8.8 axle and Front Diff Rebuild help

[K45]

Its not on a bronco but I figure there is enough Ford guys to help out. my dad has a 97 Explorer Eddie Bauer with 250k+ miles. He is out of work since the resesion hit and I am trying to help out. His rear axle needs to be rebuilt all bearings and seals. I have been reading up on how to and what not on it. I am concern with setting the preload on the pinion seal and setting the pinion depth and any other non obvious work on it upergrin: I do not have any of the specialty tools to measure depth, shop press, and etc. I can not find much of anything inreguards to the front diff servicing and rebuilds. I know what to do to replace the front hubs and thats not a problem. i do not know if the front diff needs any maintence besides fluid but any help would be great. Thanks

[blazinchuck]

we set up a complete 8.8 in my buddys mustang. if you use good quality bearings(Timken,etc.) just remove the old bearings and shims off the carrier and pinion. besure not to misplace the shims! you want those to go back on the carrier and pinion in the exact same location. you shouldnt have to worry about pinion depth, back lash. if the axle is still set up correctly from the factory, then freshing up the bearings shouldnt be too hard. pinion preload, will take some time. the crush sleeve is very hard to start compressing, BUT ONCE IT DOES>>>IT GOES FAST!!!!! might wanna buy 2 to have just incase you get the 1st one too tight. you will need a in. pound beam torque wrench....i think it will be around 12-14"lbs. you can remove the bearings with a clam shell puller, or cut off the outer cage, drop the bearings, and cut the inner race almost through...then a chizzle will split it to come off.as for the front diff...drain and fill with fresh lube, grease anything that can be. that should help i think,Chuck

[K45]

I have the click kind in lb torque wrench can that work? I also have a big ft lb .5" drive torque wrench. Thanks for the info. i am feeling a little more confident with this job. how akward is it to preload the pinion underneth the vehicle? I saw a utube vid on it and the guy was using breaker bars with 3' cheater bars. Should I not worry about rebuilding the rear Carrier? Thanks

[abunchofidiots]

You will need an Visual INCH lbs torque wrench. The click style doesn't work for this. As you use the wrench to rotate the pinion, you will be looking at the resistance on its scale.

Instead of using crush sleeves, an option would be to change it out to a solid race spacer. Ratech 4105 - Ratech Pinion Bearing Spacers are what I usually use. There may be other brands.

Yukon has one of the best written manuals I have ever seen on doing gears. I still keep a copy of it by my gear stuff. All the specifications for the 8.8 and every other axle are in it.

http://www.yukongear.com/Downloads/Techn...ctions.pdf

[K45]

Thanks for the tip. i will look into that more. I forgot to ask about the axle shaft bearing (wheel bearing) Is there anything crazy about it and special tools for it? it looks striaght forward from the diagrams. thanks for all the help