BAH HUMBUG!

Gonna take it to the shop on Monday unless there's a way to remove and replace the bearing without taking the diff apart or completely removing the axle shaft.

 

yeah... pretty much have to open the diff to remove a clip and pull the axle shaft out. nature of the beast. the shop is gonna get some more money out of me now.

for those who want to know how to replace the bearings in a solid axle, check out This post over at F150online

it's for the 9.75 axle, but is pretty much the same as the 8.8 axles on our land yachts.

 

Too many peg leg burnouts???

I find that the hardest part of that job is getting the old bearing out of the housing.. Torch and slide hammer do wonders! AS far as pulling the axle, that's not too terribly difficult...

 

the problem is I live in an apartment complex that doesn't allow working on cars when it involves fluids. this involves fluids because of the differential housing. I also don't have the room to pull the axle out due to parking. I also don't have a slide hammer or a torch. or half of those tools shown in the thread I linked. all I have are hand tools and an electric impact wrench. I'm just missing too many things to be optimistic about doing it myself. I'll let the shop do this one. my diff needs a new gasket anyhow.

 

Understood.. Sometimes it's just easier to have someone else deal with things too.. I've gotten that way with exhaust work...


While you're in the process of having the bearing done, have them check the other side thoroughly... If the bearing is okay it still may pay to have the axle seal replaced since it's a few year old anyhow, and it's mostly apart to get to it anyhow...

I would not recomend synthetic gear oil though.. About the only advantage would be that it would free up some power and mpg's.. Although I woudl bet the gain would be miniscule versus the number of problems that seem to stem from using it..

 

yeah... I know full well about synthetic oil in diffs on older cars usually lead to broken teeth.

 

Not to mention leaks.. Funny thing is even with new stuff that came new with synthetic oil there seem to be alot of problems...

 

well, the car is at the shop. hopefully they'll call me with an update before the end of the day.

 

and it turns out to be the pinion gear bearing. I'll get my car back tomorrow.

 

Oooh, good thing you caught that.. The carnage could have been ALOT worse...