12 bolt swap.

[SUX2BU99]

Alright, well that's 2 experienced votes there to not put the wheels back on, and use the jack instead to take weight off the suspension. Will it be stable enough on the jack when it's ready to be pulled away from the truck?

Maybe I will look for a different brand of penetrating liquid. Liquid Wrench didn't seem to do anything for my brake lines!

[smitty77]

For penetrating fluid, PB Blaster is tough to beat.  WD40 works well, but seems it takes longer to get the same effect.

As for removing the diff, I would think wheels off is the best way to go, less weight to sling around.  It should balance fairly well in the center, most of the weight resides in the housing.  As for raising the truck one side at a time - use your noggin and save some time.  A stout 4x4 or 4x6 timber can be used as a bridge between the frame rails out near the bumper.  Just balance it on the jack, center the jack between the rails, and lift away.  Don't get under it until it's safely on stands, but that goes without saying.

Smitty

[lowbucktruck]

That is some nice work on that axle!  Want to come and do mine? 

[SUX2BU99]

  After the amount of work it's been so far, I don't think I'd want to be doing this again anytime soon!  But I'm learning new stuff so it's been okay so far. Some of the bumps along the way have kinda sucked but at least it hasn't stopped me.

Update: started on the swap tonight. I'm not exactly doing it in the order I laid out earlier. Here's what I've done so far:
- raised truck as high as the floor jack would go and supported truck on jackstands at frame rails
- sprayed off flare nuts, shock bolts and u-bolt nuts with brake cleaner, then wire-brushed, then sprayed on some Liquid Wrench
- took off wheels and drums
- backed off flare nuts a bit just to know they will move, which they did. Tried doing it at the distro block too and one came loose. The other is starting to round over  But, I can take the hard lines off the diff and let them stay on the truck while doing the swap. It's not necessary to remove them from the truck.
- broke the nuts on the shock bolts free and loosened them
- used floor jack to take some weight off the suspension
- tried loosening the u-bolt nuts. No such luck. What I have right now for a breaker bar is a tire wrench that accepts a 1/2" socket head, but it's bent at about a 60 degree angle, not 90 degrees so when I pull on a nut, I'm not getting full torque. It's skewed and makes the socket pull at an angle. It worked for the shock bolt nuts but I'm going to have to get a real breaker bar for the u-bolt nuts. That's too bad cuz the tire wrench is about 30" long but I don't like how it pulls on the deep sockets, plus it wasn't breaking them loose
- forgot about the shackle bolts. So I hosed them and the u-bolt nuts down again with Liquid Wrench and will go at them another day.

[ccz145a]

I have an old trusty 24" snapon 1/2" ratchet. I used that. You could use a torque wrench, they have a good long handle and your going to need one to put it all back together correctly anyway. Just break them free and you can rattle them off with your air wrench.

Go out and get the right tools with the money you are saving by doing this yourself. 

Just keep one eye on the the jack stands and your ears open for creaking sounds. Those u-bolts are tight and you can pull your truck off the stands. 

I only use 6ton stands and as you put weight on them take the time to give each leg of the stand a gentle whack, it keeps the legs square on the floor. Oh, and chock the front wheels.

Good luck and be safe.

[SUX2BU99]

Good advice. I find it's difficult finding 1/2" breaker bars longer than say 18", and if they are they want $50 or more for them. I never really thought about a torque wrench since I figured they would be sensitive or something. I guess that doesn't make any sense considering their use.

I felt the truck move back somewhat after I had put it on jackstands and was lowering the pumpkin. I'll do that trick of tapping the stands to be safe.

[SUX2BU99]

I picked up a 24" 1/2" breaker bar at Princess Auto for $15 yesterday and took that bad boy to the u-bolt nuts. They all cracked loose so that's great. Now I just have to get at the u-joint bolts, take apart the brakes to remove the parking brake cable and the swap is a go.

[ccz145a]

woo hoo!

[comp]

wish i had those 2.76 gears myself

[SUX2BU99]

If shipping wouldn't be way too much, we could work out a deal!


Took the brakes apart just enough to get the parking brake cables off and reassembled them. Took the brake lines off the diff, loosened the u-joint bolts, took 1 u-bolt nut off to get some replacements but no such luck yet. My impact gun is such a wimp! Used my breaker bar to get it off the whole way which was a slow process since it isn't a ratchet.

Bought a 1/2" torque wrench yesterday which will speed up removel of u-bolt nuts plus ensure I'm putting everything back together correctly. Only have the vent tube bracket bolt to remove and everything can come apart.

[SUX2BU99]

Question: when I got to put the new diff back in, do I connect the shocks up first and then use the floor jack to compress them and then get the u-bolts on? Or do I put the u-bolts on first? Reason I ask is the shocks are in compression a little bit even then the springs are hanging all the way down. When I unbolted the shocks, they extended out a inch or so and I will have to compress them in order to get them back on, right?

[1976Scottsdale]

Easier in my opinion to bolt the axle in and then do shocks for the simple reason that shocks will twist the axle on you.  Just make sure to tap the u-bolts inward once in a while to keep them square.  Otherwise they might appear tight and move later.  Extra 5 minutes now cheaper than a drieveshaft when the axle rotates while driving.

[HAULIN IT]

Scottsdale is right on the money

[comp]

ALWAYS  re-torque U-bolts after driving

[SUX2BU99]

Good advice guys. I would rather bolt the diff in first anyway and do the shocks 2nd. The old shock bolts are still in the new diff because they wouldn't budge so I want it anchored before I got at them with the breaker bar to get them out.

So once the diff is bolted in, what's the best way to compress the shocks?

Finally, is it wise to use thread lube/anti-seize on the u-bolts or any nuts/bolts that have to get torqued?