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DIY diff swap

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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 11:05 AM
  #1  
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Default DIY diff swap

Here are a few photos from the diy Diff swap. It really not a bad swap out. You disconnect the shocks, A-arms and brake lines cv axles and the four bolts on the bottom of the diff mount before you drop the cradle. Then Unbolt the five diff bolts and its out! The only thing I didnt know was the seal that separates the diff from the tranny had to me moved. I thought they would have sent a new one but its gotta be moved. It seemes like it was jammed in there much harder than it really was with a little prying and tugging it came right out.


This is the cradle out the back of the car.


A pic of what the spline looks like and with everything removed.



The seal in question....Its right on the front and you just pull it out and move it. Who would have thought.



The new diff without the seal...



All and all this wasnt a bad swap. Not including breaks for lunch and stuff this took about 4 hours.

Now to get the shift points fixed and were golden!

Thanks to all who were involved.
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 12:54 PM
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4 hours, on the garage floor with no lift? Well .... I am impressed. Lots of help?
Hope it all works out well.
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 01:53 PM
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Wow, thats real fast! It took me about 10 hours start to finish including clean up when I did mine all by my lonesome out in the parking lot. I went real slow dropping out everything, making sure I disconnected everything.



The 3.42's are an awesome mod =-)
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 02:01 PM
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It was me and one other guy. No lift. The two of us have had the rear ends out of both of our cars about a total of 8 times between us so we are getting pretty good. I managed to drop the full exhuast in less than 40 mins just on my creeper including jack time. Ive had the car apart so many times I could probably do it with my eyes closed now!
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 02:33 PM
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Great job. Thanks for the information.
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 08:55 PM
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I got a question. Why is the seal even there? Looks like the "new" one has a huge window, so what does the seal do?
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 09:03 PM
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Do you have any more pics of the install ?
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 11:16 PM
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Originally Posted by dbradley
I got a question. Why is the seal even there? Looks like the "new" one has a huge window, so what does the seal do?
The seal holds the diff fluid in there. You have to transfer it to the new one so the window isnt there. That orange ring goes around the tranny spline.
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 11:17 PM
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Originally Posted by burtonbl103
Do you have any more pics of the install ?
Most of the pics of the install turned out all fuzzy unfortunatly cause its a camera phone. I can help with any install questions you may have though. Ive done the cradle drop several times so I'm pretty familiar with the process.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 09:02 AM
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I know that you can't be jumping on the new rear, but how does it feel?
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 11:44 AM
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Originally Posted by jmt1669
I know that you can't be jumping on the new rear, but how does it feel?
So far it feels like it spools up quicker. Yesterday I just gave the throttle a light tap and it jumepd about 15mph real quick. I cant wait to get in it and report some good stuff!
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 01:08 PM
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If you want to come East and into my garage, I can arrange for a photographer and a car for you to work on...

I can't see the pics here at work (network weenies block all the image hosting sites...) but I am impressed from the tinie, tiny images I can see on my iPhone.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 02:13 PM
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Originally Posted by LJD51
If you want to come East and into my garage, I can arrange for a photographer and a car for you to work on...

I can't see the pics here at work (network weenies block all the image hosting sites...) but I am impressed from the tinie, tiny images I can see on my iPhone.

If I were closer believe me I would love to do it. We have garage parties in our area all the time to do this kind of thing.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 03:44 PM
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Originally Posted by c6 batmobile
If I were closer believe me I would love to do it. We have garage parties in our area all the time to do this kind of thing.
If you tried that out here where I live, somebody would probably call the Cops or the local **** Home Owners Association on your ***

People bitch about me wrenching on my off time at work all the time.

No love for us car nuts where I live it seems.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 04:58 PM
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Originally Posted by burtonbl103
Do you have any more pics of the install ?
I don’t mean to hijack Chris’ thread but if you (or anybody else for that matter) would like specific pictures of any of the installation stages, send me a PM as I’ll be doing almost the same thing starting tomorrow in order to swap out my torque converter.

Christopher
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 05:23 PM
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Originally Posted by lgm118icbm
If you tried that out here where I live, somebody would probably call the Cops or the local **** Home Owners Association on your ***

People bitch about me wrenching on my off time at work all the time.

No love for us car nuts where I live it seems.
That sucks. The guy two doors down from me has a vette and the guy across the street has a monster truck with a train horn. No body cares that I make a bunch of racket when I wrench on my vette its great.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 05:25 PM
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Originally Posted by thesubfloor
I don’t mean to hijack Chris’ thread but if you (or anybody else for that matter) would like specific pictures of any of the installation stages, send me a PM as I’ll be doing almost the same thing starting tomorrow in order to swap out my torque converter.

Christopher

Have fun Christopher. I think changing the converter was actually easier than doing the diff since you dont actually have to take the cradle apart. Still not bad though.

Im going to get these gears broken in this week and hit the track sunday hopefully and see what they get me where it counts!!
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