From what Ive seen Joe... the advice your 4x4 shop gave you is right on... having been through this Trac-Loc ordeal... the broken clips - taking it all apart etc... the Trac-Loc seems like a really bad design. If anyone has a problem with this OEM LSD I would think any replacement would be worth the investment. And Ive had a lot of guys recommend the Auburn. I went with a Yukon LSD because of price weighed against what Im going to do with this truck... or more like what Im not going to be doing with it ha ha.

 

mike great job ! just trying to let others no that if you pull clips case damage will happen. either rebuild now with a diff manufactures lsd , if your finance allow. or drive it and rebuild it later when it fails. as long as it doesnt grenade or destory gears practically same price give or take, excluding tow. my fear is i hope im close to home when she fails. 4x4 shop shot me a off the hip price of 1,200.00 all bearings and auburn. i will service normally and hope for the best . again nice job. rebuilding rearend .

 

That is correct, if you just pull the clips the clutch tangs will just eat away at the carrier face. The clips are a hardened steel that take the abuse when the clip tangs flig forward or backward and then the clip transfers that torque to the facia so that it doesn't dig into it.


Don't know about the pinion bearing being a "suspect" over any other build, that set up is isn't that bad. What is bad is the oil bath design that it sits in! Oil and debris can get flung in there but can't get out, I think that is more of a problem with it then anything.

Your welcome for all the PM's back and forth. If you need a hand again feel free to let me know. Carrier work isn't for the back yard mechanic, but with some good coaching it can be done with great results, just takes a lot of time on your first one.

 

thanks for the clarification on pinion weakness.

 

Well.... I think I may have done it good this time. Wanted to clean out the ac blower motor and got a bit carried away....I got a bunch of junk out of the blower motor (mouse nest i think) and just kept going..... Anyone have any experience with the disassembly / reassembly of the dash and panels and ac control box??? Or has anyone seen any threads on this forum pertaining to such things? These pics are after about 100 screws....a broken (expensive) plastic panel... and a lot of cussin. I'll post this in general as well.