Third Member/Coffee Grinder

[krash kendall]

My rearend suddenly makes a loud cracking and snapping when turning at intersections. The driver's side wheel often locks up and drags during the crack, but there doesn't appear to be any problems when driving straight or applying power while turning. This leads me to believe the differential is shot. For years there has always been excessive driveshaft slop (more than 1/8 of a turn) so I new this day would come. My wife is going out of town for two days and leaving me with our truck, so I'm going to pull the third member tonight.

Do I just have to remove the four nuts at each axle end, slide out the axles, then remove the third member? Also, is it okay to apply heat to the four retainer nuts to help them along. I tried to remove them in the past and one side was too stubborn to do without risking stripping them, so I stopped so as not to make the situation worse.

 

[LMan]

dats it. Try not to bash the axle bearings as you pull the axles from the tube...

 

[grego37]

what type of posi do you have?

Just need to remove 4 nuts on each axel flange, should come right I wouldnt use heat, you have a rubber seal at the ends of the housing.
Slide the axels out just approx 6"
Unbolt the ujoint
unbolt the nuts around the pumpkin, let the gear oil drain out into pan, then muscle it out
wear clothes you can throw away

 

[krash kendall]

It's a limited slip nine inch from a '69 cougar.

 

[grego37]

I was going to say if it was a locker, some of those noises are normal

 

[krash kendall]

No, these are new, LOUD snaps that make the driver's wheel drag in a locked up manner. I think a tooth on one of the spider gears came loose. I've only worked on chev and jeep axles, so disassembly of this one seemed to easy to be true which is why I posted to verify.

 

[Edbert]

Don't underestimate the weight of the pumpkin when you drop it. Don't want it or you injured

 

[krash kendall]

Thanks, I've actually had the rear end out before when I got a new shell and couldn't believe how heavy the whole unit was. I figure about 1/3 of the 200+ lbs. is in the pumpkin. When I had it in my shop I used the forklift to manipulate it around while working on getting the drums off. It is the variety with the 3" axle tubes that taper to 2 3/4"ish outboard of the spring perches.

 

[Edbert]

Always keep safety in mind when working on your car. Numerous hands have been broken or fingers severed by pulling the pumpkin off the studs without appropriate precautions.

Proabably not as dangerous as a coil springs or crawling under the car while it is on a jack, but alway err on the side of caution.

 

[brianj5600]

Any recent fluid change?

 

[krash kendall]

How did it move?

Well, I was right about the problem being with the spider gears. After pulling the axles with a slide hammer my neighbor made for stubborn axles (works awesome) and dropping the third member, this fell out....

Then I got the spool apart this morning at my shop and found this...

I have no idea how this thing even moved forward. Anyway, the spider gear shaft ovalled the holes in the spool, so it is useless. I can keep my gear set though which are 3.50's. How much cash am I looking at for a spool for a 28 spline 9"?

Thanks for all previous and future input!

 

[Edbert]

this fell out....

Pictures require an MSN account...

By "spool" do you mean differentail?

A spool is a solid lockup of both axles, there's no clutches, gears, cogs, pins etc. in them and they are usually for racing only. But they are the cheapest too.

 

[krash kendall]

Sorry, I didn't you needed an account. I added them in as attatchments back up there. Yes, I meant differential. I don't know the names for all the individual pieces.

 

[LMan]

do an ebay search, youll get an idea. Prolly ~300, since you dont need gears, but Im SWAGing big-time. Used price vary widely!

 

[krash kendall]

I just went out and bought a Mini Spool for $24.80 CAN. Looks like a cheap easy fix and I get a posi to boot. Poorman's posi, but what the hey!

 

[krash kendall]

How do I get the ring gear off? Do I need heat?

EDIT: Nevermind. I blocked up the gear and knocked the center out.

 

[grego37]

How do I get the ring gear off? Do I need heat?

EDIT: Nevermind. I blocked up the gear and knocked the center out.

Wow, I can smell it from here.
You're not planning on reusing the gears are you?
They may be damaged from all that metal floating around.

 

[krash kendall]

The ring and pinion seem to be in good shape. All the damage was contained within the diff it would appear. Besides, budget diatates a lot of of what is deemed absolutely neccessary.

 

[70vert]

those jumps

are not the best thing for your rear pinion angle or for the diff. I might stop jumping the car like your avatar. The Duke boys had similar problems over in Mopar land.

Beautiful pictures, BTW. There's something pretty cool about spent machinery.

 

[DarkoStoj]

have you ever setup a ring and pinion before? It's not hard, but definately not something everyone can do