Dana 70 carrier R&R question

[dpuckett]

I will preface this by saying I KNEW better than to buy a vehicle that had been worked on by Advanced Automotive (the best shop in town, where my girlfriend works ), esp if they worked on the rear diff.



My question is, in a PROPERLY SET-UP Dana70, how hard should one have to pry (without a case spreader) to get the carrier out of the cetner section? I had to pry hard with a 2ft pry bar, and beat aggressively on BOTH sides of the ring gear (while busting my guts prying) to eventually get it out. The bearing rollers are scored as bad as the wheel bearings are, and I'm not even going to comment on the races. The wheel bearings "show no evidence of being too tight," so I doubt the diff bearings are, either. #@$%!



Before you tell me to step back and take a breather, I'm doing just that. I'm going to get the critical stuff out of the weather, and not do ANYTHING to it for the rest of the weekend. Had the dipwads put friction modifier in the rear diff at the time of "rebuild," I wouldnt be in this spot now.



Daniel

 

[Philip]

Thats a little tighter than I normaly set them up. All it takes is the pry bar.

:-laf

 

[dpuckett]

Thats a little tighter than I normaly set them up. All it takes is the pry bar.

:-laf

That's been my experience, too. Bearings look worse than in my mom's 100K rebuild, or my D80's 160K; and they have <3000mi .



DP

 

[Moab4x4]

I agree, 1 of mine just took a cheap harbor freight 2' prybar. One took a little tapping, but not that much.

I did have fits installing one this winter. Before the sun went down, it was going pretty well, I almost had things in place and got interrupted with something I "had" to do right then (kids... ... ). When I got back to the shop, it was really weird, it seemed that the housing had cooled faster than the carrier and shrunk a little or something. What was snug had become really hard to move. I wonder if on setup something like that could have happened?

Were both bearings pressed snug up against the shims? I forgot to oil a bearing when I pressed it on to the carrier and it stuck just before it got to the shim. Really had to convince it to go the way with force.



That D70 carrier is quite the paperweight isn't it? I hope you are not doing this under the truck. My arms ache at the thought of installing it while under the truck.

 

[dpuckett]

Yeah, it is under the truck, but it isnt that bad- at least it's a 4x4- I can sit up. I held the carrier up in one hand with my elbow on my knee. I dont think I could have held it at arm's length.



The shop owner came by the other day, and said the bearings were contaminated by foreign material (most likely metal shavings his hired hand didnt get completely cleaned out), and that they werent worn from being too tight (regardless, I think new bearings/races and letting me set it up right isnt too much to ask). HE thinks it shouldnt be that easy to get the carrier in there, but to him, a D70 is a BIG diff- we're talking a 2-hand carry here:-laf. I got some indentations of the rollers in the races in my aggressive, haphazard removal procedure, so he's going to spring for new races. I think I will borrow his dial indiactor and gear puller, and check the preload of the bearings. May get new bearings while I have it all apart. It is getting new LS clutches, since I think being down to steel on the friction plates is a bit to far to be fixed with friction modifier. Summer is nearly here, gotta get the AC'd truck going again... ...



DP

 

[PToombs]

Daniel, it sounds like you inherit these projects like I do. :{