Differential front bearing removal

[JohnnyB]

Hey guys,

i need ur help again. I wanted to replace the shaft seal of my differential. As i read, without removing of the whole differential, i wanted to replace the collapsible spacer and the differential front bearing as well, to be able to get nearly the amount of rolling torque.

Unfortunately i have problems to remove the bearing shell of the outer bearing. I read about a special tool to remove it in the Haynes manuel. Is there a easy way to pull the bearing shell without that tool?

There is not enough space for my adjustable puller. Or do i need just a smaller one?

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

[18Fiatsandcounting]

There is not enough space for my adjustable puller. Or do i need just a smaller one?

It's hard to say whether that would work or not, because I've always removed that bearing race by tapping it from behind, which obviously requires that the differential be removed.

But let's back up a bit. Why do you need to replace the front bearing? They don't usually fail unless the differential went without oil, and if that's the case, the rest of your differential might need work as well, like the rear pinion bearing and the carrier bearings.

Getting the correct rolling torque, which sets the pinion shaft preload, requires that the ring gear be removed, which also means the differential has to come out.

Although it's not the factory technique, one acceptable method of replacing the front pinion seal is to first mark exactly how the pinion nut is positioned before you remove it (how many threads are showing for example). Then, remove the nut, remove the seal, put a new seal in place, then tighten the nut to exactly the same position as before, which will usually be in the low 10s of foot lbs. Like 20, maybe 30. Use a new nylon lock nut if possible. This will keep the bearing preload about the same as it was, although that may not necessarily be what you want (for example, if you knew the preload was wrong because the bearings were loose)

But, it sounds like you're past that point, so you might need to remove the differential. Setting up a differential is tricky, and I've practiced on a few spare ones but only done it once in a real situation. This was on my '69 spider where I put in a 4.3 differential rather than the stock 4.1, just for grins (and practice). Seems to work fine, but it only has a few hundred miles on it so it's hard to say for sure.

-Bryan