Bill

Well, I noticed yesterday that my passenger front side gear shaft has come out.

I've consulted my Haynes manual about it, and it seems a fairl simple fix:
-empty(what's left) and drop front diff
-pull out the loose "side gear shaft"
-clean everything up, replace seals etc
-line up the splines and pound it back in


My original concern was that there was a snap ring holding the shafts in. However the Haynes manual says to remove them, pound them off with a slide hammer, and instal is just the reverse. Which to me says no need to worry about snap rings

Anything I should be awair of that will pose particular problems? Thanks

Bill

So apperantly I'm the only one who has ever delved into pulling apart the front diff?

Yoda

It is generally accepted to replace the clip. Lots of people don't though. I pulled one out of a Chevy Impala that the ring was broken. Not easy to pull, and had to drop the end of the trans off to remove the debris.

So, should replace it, but if not bent some mechs reuse.

Bill

See that's the part I'm wondering. I know the front diff is full floating, and the manual says nothing about a clip, and I've pulled full floating axles before and there was no clip. IT just makes sence to me that there would be one.

Yoda

I've had 2 apart (long time ago). I's pretty sure they had a clip of some kind on there.

We swapped a bunch of stuff to get one front together that was not ADD.

leiniesred

oh yeah there is a clip on the end of the stub axles. It is a wire spring clip (round wire) it is possible to slide hammer the output shafts out, but if you are dropping the diff anyway...
Get the thing on the ground and pull the front cover.
Jam your big screwdriver between the cross shaft (open diffs only) and the end of the axle shaft you want to pull. Lever the axle right out. Piece of cake. way less work than the slide hammer. I guess you should try to avoid nicking the cross pin where the spider gears might run, but it would be pretty hard to scratch that cross pin.

Now, with the cover off, you can make sure there is nothing else going wrong in there.

If you ever break off the stub of the axle, this way is the best way because welding something onto the end of the broken shaft tends to mess up the oil seal. (heat)

If you want to slide hammer it off, bolt a chain to the axle you want to remove, raise the diff a couple of inches off the ground so it is swinging on the chain from something (your engine hoist?) now, simply lift up the diff about a foot and let it fall. 35 pound slide hammer.