Is My Front Diff Bad?

[ihatemybike]

Yeah, buying a front diff by itself can be costly. If you have the space, buying a parts van is the way to go. I only paid $225 for mine and have pulled well over $900 worth of parts off it so far.

Any repair manual plus a bit of heat and you should be able to get the shafts out.

Tearing apart the CVs isn't too hard. I carefully cut the big band on the outboard boot using a rotary tool cutting wheel so I'd only have to buy the bands to put them back together. There is a lot of grease that will need to be cleaned to see what you're doing. Down the shaft in a groove in the inner bearing race is a snap ring that needs to be spread apart. This will allow the shaft to be removed from the inner bearing race. With the shaft out, it's just a matter of rotating the race/bearings/cage until they come out.

Once you pull the ATC fuse you should be able to leave the prop shaft and diff till you are ready for the swap.

If you need more tips while you are doing the job, you can call me. PM if you need the number.

[Mr Bean]

PM Sent...starting the project in 30 minutes.

[Mr Bean]

Aaron! You rock! Called him twice last night during the 5 hour diff pull. He saved us twice. haha. Horrible job. very dirty. i have grease in my hair.

[astroturf]

Glad to hear it worked out. Jim

[ihatemybike]

Glad to be of help.

[Mr Bean]

So aaron...we never did put back any "half shafts" or anything like that...are we forgetting something?

[ihatemybike]

As long as you put the axle stub back in the hub and properly torqued it, you should be ok. The rest of the CV (half shafts) can stay in storage for now.

[Mr Bean]

hmm. we never even removed the axle nuts. we were able to get enough play in the system by removing one lower control arm nut and prying the shaft out of the diff and removed stuff from there. so i hope we're ok...ahah.

[ihatemybike]

You disassembled the outer CVs with it still attached to the hubs?

[Mr Bean]

um. yes. here's the catch. we left the CV bearing in place. which means it's going to crud up and be useless. I plan to replace the CV's on both sides with new ones considering the van has 160 K on it and original joints and boots which were starting to show signs of wear. the other option of course is a solid front axle...or just sell the van to a member of the club who wants to do all that

[ihatemybike]

Wait, you left the inner race (star thing), bearings and bearing cage in the cup? With nothing to hold them in place?

***pictures all this stuff flying out at speed***

[Mr Bean]

oh dear. pm sent.

[brad]

Guys the situation read out like a suspense thriller!!!! Need to know if everything worked out? will it be a happy ending?

[astroturf]

Guys the situation read out like a suspense thriller!!!! Need to know if everything worked out? will it be a happy ending?

Hey Brad, You can write your own ending of sorts... viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5597 , and pick up a decent van along the way. Enjoy, Jim

[Mr Bean]

Thanks Jim! lol! It's a great van...just lost interest when I learned we couldn't tow it...and really, we need a vehicle with slightly better fuel mileage than this one...in any case, we'll be taking it to the local auction this coming week and it should be sold on the 8th of April if we don't have any takers...