Disassembly Of The Rear Axle; Cleaning; Inspection - Chevrolet 1991 Light Duty Truck Repair Manual

4B4-2 10 1/2-INCH RING GEAR
DISASSEMBLY OF THE
REAR AXLE
Remove or Disconnect (Figure 1)
Tools Required:
J 8107 Side Bearing Remover Plug
J 22888 Differential Side Bearing Remover
J 8614-01 Pinion Flange Remover
J 22912-01 Rear Pinion Cone Remover
• Place the rear axle in a suitable support.
1. Differential cover bolts (25) and the differential cov­
er (24).
• Drain the gear lubricant into a suitable contain­
er.
2. Outer axle shaft bolts (46).
3. Axle shafts (47).
4. Adjusting nut lock bolts (22).
5. Adjusting nut lock (21).
• Loosen the adjusting nuts (19).
6. Differential bearing cap bolts (28) and washers
(27).
7. Differential bearing caps (20).
• Mark the caps and the housing as left and
right.
8. Adjusting nuts (19) and bearing cups (18).
• Mark the nuts and cups as left and right.
9. Differential carrier (34).
10. Differential side bearings using J 23759-A and
J 8107 (figure 2).
• The jaws of J 22888 must pull from beneath
the bearing cone and not the cage.
• Scribe a mark across the differential case.
11. (36)
Ring gear bolts and washers
NOTICE: Do not pry the ring gear from the
case. This will damage the ring gear and the
differential case.
12. Ring gear (14) from the differential.
• Drive the ring gear off with a brass drift if nec­
essary.
13. Case halves.
14. Differential side gears (29) and thrust washers
(30).
• Mark the gears and the case halves as left and
right.
15. Differential pinion spider (33).
16. Differential pinion gears (32) and thrust washers
(31) from the spider (33).
Inspect
• Drive pinion bearing preload (figure 3).
• For looseness of the pinion assembly by mov­
ing it back and forth. (Looseness indicates
excessive bearing wear).
17. Pinion assembly cage bolts (7) and washers (8)
18. Pinion assembly cage (10).
19. Pinion cage shims (11).
• Place the pinion cage in a soft-jawed vise.
20. Pinion flange nut (1) and washer (2) using
21. Pinion flange using J 8614-01 (figure 6).
22. Pinion (14) from the pinion cage (10).
23. Collapsible spacer (12) from the pinion.
24. Inner bearing (13) from the pinion (14).
25. Pinion seal (5) from the pinion cage.
26. Front bearing (6) from the cage.
27. Bearing cups from the pinion cage.
28. Pilot bearing (15) from the axle housing using a
Do not steam clean drive parts having ground and
polished surfaces such as gears,bearings, and shafts.
These parts should be cleaned in a suitable solvent. All
parts should be disassembled before cleaning.
Parts should be thoroughly dried immediately after
cleaning. Use soft, clean,lintless rags. Parts may be
(35).
dried with compressed air. Do not allow the bearings to
spin while drying them with compressed air.
It is very important to carefully and thoroughly
inspect all drive unit parts before reassembly.
Thorough inspection of the drive parts for wear or
stress and subsequent replacement of worn parts will
eliminate costly drive component repair after reassem­
bly.
AXLE
H
• The carrier bore for nicks or burrs that would pre­
• The bearing cup bores for nicks or burrs. Remove
• The housing for cracks. Replace the housing if any
• The housing for foreign material such as metal
(figure 4).
• Tap on the pilot end of the pinion with a ham­
mer and a brass drift if necessary.
• Keep the shims together for measurement later
in the procedure.
J 8614-01 to hold the flange (figure 5).
• Place the cage into an arbor press as shown in
figure 7 and press the pinion from the cage. Do
not let the pinion fall to the floor.
• Press the bearing from the pinion using
J 22912-01 (figure 8).
• Drive the seal from the cage with a hammer
and punch.
hammer and brass drift (figure 9).

CLEANING

INSPECTION

HOUSING
Inspect
vent the outer diameter ofthe pinion seal from seal­
ing. Remove any burrs that are found.
any burrs that are found.
cracks are found.
chips, dirt, or rust. Refer to " Cleaning" in this sec­
tion.