Alright long story short, but I bought a rear with bad axle bearings, is there any way to change them with the rear out of the car? Does anyone have a write up?

 

Good question ... I don't know how you'd get the old ones out, other than using a puller of some sort?? I'm sure the new ones would just press back into place . Hmmm .

Well, a TTT for ya anyway .

 

I don't see why you can't do it with it out of the car, I did a search, and it doesn't look that hard, gonna give it a shot this weekend maybe.

I bought it from a friend, and his cousin was supposed to change em before I picked it up, but then I bugged him for about a month after I paid for it, then he told me put it in the car and then he'll change em since the rear will fall apart unless its in the car I know he won't come to my house to change em though, so I gotta either swap the gear sets, or change the bearings and swap the rears...

Sucks, never buy stuff from friends...

 

Wait, are you talking about the INNER (carrier) bearings, or the OUTER axle bearings?? Either way, you've gotta pull the cover, and at least get the axles out (for the outer bearings). If you need to replace the carrier bearings though, YES you have to pull the carrier out, but they're actually "easy" (sort of) to replace. Technically you should double-check the backlash after replacing them (which may require re-shimming), but if it were ME ... I'd probably just slap in new bearings, button it all up (obviously do a backlash "feel" test!) and call it a day .

To do this doesn't matter whether the diff is in the car or out of the car. Again though, if you're referring to the OUTER bearings, I've never actually changed a set of those, so I don't know how hard they are to remove from the ends of the axle tube?

 

I am in the process of changing the axle seals. It is much easier to do it out of the car. I am not doing the bearings but I can snap a few pics if you would like.

 

Its the outter axle bearings, I may just bring my car and the rear to a shop and have them swap the gears/carrier, cost me some money, but it'll save me from a headache.

I am gonna pull out the axles this weekend and have looksee, and then call some shops and weigh my options...

 

So you're planning on changing out the gears as well for a different ratio while you're at it then? If you've never done gears before, it's probably better left to guys who have . If all you need is new outer bearings though, the carrier doesn't have to come out though ... you just pull the blocking pin keeping the two axles seperated, pull the C-clips, and the axles slide right out, carrier still in place . That's if you DON'T want to pull the entire diff apart to swap gears.

 

No, I bought a rear from a friend with 3.73s, with a stud girdle and new balanced driveshaft for 200 bones out of his wrecked ws6.

But the catch was the thing had chattering axle bearings(this is what he told me) basically before he wrecked it, you could push in on the wheels and they would move in and you could hear clunking noises, don't know if thats a sign of bad bearings, or what. It would seem like the c-clips would be the problem(after investigating today). His cousin who is a "master mechanic" and claims to know everything said he would change them, a month went by, I bugged him alittle, he told me I would have to put the rear in my car, and then he would change the bearings, because if the rear wasn't in the car, it would fall apart Didn't want to do this because I didn't trust him to come and change the bearings after doing the swap, So I got fed up, went to his house and picked it up(its been several months since I paid for this thing) and want to do it myself.

Anyways, I pulled the axles out today, and took a look, the bearings feel like they don't have that much more play then the new ones I have, I am not really sure whats going on. I know the carrier doesn't have to come out to change those bearings.

I basically got myself into a mess(to a degree) theres nothing wrong with my rear, posi works great, gears are quiet, no clunks, so baically this was just going to be a gear upgrade(by swapping the WHOLE rear, not just the carrier/pinion)

I am sorry for the length, trying to describe my predicment as best as possible.

Anyways, I have two options, change the bearings, pull my rear in the car, swap my axles and backing plates(so I can use my brakes, this is an ls1 rear), etc. onto the new rear, and put everything back in, or pull the carrier and pinion out of the rear with 3.73s, and bring it to a shop and have them swap the 3.42s for the 3.73s...

I have no problem paying a shop for the install(I am sick of working on my car, after doing headers, 1.6 rrs, and lt4 springs, I have no problem laying down some cash), how hard would it be to take the pinion gear and carrier out(I don't want to bring the whole rear to a shop and have them do it if its not that hard to just pull it out)? Again, I won't be doing the actual gear change, I don't know how to set pinon backlash, etc...

Again sorry for the length, just trying to figure out whats best... Thanks so much for the help.

 

'gear change' requires the 'whole rear'.Proper pinion depth and ring gear backlash/clearance has to be established.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you guys understand my situation.

I'll try and make it simple, I bought a complete rear end with 3.73s and bad axle bearings, axle bearings were supposed to be changed, never happened, so now instead of changing the bearings and removing my current rear with 3.42s and installing the rear(whole rear, not just gears, the housing and all) and I am pulling the pinion/carrier out of the 3.73 rear, and bringing it to a shop, and the shop is going to install it into my car, and the shop will make sure the pinion depth/backlash is within tolearnace, not me.

I found the info I am looking for, so thanks for everyones help.