98 Front diff to 95

[thegreenmachine]

so this is why i beleive the diff is pooched. there is also way to much movement in the driveshaft at that point. and the grinding and weird smell kinda gave me a hint too.

my question is, will a 98 RPO GT4 work in a 95 RPO GT4?
and if so, is it a bolt in? or swapping a bunch of parts.....

[LiftedAWDAstro]

In a nutshell...No it will not work. Will it bolt in...yes. The problem lies in the different CV half shafts. The Housings are machined different and take different axle bearings. The carrier, pinion and internal bearings are the same though.If you can get the CV half shafts from the 98, I think they may bolt into the hub bearings. As far as I know this hasn't been done or proven to work. They list different part numbers for the hub bearings so that is why I am unsure on that part.

[doyoulikeithere]

so this is why i beleive the diff is pooched. there is also way to much movement in the driveshaft at that point. and the grinding and weird smell kinda gave me a hint too. my question is, will a 98 RPO GT4 work in a 95 RPO GT4? and if so, is it a bolt in? or swapping a bunch of parts.....

X2 on Lifted's reply.
The half shafts are of a different design, early(95) vs late(98) model and they must bolt to the correct model of Front Diff Housing. As Lifted said, the guts can interchange just fine, except for the flange that the half shaft bolts too.
Someone needs to find out IF the late half shafts can insert into the early model Hubs. I would suspect that if the 2 bearing part numbers are different, but the part number for the early & late hub is the same, you might get away with it, if you use new bearings and the 98 half shafts. Wanna be the first to look into doing this!! and report back to our mothership?

[thegreenmachine]

thanks for the info.

but, unfortunatly i'm budgeted by the wife to fix as cheap as possible ( and correctly of course ) and she lacks the patience for me to alien probe the possiblity and report to the mother ship......

so next questions....
will the flanges interchange???

[doyoulikeithere]

will the flanges interchange???

Doubt it.

The Housings are machined different and take different axle bearings.

here is a picture of the early style...

[thegreenmachine]

Thanks again, i knew it was too good to be true.

it is really hard to find a 95 3.7.3 front diff, does anyone know of any compatibles from other vehicles?

[doyoulikeithere]

I have one sitting here. 3.73, from a 95 awd.
You can use S10 Front axle as well, but gotta lock it into 4wd (easy peasy), cuz the S10 is part time 4wd.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

What you have is a busted pinion bearing from the looks of the pic. To fix this using your 98 diff, pull the pinion and carrier out of the 98. Pull the same out of the 95 and swap the 98 parts into the 95 housing. You will need a new pinion seal, crush sleeve and possibly bearings. The bearings depend on the condition of the 98's bearings. You will need to do a complete setup to verify the preload and backlash is correct.