i finally found out my problem with my 4x4. took off the front diff. cover today and found both c clips and a bunch of teeth in the bottom of the housing. the planetary gears got all chewed up. my question is can i get just the smaller planetary gears because the ring gear is fine. is the gear assembly easy to get of the differential housing. a whole set is like $500 for everything but it looks like all i need is the smaller gears. any help would be apprecited. thanks

 

Yes you can. But remember there was a reason the gears tore apart. A full rebuild kit would be best. And carefully inspect the ring and pinion. Anything you will need will be here. http://www.ringpinion.com/PartCats.a...eID=2&DiffID=5

 

yeah the truck was wheeled pretty hard so that is why the gears are all torn apart. i am just lookin to get the planetary gears cheap and install them so i can use 4x4. not using truck hard though. what is the best way to get the gears out of the diff. with the cover off and all while i am in there?? should i pop out the whole assembly and allor can i leave the ring gear and get the spider gears out?? also if i leave the pinion and the shims and i just do the spider gears, i should not have to do the backlash and all it should stay thesame correct. thanks!!

 

It is very easy. Just remove the cross-pin bolt and the pin. Then slide out the axle shafts (CV axles will need to be removed first) and install the new spiders and C-Clips.

 

thanks for the help. so if i unbolt the axle coming out of the diff. that is connected to the cv shaft, would i be able to have enough room to slide the axle out enough to get the spider gears out or do i have to disconnect the control arms and get everthing out of the way on both sides. sorry for all the questions. fairly new to differentials and 4x4. thanks!!

 

Yes if you just unbolt the CV axle from the Axle flange then let it hang down, I believe you will have enough room to slide out the axle.

 

went to the junkyard today and found a diff. that had 3.90 on the ring gear. it should be the same as mine. i got the diff. housing out from under the truck. pulled the axleshafts by removing the c clips. tried for a long *** time to get the diff. out of the housing but could not get it out. do i need a diff. spreader to get it out?? also i was wondering how i get the pin out for the spider gears since it hits on the ring gear?? do i need to unbolt the the ring gear and then pull the pin and then remove the spider gears or what?? need help so i can figure this out. thanks!!

 

You have to loosen up the adjusters on the bearings. To pull the pin you may need to rotate the pin to the side. Some have a notch on one side to clear the ring gear. But I'm not to sure if that is what your problem is. Stock usually doesn't build it like that.

 

how do i rotate the pin to the side?? it can only go up and down out of the enter housing. you can rotate it to get the c-clips out and that is about all. also how do i losen up the bearing adjusters?? are those the metal rings that have the notches along the outer edge that are inside the axle housings?? do i need a special to to loosen up the adjusters??

 

Try looking through the serivce manual. It is in the FAQ in this section.