Getting my ducks in a row

[Shdwdrgn]

James - I bought what was listed as a 'front carrier'. I was only expecting the differential, although the disconnect would have been nice since I'm thinking mine may be about shot. Any chance you have a picture of what the disconnect would look like?

Price-wise, the few I've been able to find were listed in the 600-700 dollar range, PLUS shipping, and generally had around 200k miles on them. I got this one for $685, including shipping, and it has 62k miles. I believe it came off a 2007 SS. On the other hand, rear EXT axles seem to run closer to $350, and I've seen them pop up in the local area.

[JesterGrey]

After reading how much the front carriers go for with 4.10 I felt the need to pop open the spare I had and count the ring and pinion. 41:10 should mean I have a 4.10 front diff sitting in my garage that I bought off eBay for 215 plus shipping. I'm in the process of cleaning and checking the rest of the insides since this front came from an 02 envoy with 90k on the speedo

[Shdwdrgn]

So... uh... anybody in the Colorado area that I might be able to bribe into helping (IE: I don't have a clue what I'm doing) change this out sometime before the snow falls?

I'm still in search of a rear axle. They seem to have dried up locally over the Summer, but I'm still watching... I've changed those before, and it wasn't a big deal., its just the front one that is an issue, mostly because it appears that so much stuff has to be removed to get it out.

[navigator]

if you don't find a helper, FishSticks did a pretty good write up on it. It starts around page 2. viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1351&hilit=front+locker&start=40

[Shdwdrgn]

Navigator -- thanks, I've read some threads by a few people. I think that has me even more scared. I don't know how they considering it a morning-job, looks more like a weekend project to me. Also while everything is apart, I need to check my disconnect and potentially get replacement parts, which means the thing could end up sitting for a couple days. I'm not looking forward to it, but eventually I'll have to buckle down and do it myself.

[navigator]

yeah, if you are like me it seems more like a weekend job. A lot of the guys like Donny and others have tore up a lot of stuff in the past and replaced a lot of parts. The guys that do it a lot don't have to figure out as much as they go because they already figured it out before.

On your splined disconnect, I haven't pulled mine off yet but I understand it is usually easier to get off the 2nd time if you don't want to do it all at the same time. You might get it off and find you only need to re-grease.

[Shdwdrgn]

If this were my old car, I replaced the engine and had my hands on every other part of that car so many times, things like this would be a walk in the park... but since my TB is still fairly new to me, tearing out half the engine accessories to get to the diff seems rather daunting since I'm not sure I'll remember where they all go back in.

Certainly hoping for an easy fix on the disconnect, it was questionable several times last Winter as to whether it was actually engaging. And that's one of the reasons I'd like to try and get the diff changed out this year rather than waiting until next Spring.

[dvanbramer88]

Navigator -- thanks, I've read some threads by a few people. I think that has me even more scared. I don't know how they considering it a morning-job, looks more like a weekend project to me. Also while everything is apart, I need to check my disconnect and potentially get replacement parts, which means the thing could end up sitting for a couple days. I'm not looking forward to it, but eventually I'll have to buckle down and do it myself.

You can drive it without the disconnect and passenger CV installed. Duct tape or a Gatorade cap make a nice dust cover for the oil seal.

[Wahugg]

You can drive it without the disconnect and passenger CV installed. Duct tape or a Gatorade cap make a nice dust cover for the oil seal.

Remember to pull out the intermediate shaft too, otherwise it'll be turning, banging around, unsupported in you oilpan.

-Wahugg

[dvanbramer88]

Yes. if you remove the entire disconnect. My bad.

When we rebuilt Josh's disconnect, we left the inner half on the truck throughout the entire rebuild. We took it apart on a Friday afternoon. Took all the parts out of it to be cleaned up. Threw a couple bolts back in to hold the inner housing on and covered it in tape. Went to order 2 bearings and an oil seal from the local auto parts distributor. Picked up parts Saturday morning, installed the new bearings and seal in the outer housing, greased parts, and re-assembled.

When you leave the inner housing on, the inner most bearing supports the intermediate shaft.

[v7guy]

Dave is correct, that's exactly how it works. Interestingly enough, it works the same way when the inner housing snaps off in the oil pan cause the bearing is still there!

[Shdwdrgn]

Eesh I don't want to be snapping anything off! I figure worst case, if I can work on this in September and I have to order parts, I can still ride my motorcycle to work on Monday morning.

[Shdwdrgn]

My replacement rear axle arrived last week, and I finally got a chance to unwrap the plastic from it last night. Eesh what a mess -- this thing has obviously seen some road salt and been sitting in the yard for awhile. The dust shields are rusted, however I found a pair of Dorman replacements on Amazon for $20, so I figure it is worth throwing on some new ones. The rotors are completely rusted as well, but the ones on my truck are in good shape, so I can use those. I think I'd like to hit the whole axle body with a wire brush and some rustoleum, then shoot for doing the axle swap in a couple weeks.

To replace the dust shields, it appears I have to remove the whole axle, which means I'll be half way through a full disassembly anyway. The replacement axle is an 8.6" GT5/G80 with 66k miles. Does anyone have suggestions on what else I should do while it is apart? Any common failure parts that should just be replaced? Anything I should look for to suggest abnormal wear on the gears?

[HARDTRAILZ]

Look for metal in the fluid..

But I would just abandon the dust shields(rock catchers). I pitched my front and will pitch the rear if they ever rust. All they do is catch rocks.

[dvanbramer88]

Look for metal in the fluid..

But I would just abandon the dust shields(rock catchers). I pitched my front and will pitch the rear if they ever rust. All they do is catch rocks.

Yep. mine rusted away a while ago so I just ripped them off. And I cut Josh's off with a pair of shears.

[Shdwdrgn]

They only use sand on the roads here, not salt, so there is a noticeable difference in the undercarriage rusting. And I would think catching rocks would be a good thing? Preventing them from gouging the inside of your rotors?

[dvanbramer88]

They only use sand on the roads here, not salt, so there is a noticeable difference in the undercarriage rusting. And I would think catching rocks would be a good thing? Preventing them from gouging the inside of your rotors?

No, that's where the rocks get caught. Between the plate and the rotor. Making a terrible noise. Sometimes backing up makes the rocks fall out. Other times you gotta get a big screw driver out and pry the rocks out. PITA.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Or they trap them against rotor and you wear a groove in them while hearing an awful screech....

You cant get the rocks out from back there very easy when one makes it in there, but if you remove them, then rocks dont get stuck.

How is a rock going to gouge the inside? If you hit something on a trail it will shove the thin catcher in and gouge the rotor either way. I would worry more about a small rock wedging in an terrorizing the rotor than a big one hitting it.

[Shdwdrgn]

OK I see where you guys are going with this... makes sense now.

So what else? Is there a way to tell if the seals are still good, or is that one of those things that should just be replaced? What about bearings?

[HARDTRAILZ]

Just see if it is leaking. If not, seal good! When I did the SS rear I had it all apart and did nothing... Everything looked ok and figured it would show itself later if there were issues. No reason to just blow money.