Small screw up rear axle

[Tranham]

Made the mistake of removing the rear axle pinion adjustment nut / bolt near the driveshaft. Thought it was the fill plug. In the process of taking it out and trying to put it back I have no idea how deep it needs to be. How can you tell? Did not want to mess it up  Did not see in tm 9 710 but may have missed it?
Thanks for any help!


Robert

[Torque]

Unfortunately it's a little more than a small screw up, your going to have to pull the pumpkin. There's a brass thrust plate on the inside that will have fallen to the bottom when you pulled the adjustment bolt out.

[steve-0]

here is some discussion about it.
http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=151634

[Tranham]

Awesome, not. Going fishing then. Hopefully I won't catch anything

[Tranham]

Took the oil drain plug out and found the plate right near the hole. Removed all the bolts for the axle shafts, 3rd member and separated the drive shaft where it bolts together at the round plates. Do I need to remove more of the drive shaft or does it have enough room to come out now?  I did do some driving with the plate off and the fluid has some fine brass floating in it. No extra metal on the magnet. I was planning to use the track this weekend. If the plate is trash will it be ok to delete it for now? 


Glad you guys told me how big an issue this is.


Robert

[spec4don]

Well you should just remove the drive shaft completely. It will give you more room to get the diff out. It would be a good chance to inspect the bearings and see if you have any other issues. Plus youll need the diff out where you can reach in and put the plate back in. The plate is there to help with side loading of the ring gear.

My question would be if it's trashed do you really want to put it back together then take it all apart again to put a new one back in? Also while you have the pumkin out it would be a good time to clean up the banjo housing and get all the old goo out of the bottom. Check out Steve 1973's thread I think he has a picture of the diff coming out. Not a lot of room there.

Thats my 2 cents

Don G.

[Tranham]

Don

Thanks for the advice. The rear diff was gone over before I got it and it has no known issues including not have any leaks.

 If I overnighted a new plate how hard is it to install and correctly adjust? Special tools?  This is out of my experience level but certainly willing to try. I would be banging it out right now but I work nights

Robert

[SNAFU 62]

Hay, don't feel bad. I did the same thing awhile back. 

Don is right, you will need to take the driveline all the way out to make room to remove the pumpkin.  And like everything else on that track it is very heavy.  You will need help with a lot of muscle.

Good luck, hope you get it back together soon.

Layne

[spec4don]

Check the TM's on the setting of the load on the plate. There must be a torque setting. If not if you have a good rebuild shop in town if you give them the differencial number and they should be able to give you that setting.
If you can find a way to hook on to it over head you can ease it out of the houseing. Get some all thread or long bolts 4ea. and screw them into the housing and use them to slide the pumpkin out far enough to get a clevis and a chain on it. Again take a look at Steves thread or mine I think we have some pictures. Good luck

Don G.

[Outsider]

Robert,
Manual calls out the distance between the "thrust block" (brass shim) and  "bevel gear" (ring gear) should be between .012" - .015". So once you have it in use a feeler gauge to set the proper distance then tight the jam nut and re-check the distance to make sure it is still in tolerance. If you have any questions give me a call and I will try and talk you through it.

Steve

[Tranham]

Got it done this morning. Used a large cushion and let it drop to the floor. Plate was not too bad and was reused. Nice unit, still has most of the paint on the gears where it had been installed  Took me and a friend 40 mins to get it up with a floor jack and safety straps. Only need to fill and put the drive shaft back on in the morning. Back at work now. Thanks for all the help

Robert

[spec4don]

Glad it worked out!

Don G.

[ida34]

I had to do this to mine. You could feel the plate at the bottom near the drain hole. I put a small ratchet strap across the top of the frame and wrapped it around the pinion flange. Wrapping it keeps it from side to side movement and with the strap tight it will not all the diff to fall out. For safety I cribbed up a platform incase it did fall. I turned the pinion and the strap allowed the side to open up while it kept the diff in the housing. It opened it enough to fish out the plate and I was able to get it moved out of the way enough to get the plate back in. Never had to "drop" the diff. Still had to remove the driveshaft but not having to get the diff up and down made it a much easier day. Wish I had taken pics. This thing is heavy so be careful.