way onto the shaft with the end of a screwdriver--I also installed the oil slinger/spacer & the OLD CRUSH WASHER TEMPORARILY...then I put on the pinion shaft splined flange & used the OLD PINION nut to torque everything down...I did it this way so I can get the pinion depth correct without ruining the new pinion crush-washer or the new pinion nut...THE OLD CRUSH WASHER & PINION NUT WILL BE REPLACED WITH THE NEW PARTS ONCE I'M SATISFIED WITH THE PINION DEPTH BEING CORRECT....
Wellllllllll........back to the go-rajj to check the pinion depth & see if it needs shimming...............The pinion depth was within .005" of being correct(using machinists measuring tools--forgot to take a pic of that step)....so I removed the old nut, splined flange, & crush sleeve (for some reason--apparently the Mustang pinion shaft was 1/4" shorter than the Ranger pinion shaft---so I couldn't use the new crush sleeve since there was no room on the shaft for it?????)
I installed the splined flange and the new torque-nut....I gradually tightened/checked the rotation torque several different times until I got 28 inch-pounds of rotation torque on the pinion shaft....
Now that the pinion shaft is installed...I placed the carrier housing and thick spacers in place...it was a tap-in fit....
The carrier bearing caps are put in place & will be torqued down.......
The bolts are torqued on the carrier bearing caps, so it's time to check the backlash (slack) between the pinion gear & the ring gear...it's got .015" backlash--on the loose side of the tolerance---but that's better than being too tight causing the bearings to burn up....
Don't tell my wife that I used her lipstick to check the wear-pattern on the gears....waaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahhahahaaaa....I marked the gear in 6 different places and rotated the gears until I could clearly see the pattern, which looked good & nearly in the center if each tooth...
I got the 2 pics backwards....but you get the idea............
Since the wear pattern looked good...I installed thespider side gears & upper/lower gears
Time to pry out the original axle seals.........
and drive in the new seals using the old bearing races again......
After installing both axles seals, I installed the axles all the way into the splined spider side-gears--installed the c-clips..........
I pushed the axles away from each other causing the c-clps to seat themselves inside the side-gears (with a little jiggling to help them)...then I installed the locator pin that holds the axles in place...and...I installed the special small bolt to hold the axle locator pin in place....
Some silicon gasket sealer on the housing face and the cover goes back on.....
I bolted the cover back on....then topped off the housing with a couple pints of differential oil...
Tomorrow I'll totate the tires and do 3 or 4 ten minute drives at 45 mph with a 30 minute cooldown in between each drive to break the gears in according to the instructions...
So.......Dat's Dat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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