Rear axle shafts and bearings

[Chevy Truck Guy 86]

On my 86 K10 10 bolt rearend I want to paint the backing plates and replace the bearings and seals, and what I have found out is to get the axle shaft out you have to take a little clip out, is that in the differential and you have to take out some gears? I would rather not take out any guts because I know little about it unless you can take it out and put it back in without any trouble. Unless you can change the wheel bearings without taking out the axle shaft, which I don't see happening, I just don't know.

[starkey]

Taking the shafts out isn't that big of a deal. You don't have to remove the diff carrier to get the c-clips out, but you will need to remove the center pin of the spider gears. Again, not hard at all. Even if you have nominal mechanical ability, you should be able to figure it out.

[thirsty]

This is what your 10 bolt will look like. You can see the pin in the center that starkey was talking about. Once that pin is removed then you can push the axles in to remove the c-clips. Then your axle will pull out. What you don't see in this picture is the bolt that goes through the pin. The c-clips aren't visible in the picture either, they are up against the spider gears.

[Blazin]

X2 on the bolt, center pin, and C clips.
You don't have to take any gears out to remove the axles.