Guys, I know this isn't LSX related, but I am having an impossible time finding a how to replace the spider gears in the front diff of my '98 Z71.

I basically tore into the case because I thought I had a bad inner axle bearing. But I've found the noise to be coming from the open diff itself. Its not the carrier bearings, but the spider gears themselves. The wear *looks* ok, but one of the larger, non shaft mounted spiders seems to have a bit of play in it.

I have found the rebuild kits for this, but absolutely nothing regarding the install.

Any help would be much appreciated

 

Is this the split case 8.25 aam?
You have to take the case apart and the carrier out, then the spider pinion cross shaft.. then you rotate the top and bottom spiders out, then the side gears, some have a snap ring..

Of course you know you have to disassemble the entire thing.

Also if you have a bad hub bearing it'll make noise....even make you think its the diff.... spiders usually don't make noise unless they're broken and then they do very noticeable things and usually only in turns

 

Thank you for the help. Yeah, I already checked the hubs thinking they were the issue. pulled the front case and separated it. I originally thought it was going to be an axle bearing, but isolated it to the diff itself. It makes a ticking noise (the same noise i heard when driving) when i spin the spiders. I'm ordering the new gears today.

 

make sure too loosen your side adjuster screws before you bolt the case 1/2's back together, then set your ring gear backlash and side bearing pre-load back to specs, and on these front diff's you hold the ring gear through the vent hole and measure the backlash at the pinion yoke, take the measurement at the yoke and divide it in 1/2 for your backlash measurement