I'm going to be regearing and wondered how hard it is to R & R the rear diff? I'll be having ZUK replace the R & P to regear. I searched but couldn't find anything specific...

 

What are you working on? Most rear thirds come out pretty easy. You have to disconnect the rear brake lines and pull the rear axles out (not all the way, but far enough to clear the diff). Unbolt the carrier and pull it out. I recommend PB blastering all the bolts the day before, it makes em come loose alot easier.

 

its not hard at all. 4 bolts for backing plates, 4 for the drive shaft, and i think 11 or 12 for the diff itself. 2 pins for the ebrake cables. 2 brake lines. oh...and 12 lugs

PB it the night before. a good floor jack and pry bars help when you separate it from the housing. oh..dont forget some brake line crimps. id go with some good RTV for the gasket instead of the oem paper gasket.

the front is a bit more difficult, but definitely not 5 banana's out of 5. good choice in sending to zuk for your regear.

 

What doubledown said.

And, who is this Zuk guy?

 

Zuk lives about 40 min drive from me so i'll either remove it myself and take it to him, or I may just drive over there and have him do the whole thing since he knows way more than I do for the rear. He gave me a very good quote to r & r the 3rd so I may just go that route.

 

Zuk: http://www.gearinstalls.com

 

Just took out my third the other day, 4 bolts for the driveshaft, 4 apiece for the axles, disconnect the brake lines and the e-brake cables, 14 or so for the third itself and like everyone else has said, pull out the axles to clear the diff. Most of my bolts came undone pretty easily, but yeah some PB couldn't hurt.

 

My mom did mine--it was that easy --but dont forget to buy some brake fluid to top off the brake resy. And dont remove the brake drums.

 

Looks like Sunday March 9th, I'll be driving down to Zuks to have him install my 4:56s with locker. I would take out the 3rd myself and deliver it to him, but to be honest, I don't have the time. I work 60-80+ hours a week. I'm amazed that I've found time to do all of the mods I have on my ride. It's my only day off for a few weeks so I'll just drop the truck off and enjoy a day of doing nothin'.... If I do find some time between now and then, I'll remove myself. I've done much harder things than this to my truck...

I'll post my reaction to the new gears...

 

I'd recommend using vacuum caps over the end of the brake line rather than crimping the brake line. You can damage the rubber brake line by crimping it.

 

Well...I went ahead and removed my 3rd last night myself. Went very easy. Since we don't get snow and rust etc. here, I didn't need any PB and all bolts came off easy. I'll be droping it off to Zuk today with a LockRite locker and should have it back and installed this weekend. I'm looking forward to feel the difference. For the brake lines, I just used a piece of vacuum tubing with a screw on the end to prevent fluid leaking everywhere.

 

UPDATE: I picked up my 3rd from ZUK on Sunday and installed on Monday. It's taken a few days to get use to having a full time locker. I wasn't use to the "clunk" noise and feeling when putting into gear from the backlash nor the bit of roll when putting into park. But....it has way more torque and low to mid end power. I have to stay off the pedal a lot more because the tires tend to break free. All in all, I'm pleased with the work ZUK did and the way it performs. He's a great guy that's really into gears and has a nice clean organized shop....

 

Great to hear pfdaxe .