so....im retarded. i might have taken my 3rd member out and tore it down without marking where the bearings and gears were. oops. after i tore it down i got on and saw you are supposed to mark everything. i did this to get to the pinion bearing. so my question is how hard will it be to get everything back together correctly? or should i just buy a used 3rd member from the junkyard for $250?

 

Thats a toss. You need to have the 3rd assembled bye a pro, or go the junkyard route. Then practice on the one you have extra.

 

Well,

Depending on which "gear guy" you ask...you will get several different answers. In my opinion it doesn't really matter what you do with the case when you are taking it apart if you are going to replace all the bearings and crush sleeve.

Thats what I would do if I was you. I have seen a gear guy work on my third many years ago and not even really care what any of the measurements were, he just did it by "feel". That particular rear end is still going strong after 340,000 miles. But that guy was good. Most people doing it for the first time don't have the right tools or wouldn't even know if the RP was set up right until they hear loud whining coming from their 3rd.

Also, people sell used v6 thirds out of 90's 4runners for about 75bucks all the time.

 

There's only two things that you could put back in place in the opposite positions and have it possibly make any difference. (No, I don't see the logic in marking the differential bearing pre-load adjusters for replacement in their same positions, they're absolutley identical)

1. The differential bearing races.

2. The differential bearings caps.

And you've got a sporting chance, 50%, of getting them in the right spot without even trying.

Other than those parts, the diff can be setup back to factory specs using the FSM as a guide.

Which is exactly what I would do. As a matter of fact it's what I have done, successfully too I might add. It's therefor my opinion that I was either lucky in getting everything back together as it was, or such things don't really matter that much.

Here's the FSM, there no harm in trying. You might get lucky too!
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...35differen.pdf

 

$250 sounds like a lot, depending on what gears you want. you can probably pick up a 4.11 third for $50 somewhere because they are so common. others will be pricier.