Need Help w/Differential Repair

[ltdmstr]

So I tore down the back end of my truck to clean everything and install some lowering springs, shocks, 5-lug axles, new brakes, exhaust, etc. When I pulled the axles and swapped to the 5-lug variety, I found three loose bearings in the grease that drained out. They're about 3/8" long and 1/16" in diameter. So from what I can see in the exploded view in the factory manual, they appear to be from the back of the side gear(s). I'm not sure how that's possible, as the only thing I did when I swapped the axles was to drop the pinion shaft and remove the c-clips. But my question at this point is whether they can be installed without completely removing and/or disassembling the whole works. On, and btw, it's a posi unit. Any insight or advice would be appreciated.

[Bigdav160]

U-joint needle bearings? There's nothing that small inside the final drive.

[ltdmstr]

Originally Posted by Bigdav160

U-joint needle bearings? There's nothing that small inside the final drive.

I did remove the driveshaft and u-joint, but way before I had the differential apart. And didn't have the drain pan there because there's nothing to catch. So I'm not sure how they would have got in the pan with the gear oil. But I'm going to check that just to make sure. From the picture in the factory manual, the side gear has bearings on the back side outer surface. It's different than the standard, non-posi gear. And from the photo, it looks like those would be about the size of the ones I found. So I'm guessing that's where they came from.

[HO455]

Get a photo of the bearing pieces with a ruler and post them. You might try sending a PM to Randy500 he seems to be pretty sharp on rear ends.

[ltdmstr]

Good idea. I'll take some photos when I get to the shop tomorrow and post them.

[Ironangel]

You need to pull that carrier and check your bearings! If the carrier bearings are intact then you must pull the pinion gear out and check those bearings! Those bearings came from either one or the other...

[ltdmstr]

Well, looks like Bigdav saved the day. I checked the u-joint bearings and they are the same size (length = .331, diameter = .092). Bearings on the left are what was in the u-joint. On the right are what I found in the drip pan. Also did some more checking on the diff parts for the posi unit and what I thought were bearings on the back of the side gears is actually splines. I'm not familiar with the posi units on these, so I could be wrong, but it doesn't looks like any bearings this size would have come from inside the differential. Only problem is I don't recall having the drip pan nearby when I removed the u-joint, so I'm not sure how they could have got in there. But maybe I threw the parts in there when I took them off and don't remember. Anyway, big thanks to Bigdav. Would have been bad enough if I had to tear the whole thing apart to fix it. Probably would have been more upset if I tore it apart and realized it was all ok to start with!

[toolboxchev]

Pull the entire rear end apart, pinion and axle bearings. They do not just appear in the bottom of the diff for no reason.

[ltdmstr]

Originally Posted by toolboxchev

Pull the entire rear end apart, pinion and axle bearings. They do not just appear in the bottom of the diff for no reason.

I found them in the pan after I drained the diff. But I don't know if they were there before, and I didn't notice them, or if they came out with the gear lube. Considering they match the u-joint bearings, I'm guessing that's where they came from. Also, from what I can tell now, there don't appear to be any bearings that size inside the rear end. If someone is familiar with the posi setup on a 12-bolt, maybe they can answer that for certain.