How hard is just a differential swap? Install kit needed?

[imported_admin]

Jenn's car currently has the stock 3.23 open rear end. We recently picked up the Zexel-Torsen take-off LS1 limited slip differential from TByrne. We have two quarts of Redline 75W90 synthetic gear oil, a bottle of GM limited slip additive, and a TA Performance rear end girdle and stud kit.

Do we need anything else, like the gear install kits they sell at Thunder? We're sticking with the 3.23's, how hard is it to just swap the differential? Can we do that without touching the gears?

Every other time I've swapped differentials I've done gears at the same time so it's ended up being a costly job. I've always just assumed it would be a total PITA but recently I've heard that you can swap differentials without touching the gears. Is this true?

Thank you!

[Wicked 3800 V6]

Just the diff is no prob -- I did it on mine. I had to jump sideways against my picklefork to pry the old one out, but after that it was smooth sailing. Make sure you have a torque wrench that will read in the opposite direction, as the ring gear bolts, among others, are the opposite thread. Good luck!

Remove wheels. Remove diff cover (smelly fluid caution! Turn until you find little bolt for pinion block, remove that (might be other thread?), and remove the pinion block. Push in the axles, and then pull them out about a foot (a C-clip will drop down when you do this). Now unbolt the bearing caps, and pry the focker out. Next switch the ring gear (bolts, soft hammer) and the ABS ring (soft hammer I think) to the new diff. Make sure all the appropriate bearings are on the new one, adn take the shims, etc from the old one that fell out and put them next to the new one as you put it back in. Yeah, It's a tight fit. Next the caps, the axles, c-clips, block, cover, etc. Note that as I took it out, the open diff fell to pieces -- all the innards sorta came apart. While it's all out, count teeth and divide to find your gear ratio. Mine was dead on 3.23 and some change.

Good luck dude,
-Rob

[98Camaro3.8]

Did mine myself. Really wasn't that hard. Here's a post I made a while ago about doing it.

http://www.camarov6.com/cgi-bin/ulti...&f=23&t=002608

[strange_trp]

make sure you run a pattern to check backlash and clearance.

[FunkZ]

Hey Stefan, your old CD player is still working great! [img]smile.gif[/img]

LSD is easy to do as you are not touching the pinion gear. Just do as Wicked says, you're just tapping the stock ring and reluctor gears off the open carrier and putting them on the Zexel. Keep the left and right side parts separate so you know which way they go back up in and you'll be fine.

I did mine and the only bad thing that happened was I broke the driver's-side shim trying to hammer it back in place. I talked to a guy who does GM rears all the time and he recommended holding the new carrier and both shims all together and putting it all back up in at the same time, which did work much easier.

I didn't use a torque wrench on the ring gear bolts. I used some red (non-permanant) locktite and ran them in with an impact gun. I also have a short write-up about the whole install on my website.

[Jack]

Do a search, this question has been answered a thousand times. :D :eek:

It is a very easy swap, you already have what you need. I did it in a few hours and also replaced the axle bearings at the same time. None of it is hard. This is definately a do it yourself thing.