I have a donor 8.8 rear end that has a good 3.55/auburn setup that I want to swap into my truck to replace the 2.73 open. since the spring perches have been altered on the donor rear end it would be much simpler to just swap its contents into the housing currently in the truck.

Theoretically, if I remove the bearings,races and shims from the donor and put them in the other case the same way they came out I should be fine. Is this the case? Or is there enough variation between cases to warrant needing to set it up again? I just want some input before I start tearing everything apart. I'm sure someone here has attemped this.

Thanks

 

You would need to set it up again. New crush sleeve for the pinion, measure for pinion depth, measure ring gear backlash and pinion bearing preload, yadda yadda yadda. You may end up reusing all the shims, but the only way to know is to measure.

 

Thats not what I want to hear lol, I was going to use the existing crush sleeve and just transfer it over and check the preload with my inch pound wrench then stake the nut, sort of like when you replace the seal. Then just pop the carrier in and check the gear mesh.

 

The bearings wont live long like that. You got to do it right for it to last.

 

I've decided to just cut the spring perches off and reweld them at the proper angle, I was mainly wanting to avoid the hassle of pulling the whole axle out bleeding brakes etc, but its not worth risking messing up a perfectly good rear end.