Thought I might outline the steps to remove the rear diff for those who want to do this on their own. Did this by myself with no assistance. This differs from the shop manual in that you do not have to remove the nuts on the ball joints that connect to the hub assembly. Having done it the way in the shop manual and this way, the following is much easier!

1. Jack up car and place on jack stands. Be safe. I always get the creeps when my face is 4 or so inches from the bottom of the car. Put the car in neutral to allow the spinning of the driveshaft. Better to do this now than having to do it after you have removed two of the drive shaft bolts!

2. Remove rear wheels and drain the gear oil from diff

3. Remove bolt holding shock to arm

4. Remove bolt on arm holding same arm to the hub assembly

5. Remove the front bolt to the trailing arm

6. Gently pry axles from diff while pulling wheel hub out and up

7. If you do not have an assistant, use jacks to hold the rotors up and out of the way for clearance. If you have ideally two assistants, they can pull the rotors up and out of the way when you drop the diff. Better yet get someone else to go under the car while you supervise and pull on the rotor. Free beer helps this negotiation

8. Zip tie the axle ends closest to the diff to the sway bar. Angle the ends toward the rear to allow clearance to drop the diff

9. Remove drive shaft bolts. Put something under the drive shaft to support it.

10. Remove bolts at the back of diff that connect to the mustache bar. Be careful to use closed end wrench to remove. The one on driver's side is tight and at an awkward angle for most wrenches. When I did this the first time I used an open end wrench and rounded the bolt head (sucks). This time I used a swivel head ratcheting wrench to get that one out. Most wrenches have too much angle on the closed end.

11. Put jack under diff and remove the remaining two bolts to the chassis. Be ready for the diff to move around on the jack as it is hard to balance

Good Luck!

 

Hey, when removing the axles you did them one at a time? Did it come out easy? I see in the manual that there's a little clip at the end (inside the diff). You didn't have to take that out?

Also, does anybody by chance know whether the bolt on the trailing arm is welded into the arm or if it's just got a head at the other end? Can that cover on the bottom of the arm (the round black thing) be taken off?

 

The axles come out one at a time (each side). I gently used a pry bar at the diff. The clip is not really a factor. Just enough to hold them in.

The trailing arm has a nut in the other side. Just get a breaker bar with a socket ready to get the bolt out.

 

Are there any special procdedures to do when reinstalling the diff. Check play, back lash, etc.?

 

I would say to wait until everything is together and then torque the bolts to spec. I have changed out my diff twice and it has been fine.

 

do you have to remove the axles? im just asking is there enough play to just remove the sway bar and driveshaft and lower the diff down then pull the axles out? im just asking to see if there is a way without removing the axle from hubs

 

Why not just remove the axels. It involves about as much as removing the sway bar, unless you plan on changing the sway bar. The angle of the cv joints may not allow you to lower the diff. But if you want to try your method. You will find out if it works pretty quickly.

 

I tried the sway bar method and it works pretty well. Just choose one side to pull the first axle. I chose left since there were still parts of the exhaust still installed.

 

I am just replacing an axle (broken tone ring for ABS). Does the clip come out with the axle? Were you digging into your diff and then retrieved the clip? When reinstalling the axles, did you not replace the clip? Any damage to the gear oil seals when pulling out the axle with the clip still on it?

I know...LOTS of questions :]

Thanks in advance for the help.

Tom T.

 

Clip stays on the axle. No damage to anything when removing. don't put too much into the clip. It really is not that robust. Most of the axle integrity is accomplished with the diff and wheel hub anchoring.

 

is it the clip that makes it a pain in the *** to reinstall?

 

The clip presents NO issues.

 

I guess my concern is the clip cutting the oil seal in the rear differential when I slide the new axle in and/or take the old axle out.

Anyone ever had this happen to them? do not want a constantly seeping seal.

Thanks for the input, chmodlf. i am sure when you said NO issues, you were saying to leave the clip on the axle and just ignore it and pull out the old one, not taking the rear diff apart to take the clip off and then slide the old axle out.

Also meant to leave the new clip on the new axle in place and reinstall the axle right through the oil seal into the diff. Yes?

 

I just went through this process with my TRE Maxx-Lock rear diff.

It was a simple process. Its important to note that the moustache bar bolts (3 17mm) should be undone first before the two vertical rear diff bolts; doing it the other way around drops the diff a few inches (which will scare the Sh*t out of you if you're not prepared for it), It won't fall to the floor, but it makes the moustache bar bolts hard to take out since the moustache bar has flexible rubber bushings (an excellent time to install that Energy Suspension Differential Bushing Kit!)

Personally, I just removed my rear LCAs, rear shocks, and rear sway bar. I unbolted the diff and supported it with a transmission jack, and slid the diff down a few inches. Then, I pulled the axels out of the diff while they were still bolted into the hubs.

It's a very straightforward install, though I haven't had a chance to test mine out yet.

No clip issues here, either. Not that i've noticed yet, at least.

 

The clips are only there to "hold" the axles in the diff. When you pry on the axles, they pop out with the clip. The new axle comes with a clip already on it so all you need to do is put the new axle in the diff. Theres no reason to be obsessed over that clip you guys are just over-complicating it.