blitzace12

iTrader: (1)

Well. I originally thought it was a axle bearing problem. Its not. When i took the cover off the sound (grinding) is comming from the center of the diff. How do i know if its the pinion bearing or the carrier bearing? When i was driving it it was directional, this leads me to carrier bearing right? Im a newbe, is this something i can take out and go to a tranny shop and have them pull and press new ones? If so, how do i take the carrier out? do i need to have new shims and worry about backlash and pinion depth and all that crazyness? i just dont have a lot of money to take it to a shop. Thx for the help. If there is a write up for carrier removal and instalation that would be AMAZING. =)

96lt1m6

iTrader: (31)

most likely the carrier bearings are going south on you, those need to be pressed off then on any machine shop can do this for you.

blitzace12

iTrader: (1)

So what are the steps i need to do to get the carrier off? Is it just the 4 bolts? what are the torque specs? anything tips i need? what aare the bolt sizes?

transam8410

iTrader: (1)

taking the carrier out is easy, first take the rear wheels off then the drums, it would make things easier if you set the car on jackstands and let the rear end freehang.
So now you can take the diff cover off and youll need to take the carrier pin out by taking out the screw that holds it in and drive it out through the other side, then you can pull the axles in and take out the c clips that hold them in, then you can remove the axles, then unbolt the 4 carrier bolts and take out the carrier, just make sure to remember which side the shims go on.
Now i had my machine shop replace the bearings for like $20 in about an hour, then the install is pretty much the opposite of removal