so what should I be watchin for as I pull it and and put a new one back in? is the damn thing only held on by the crossbrace by that 1 bolt? or is there somethin else holdin it up?

does the crossbrace have to come down before pullin it out or can I just pull it straight back?

 

There are 3 bolts holding the Diff on...One horizontally in front and 2 vertical ones behind. When you start jack up the front and back off the torsion bar bolts until the bars are loose.(What you will be doing is creating room so you can pull the CV-Joints away from the diff). Put a bottle jack under the lower ball joint and jack up the suspension to create clearance between the top bumpstop and A- Arms. Find a big 1 inch socket and jam it up between the arm behind the bumpstop. You can now release the jack. loose the 4- 12 mm nuts from the top ball joint and the whole assy will drop down..you can now pull it away when you release the 6 nuts holding the CV on to the diff..You will now have clearance to pull the diff down..Dont forget the drive shaft and swaybar too.

 

When I did mine the diff came out fine but I found it easier to remove the cross brace when replacing it. It's only an extra 2 bolts on each end.

 

Wow. I didn't do all that, but then I've replaced the studs with bolts, so I pulled all of them out, then the driveshaft, then the 3 mounts (mine were rusted, so I had to undo the bolts that attach the diff to the mounts. Major PITA) and it came right out.