95 front astro differential rebuild

[drama]

I was looking up a few sites and videos for good pics or videos of a rebuild from tear off to install. But I was unable to find anything.

I plan to climb under, yank it out and rebuild it. Is there any tips or instructions others that went through this could give me?

[doyoulikeithere]

No tips from me on that one, except that there is a member here who actually found and rebuilt a 'cast iron' front diff for an astrovan.
Identical to our aluminum units, except way stronger.

[Captn. Crunch]

Hello
I may be the one Doyoulikeitthere spoke of. I do have a cast iron front diff from an S-10 that I plan on re-building, upgrading to limited slip and installing in my 99. It seems every time I get the money together for the limited slip from engineered performance something else breaks so i have yet to rebuild on remove and replace. Here is a link to a ZR2 site I'm a sponsored member on that might help answer some of your questions. Have fun and post lots of pics!!!

http://www.zr2usa.com/mboard/index.php? ... 303&page=1

[photo_van]

Try this viewtopic.php?f=60&t=8579

[drama]

I am just getting around to doing this rebuild. But I had a question trying to figure out if it was a crappy mechanic or something else is wrong. I was looking at diagrams and it appears there are spacers that go on the end of the tube assembly. But there was none on my van. I am posting a few links of the diagrams and a photo from my van. I bought the national r320-a to rebuild it. But I want to make sure there isn't more parts I need before I get into ripping it apart. It appears something rusted off awhile ago. I want to figure out the part name so I can locate a replacement, or if anyone had a good way to fill the gap.

Any help you could offer will be great.

http://www.fixya.com/fullimage.html?src ... 7d42aa.gif

[drama]

Here is a different angle.

[Captn. Crunch]

drama
I have a link that might be helpful to you. It's on the zr2usa site. The only issue is not being a member means you can't open all the pics he's posted of his rebuild. Possibly you can contact an administrator to gain access.

http://www.zr2usa.com/mboard/index.php? ... 303&page=1

The front diffs are all the same. The only difference is the two piece passenger side axle on the 4x4's. there's no difference between aluminum and cast iron diffs other than the metal obviously.

Good luck and let us know how you make out!

[photo_van]

By spacers at the end of the tube; do you mean axle tube where the axle seal is?? If so, I don't think there are spacers there. I can say for sure that my '98 didn't have them.