SO IT BEGINS - FRONT DIFF SWAP

[larryk]

Well, it begins. Started taking parts off tonight, and the attached pics are the result of about an hour and a half or so of teardown. As of now, I'm thinking of pulling the pan to swap it, but damn.....That hole where it is looks so tempting that it would fit. Lol. I guess I'm debating the pan swap, the out the top method, or the cut the frame and reweld it method. Debate, debate, debate...Sigh. And for those of you who will ask, I'm replacing all the A arms, knuckle, wheel bearings, bushings, steering rack and ball joints.....so it's all coming out.

Only "hiccup" so far was the stupid disconnect being a pita to get off the pan. The new one slides right in, but that old one...yikes!

Any pics anyone wants, let me know. I'll check in the AM, and then I'll be off grid as the phone will be in the house, and I won't be

[Anthony Hernandez]

I'm doing the same thing man. I'll be going out the front once I get the damned thing off. It's suuuuuuper stuck in there. I pryed and beat that shit out of it and nothing worked. I sprayed it with everything possible and only got it to move 1/4". Hope things go better for you homie. Mine has been a bitch. I'll do a detailed thread later with pics and such.

[larryk]

Got heem.... 3 1/2 hours to pull all the suspension components, oil pan and that pesky front diff!

[larryk]

Success! Total time to do the following work, 13hours. Keep in mind, this wasn't just a front diff swap. Would have been probably only 4-5 hours to swap the diff only. I used the dropthe pan method...strongly recommended, as it was pretty straightforward and simple.

Here is the list of all I did:

Swapped diff
New disconnect
Replaced lower Aarms
Replaced and flipped UCA
All new ball joints
Polyurethane bushings
New poly sway bar bushings
SS steering rack (fastest of the three ratios)
New axles (Detroit Axle)
New timken wheel bearings
Replaced front U joint
Stainless Brake lines, 1"longer

Fun times!

[Aries]

the out the top method,

Worked for me

[larryk]

the out the top method,

Worked for me

I think, having looked at what it takes to do the up the top....and actually dropping the pan, I can see where both are legit ways of doing it, although the drop the pan method was very simple and clean. Also, the side benefit of being able to inspect the engine internals and verfiy if there are any issues in your pan.....I vote to drop the pan.