I'm getting ready to swap gears and the diferential in my 94. I haven't opened up the rear yet and was wondering how the ABS exciter ring is mounted. Is it bolted to the back of the ring gear or pressed onto the differential?

 

it's probably on the housing. it is very fragile though, so be careful. not sure on an f-body, but last time i worked on a rear abs sensor, it ended up costing 150 or so for the part

 

I'm 99% sure its pressed on to the differential. I'm sure if you do a search you can find some pics people always have pics of blown up 7.5 rears.

 

I have 2.73 gears in my 95 and the exciter ring is definately not part of the ring gear. I'm about to put a Torsen in to replace my Auburn and the exciter is part of the differential carrier. It appears to be the same thing with my Auburn. I currently have the cover off the axle waiting for the transplant:
Torsen
http://tinypic.com/hv9oy1.jpg
If you want, I will take a picture of the Auburn unit and post it for you. Just let me know to do it.
Regards

 

I took a closer look at my Torsen and the exciter is pressed on the carrier flange. In fact, mine was not flat with the flange as I looked it over. I took a small plastic hammer and was able to move the exciter on the flange quite easily. It's more of an interference fit rather than a press. I can see that it would be a little fragile to remove and install.

 

There it is!! Yep, it's the same on the Auburn, and has no effect on changing the gears on either type of diff. I've done both.

Now if you have TCS/ASR on your car, then there's no reluctor ring on the carrier, instead there's one on each axle in behind the hub.

 

I'm not sure if "exciter ring" and "reluctor wheel" are the same thing, but if they are...

I had 2.73 gears in my 94 Z (auto) and changed to 3.42. Well, I did not know about the different size reluctor wheels (taps onto the carrier with plastic/rubber mallet) so I knocked my off the old carrier and replaced it on the new one. btw, you have to get series II carrier for gears of 3.23 or taller.

Anyway, lesson learned is... there is a narrow reluctor wheel for the smaller gear carriers and a wider reluctor wheel for taller gear carriers.

The offset is for the ABS sensor pickup.

Just thought I would mention that incase you had the 2.73 and were changing the carrier, but did not want to do it twice like me.

Also, I went with GM Motive gears/Auburn Carrier and have had best of luck with no noise !

 

Thanks for that bit of information. I was a little confused when looking at my 95 (without ASR) and my 01 with it. Here's my Torsen without the reluctor. Fortunately it's in the axle housing
http://img493.imageshack.us/my.php?i...zexel011mn.jpg

 

Thanks guys. I'm not changing ratios. Just replacing my original 3.42 gears that whine like a baby with a new set and at the same time putting in a new posi unit. At least that was my plan until I came accorss THIS On Ebay. I know it's not a 12 bolt, but it's brand new and I don't really need a 12 bolt anyway. I'm also close enough to drive up and pick it up.

 

Now I've got a situation that leaves me with a question since reading your post. Here goes....

I have a Torsen Zexel 2 series differential that is replacing my Auburn Cone, also a 2 series. Both have reluctor wheels but the Torsen's is about 1/2 the width that is on the Auburn assembly. I've tried swapping the wider Auburn reluctor to the Torsen but it is a smaller inside diameter. I have no choice but to use the reluctor that came on the Torsen.

Question: Will the slimmer Torsen reluctor still work with the ABS pick up or am I in trouble with this swap? Anyone know for certain before I bolt it all up and fill the differential with RedLine?

Thanks

 

Can you see where the sensor is on the top of the diff housing? If you can see it from the inside, see if it lines up with the reluctor ring. It should ... I'd like to think they didn't make the housings different for the different carriers! You should be able to swap carriers Torsen <> Auburn without any impact on the ABS.

 

Thanks for the reply and advice. I could see how the axle casting has a deep well on the reluctor ring side. I will shine some light up there and then pay attention when I'm fitting the diff back in. If it's not looking like a line-up, I'll stop and need to ask more questions. Ha, I'm editing this because I see the sensor now and it's not in the cave at the back of the housing. It was covered with muck; what a mess! I assume it is okay to carefully wipe the sensor clean. It looks like a horizontal blade about the width of a pencil. I'm guessing it's a magetic pickup.

I have a question for you or anyone else reading; is it a must to use loctite on the ring gear bolts? I think I'll hold things up, go out and buy a tube and use the stuff anyway....

 

To be honest, I don't think we've ever used Loctite on the ring gear bolts in our cars. To date, I haven't (yet) had a ring gear come loose!

.....but please don't come loose now because I said that!!!

 

I picked up some 27100 loctite with the RedLine synthetic. I don't know if I'll use it although the loctite package show's ring gear bolts on their list of uses. Thanks again.