foundvettelifeisgood

I'm looking at the rear dif thinking about how detaching it from the rear cross member is going to be a nightmare. The VBP spring I'm putting in is the one that mounts to the crossmember, so you have to pull the cross member out to mount the spring brackets. The ends of the 4 bolts holding the dif to the crossmember are laughing at my PB Blaster. Maybe I'll get lucky, but I have my doubts about them unscrewing.

I'm seeing all the black goo caked on the dif and wondering if I shouldn't pull it all the way out of the car and swap it for a rebuilt 3.36 or 3.70.

Any thoughts? What's involved with pulling the dif?

Jvette73

Probably easier to drop the crossmember and diff as one unit. Just two bolts hold the crossmember to the frame and one pinion mount bracket. Loosen the crossmember to frame bolts first but do not remove them completely. Then pry down on the crossmember to pop it loose from its position. Once its come loose, suppout with a floorjack and have a helper to provide balance as you lower the whole shebang after removing the bolts.

The Money Pit

I dropped the whole assembly in a few hours alone using a floor jack.Putting it back up I needed some help to align the mounts.Once out of the car the bolts are not a problem. :smash: :smash: :smash:

Gordonm

:iagree: You have most of the work done. 3 more bolts and some prying to get it out and it is on the floor.


[Modified by Gordonm, 8:29 AM 2/23/2003]

foundvettelifeisgood

What about the half shafts and u-joints? :confused:

Jvette73

Yes the halfshafts will have to be removed as well. I figured that was a given when considering removal of the diff.

foundvettelifeisgood

Jvette--What's involved?

Jvette73

8 bolts total to remove each halfshaft. 4 on each end. For each shaft, unbolt 4 where its connectd at the spindle flange and 4 where its connected at the diff yoke.

when the bolts are removed you may need to pry a bit under the joint to free it from its location. wrap tape around the joint caps to keep them from falling off while laying around out of the car.


[Modified by Jvette73, 8:29 AM 2/23/2003]

foundvettelifeisgood

Stupid question series #47:

Do I pull the shafts first? Is there a left and right shaft, and is each end specific to the yoke vs. spindle? Could I leave the shafts connected at the spindle and just remove the yoke connections?

BTW--I had the half shaft U-joints done professionally last spring.

Jughead

Shane was selling a 3:36 rear. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=480173

Jvette73

Just to be safe I always put parts back in the exact way they cam out. Right on right, left on left and so on. Also I scribe a line or put a dapple of paint across connection points to insure they go in the exact way they came out.

When pulling the halfshafts I would imagine that your car is on jackstands. Givin that, the trailing arms will be in a dropped down position which will put the halfshafts on an angle. This sharper angle can cause binding at the joints and make it difficult to turn the shafts to get access to all the bolts. To solve this problem put a small bottle jack or similar under the trailing arm to lift it up and reduce the sharp angle of the shaft and facilitate removal. I put a tire iron or crowbar across the wheel studs on the outer end of the spindle to help rotate the shafts. If your driveshaft is still in the car you'll need to put the trans in neutral to turn the shafts. The driveshaft needs to be removed to remove the diff anyway so you might as well do that first. Once the bolts are removed from the outer end of halfshaft you need to push out on the trailing arm to get the end of the halfshaft away from the spindle flange. I suspect you will be removing the strut rods too so if you mark the alignment settings with scribe mark or paint you'll be able to put them back in the same position when re-installing. Come to think of it you may not need to touch the alignment bolts for the strut rods. Just unbolt the inner strut rod bracket from the diff cover and pull down on the bracket to get it out of the way. The strut rods ends can stay attached at the center bracket and shock mount ends. I cant remember for sure but I think thats the way I did mine.

I never knew the VBP spring required removal of the crossmember to install. Its an involved process I agree. When Installing my TRW composite spring it was a cinch since all that needed to be done was the center and end mounting bolts of the spring itself.

foundvettelifeisgood

I bought the Performance Plus package, which has a dual mount leaf. You can get a conventional mounting spring from VBP like the TRW you have.

The package also includes Smart Struts, so the strut rods and bracket go in the trash. Also included are shocks, so after removing everything that gets replaced, I'm left with the dif, half shafts and trailing arms. You're saying at that point I should pull the driveshaft. Then, can I just pull the half shafts from the yoke and leave them attached to the spindle?

I've read about painting both parts to assure it goes back the same way, but I'm considering either a rebuild or a different diff, so I guess I shouldn't bother with the paint.

Jvette73

Do the driveshaft next and then the halfshafts. I would recomend pulling the halfshafts completely to get them out of the way. Thats a heavy diff/crossmember unit yur dropping and re-installing and you want to have minimal interference. Save yourself the trouble and get em out of the way, completely. When the crossmember comes down, I picture the with the shafts still attached at the spindles, trouble and interference. Its best not to figure that out after all the weight is balancing on the jack.

mrvette

Found, I find your comment funny 'a bunch of caked on black goo'....man if you commenting over some nice old sludge and road tar, you in the rong business here.....you supposed to not notice thing like that, dive in and then walk into the kitchen with the MSO cooking dinner, and say....'ready to eat??" then be prepared to duck as the frying pan being tossed your way is heavier than the differential you just pulled.....

couldn't resist....


GENE

e3pres

:yesnod: Don't try it any other way!