Panic, lost tool in diff! ECGS

Still working on this... Only had an hour or two to play tonight. Removed the other cv passenger side. Bent the hell out of dust cap. Know best place for replacement?

Btw diff IS coming out. I feel out of my league now but there is no going back. Need to pick up 14mm torx and 12mm Allen.

Chase from ECGs confirmed that I am the first idiot ever known to have done this

Oh and for the record magnet tools will not get this out, no way. Don't bother trying.

 

that sounds horrible. I think you have good support. just take your time and keep everything organized. You can do it! Good luck.

 

Crikey dude, best of luck, let us know what happens

 

You must talking about your front diff right? Since the rear diff has no CV axles.

 

not sure if serious.....


And for the OP

 

Are you being serious

 

Well he sure doesn't own a ridge line

 

Thanks for the morning laugh, haha. I'm learning more than I wanted to about this part of my truck. Oh well. Hoping to have some time tonight to finish dropping diff. Need to pick up a few tools too.

Soooo this IS my DD and this is really inconvenient. Best part, the car I was borrowing from my parents in the interim took a gigantic sh!t this morning. Icannotwin.

On the flip side, chase at ECGs has been extremely helpful, and I appreciate it very much. When/if I ever regear I will make sure to work with this company.

 

what exactly is the puller tool piece haha?


so im guessing you pull the whole front clam and crack it open and hopefully fish the piece out and re assemble the whole thing back on the truck?

i helped monte pull half of his front end apart over the summer...its quite the pain in the ass!

 

Ah! That sucks, I was a little nervous about that happening to me when I changed mine out, I feel for you. Bright side is at least you will be very acquainted with the front end of your truck. Gotta split it open, let us know how it goes! Good luck!

 

I used a magnet extendo-stick tool thingy to get the puller in the diff and hold it stationary. I would have shit myself if it fell in. :/

The biggest thing that worried the hell out of me, is that the bearing does not sit flush with the diff. It sticks out about 3-4mm. I beveled the outer lip of the bushing, and used a correct fitting race driver to install the bushing into the diff. I whacked on it to try and get it flush, but no dice. I didn't want to start destroying stuff, so I said screw it and left the 3mm or so of bushing extending out.

lmk if your bushing sits flush, because i'm a little worried.

 

I don't understand what u were doing that caused something to fall in? Were you changing seals? Or diff bearings? And what I would do is rent one of those microscopes that mechanics use. See if auto zone rents em. It has a little flight on the end so you can see what your doing. Than after you can see where it's at look around for a tool that will pull it. They make little pliers that are bent in a certain directions. Or little lady fingers that can go in and grab stuff. And if none of that works try some tie wire where I can put in there so u can possible feel around or move the piece to where you can remove it. I'm sure pulling the diff isn't fun at all just trying to throw ideas out

 

they also do make very small flexible grabber things. its like a small hose with 2 angled hooks at the end. you pull on the wire at your end and the little hooks pull together and hopefully tight enough to grab whatever it is


cant think of what to call it

 

So, you lost the "plate" part of the removal tool?


If the metal is not magnetic, I would try one of these:

 

That is probably the best option. The tool is magnetic, but so is everything inside the diff so....

The problem, is now the "tool" has slid down inside the front pumpkin. Luckily, its on the driverside, so the ring gear is on the passenger side. Its still sucks because theres a large sump space on the driverside, since all the spider gears sit closer to it. More room to fish is no-bueno. I do know the bearing also holds the driverside spider gear in its pocket.

So, its looking like you're either:
A. Getting lucky fishing with one of those grabber tools
B. Pulling the driverside of the pumpkin off.

Hope and pray luck is on your side.

 

He lost the insert..........the bottom right smaller plate piece in the picture you provided. It Needs to be inserted slightly sideways to fit in then slide into the groove(space) between the spider gear and bearing. Im def gonna be stuffing a bunch of shrink wrap in there like the vid shows.

 

All of this ^

I tried all of the tools mentioned above. Magnets are a waste, since everything in there is magnetic. Chase says whole diff needs to be pulled. I'm going to try and shake it out of the cv hole (drain is small and angled based on trying to feed the magnet in last night) once the diff is down. If all else fails, we'll crack the mofo open. Btw , I am a strictly fluid change and suspension swap kinda guy. Engines and drive lines are new to me so I'm pretty bummed about this, but you learn somehow , right? Everyone is in over their head until they learn to paddle

 

Subbed for outcome. Good luck!

 

Pfff I'll tell you the outcome, I'm gonna man up and pull that **** out!! Haha. Jk, thanks for subbing . I'll keep y'all in the loop. Here's a pic of magnet tools I tried - totally worthless. One is vaccum tubing with a trimmed magnet tool for extra flex.

 

Well this sucks! Good luck. I appreciate the education you have given me. Note to Self - don't lose that little piece of the puller!!!!!!!!!!

I'm about to tackle this job in the next week or two.