Rear Differential Question

Long (somewhat embarrassing) story short I need to remove a short rubber tube that went for a swim in my rear differential.

I am thinking that it shouldn't be to difficult to take apart the casing and get it out.

I think I have it planned out for the most part but am not sure how well it will seal back up. Is there a gasket that seals the casing back together or does it use some other type of sealant?


Any other tips or ideas would be helpful.

Thanks

 

A really thin gasket. I didn't use a new one when I put my locker in last weekend. Just used the permatech and it works fine.

 

You can't just leave it at that... come on what's the story?

ALso if it involved water... make sure to do the breather relocation mod.

 

It's a paper gasket, at least when I was changing my diff (LSD) casing that's what I came across. Like Matic I didn't bother replacing it with OEM, I just went with Permatex.

 

I have an oem one that I can send through USPS for you just PM me your address it is a paper I bought one and never used it. It's got your name on it though if you want it. I just got to make sure it's still in the middle console of my truck.

 

Did you have to remove the drive-shaft to get the differential casing off or can you just take the nuts off the casing and slide the whole thing off as one piece?

Also probably a dumb question but what is this permatex stuff? Im assuming its some kind of adhesive/sealant.

 

come on dude..how did you get a rubber tube into the diff? how long of a tube? you drop it in while filling the thing.

this would be good info, so the next guy doesnt do the same thing.

permatex makes a bunch of gasket sealants..some are "form a gaskets"..

 

What he said.
You dont really need a gasket. Just run a nice bead of the red permatex gasket silicon. Not super thick. The paper gasket is so thin it most likely is going to tear off.
Take a rag with some brake cleaner sprayed on it and wipe the diff down.
And yes....your going to have to remove the 4 bolts that hold the u-joint flange to the diff. No big deal.
I got a pic I think. I just did mine.

 

Your going to have to spray the piss out of the diff bolts and the four u-joint bolts and let it sit a while. If the diff has never been touched before....it could be a pita. I had to use a breaker bar on each and every bolt.

 

You're going to have to pull the axles too for the 3rd member to come out.

 

By popular demand the story is the tube slid in when I was filling differential.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

I managed to get the drive-shaft removed. The bolts where a PITA but I drowned them in WD40 last night and by the time I got home from work they weren't too bad.

I'm at a point where I am not sure if I have removed everything that I need to removed to get the casing off. Ive taken (9) 12mm nuts off the perimeter. My plan is to use a rubber mallet and pry-bar to work the casing off. I don't want to start banging away if I still need to remove something but I don't want to just be removing stuff if it doesn't need to be.

The two things in particular are what looks like a large bolt head behind where the drive-shaft used to attach and what I think I have seen called the ECD located at the top right.

 

Your drive axles will have to come out. The whole 3rd member need to be removed. That nut is for the pinion. Probably wont do a bit of good taking it out. There are 4 nuts behind the drums on the rear end that need to be removed so your axles can slide out.

 

Thanks. I ended up finding another thread explaining it as well. Looks like i got myself in deeper than I originally thought.

 

No Prob. Hope you get it fixed.

 

how big of a tube?

 

The tube is about 6 inches long about as big around as my finger.

 

I've reached the point where I have pulled my axles. I wasnt sure how far I needed to pull them but I have read on here that a couple of inches should work so they are pulled out a couple of inches. It felt like they disengaged from something inside the axle so i think they are far enough.

At this point how hard should it be to remove the 3rd member. I have removed 9 nuts from the perimeter. They covered the part from about 3 to 12. The top right quadrant (12-3) is covered up by something that I think is my Electronic Locking something or a another.

The 3rd member doesn't seem to be budging yet is there something else I need to remove. I'm thinking i might have to take off this electronic locking hooyah to remove something that locks it to the rear axle in that top left part.

 

Its not budging and my strategy of prying it open with a pry bar, screw driver and rubber mallet doesn't seem to be working. Anyone else have trouble with this?