After I took the pinion shaft seal out, I looked at the outer bearing.....pitted. I decided to delve even deeper and found the case bearings pitted along with the inner pinion bearing. Not only pitting but a lot of free play.
Did you ever take something apart and wish you didn't? Did you ever take a clock apart to see what makes it tick? Well, as of now I have no regrets about taking the rear axle apart but I wonder how long it will take for me to put it all back together and have it work properly!
Welcome to the inside of a rear axle.
The only remaining components in the axle housing are the two pinion shaft bearing races. The removal of the old and installation of the new races will be done at the local machine shop.
These are the differential case, ring gear and pinion shaft from the 7.25" integral carrier type axle. I do not plan to disassemble the differential case. I will, however, have new bearings installed.
The pinion shaft bearings preload spacer is on the left along with the outer pinion shaft bearing on the right.
The closeup photo below shows how badly the bearing has pitted. The differential bearings and the pinion shaft bearings have the same pitted condition.
You can see larger versions of the photos on my Flicker page. Don't forget to hit the "Back" button on your favorite browser to return to this page.
