prettyy simple stuff. for the diy guy pull carrier and pinion out, take to machine shop have bearings pressed off/on. tell them to reuse the old pinion shim.

 

Anthony repairing diffs is abit of a speacilty job. unfortunately changing pinion seal usually results in damaged pinion bearings due to overtightening pinion nut. the 400lb l of torque is required to collapse the crush sleeve which preloads both pinion brgs.changing pionion seal without changig pinion brgs can be done but you have to retighten pinion nut back to the position it was in before disassembly.some people count number of turns whilebacking off pinion nut.others remove ring gear and carrier assy then measure torque (inch pounds) reguired to turn pionion then retighten to same. before removing ring gear assy you must measure backlash and record it as the ring and pinion will have to have the same backlash on re assembly.also the side carrier brgs are pre loaded (they have one or more shims between the brg race and diff housing).the shims on the right side and the ones on the left side also move the ring gear sideways . these shims are forced into place. the proper way is to spread the housing appart with a special cage typ tool.however many have used porta powers or jacks to acomplish this , others have been able to drive the shims in (only possible if you have thick cast shims.before pulling the ring gear assy on manny fords you must determine if the ring and pinion are matched (timed) or hunting they would only be matched if ratio was even numbers such as 40 teeth ring gear and 10 teeth on pinion .most are hunting type so it doesnot matter. but if it is matched you will have to mark one tooth on pinion and one space beetween gears on ring gear ***(paint )now back to the pinion brgs there is a shim under the brg to locate the pnion shaft at the correct depth. also the brgs will be apress fit onto shaft requiring abrg splitertool to fit under brg and apress to removethe brg some people have smashed the brg gage then heated the inner race to free brg from shaft (NOT RECOMMENDED) the machine shop that did your engine work would be able to do this for you.thebrgs have a special spacer between them (called a crush sleeve)a new one is required as will be a new pinion nut ,both are one time use only.if you can find a shop manual it will hav e pictures showing this the hardest part of the job is prloading the pinion brgs you install the pinion shaft in housing with new seal then tighten to 400ft lps or so you will then need an inch lb torque wrench to rotate the pinon shaft .you have to keep tightening the pinion nut until the correct drag in inch lbs is reached if you overtighten you can not back off the nut you need to install new crush sleeve and try again.if you proceed slowly you will get it ok most tecks use an impact gun to start the crushing of the sleeve when properly done the crush sleeve acts like a spring pushing against both brgs and keeping them preloaded.the tricky part is holding the pinion shaft from turnig while torquing to 400 or so they make tools for this but most people use a large pipewrench on pinion flange and let it jam against floor andthen a long pipe over your half inch or 3/4 in drive most of the toqueing can be accomplished with impact gun.good luck i know you can do it but agood diff guy can do it rather quickly

 

Anthony, listen to retiredinstructor. The post above is about the best advice I have ever read, word for word. Your truck uses a full-floating type rear axle which means the wheels don't even need to be removed to tackle this repair, only the axle shafts. If you are going to replace the entire crown and pinion set along with the bearings, pay particular attention to the stampings on both the crown and the pinion. You need to know if it is a 0 gearset or a +1, +2 or -1, -2 set etc. Those numbers will tell you if you need to add or subtract 0.001" from the pinion depth shim you will need to set the right depth. Failure to get these measurements right WILL result in a howling rear end within a couple hundred miles of driving if even that, and you'll be doing it all over again. So, just to recap, you need to get the pinion depth right, then press the inner bearing onto the pinion with the correct shim that sets the correct depth. Once done, you will then need to install the pinion nut to the correct torque to achieve the correct pinion bearing preload. Then once you have that straightened out, you will then need to set the ring gear backlash and check your drive and coast side contact areas with paint. Depending on whether or not you are too little or excessive backlash, will determine whether or not the carrier bearing shims need to be replaced with the appropriate thicknesses needed to make the necessary adjustments. Just remember, what you subtract by let's say 0.002" on one shim, you will need to add 0.002" on the other shim to achieve the correct movement needed and maintain correct carrier bearing preload. Sorry for the novel.

And to retiredinstructor, these trucks either come equipped with a 3.73 ratio (41 ring gear teeth and 11 pinion gear teeth) or a 4.10 ratio (41 ring gear teeth and 10 pinion gear teeth), both of which are hunting gear ratios, so timing them should be considered a non-issue in this case.

 

It would take me a whole day to type all that, well done guys

 

i dont know guys for me diff work using the same ring and pinion is a gravy job. check back lash and pattern when done. if they are good button it up and drive on. new gears are harder, new rations are were the work comes in.

 

If it's only changing bearings, I agree it's not terribly difficult as long as there aren't any issues with the measurements going out of spec. I believe the backlash specs are 0.008" to 0.012" and pinion bearing preload is 16 to 29 in-lbs of torque, the exact same specs for a Ford 8.8" rear end if I recall correctly. To be honest, it's been a while since I've been inside a diff.

 

If you happen to have all the needed special tools
The job is very easy. think the hard part is the Ford workbook.
But that comes from the aviation background and a step by step
set of directions. It does help to know how to use each of the
tools and the basic use of hand tools.

BTW what Dana unit is in the back of the F350 SRW?

Sean

 

I helped a friend change the pinion bearing on his Jeep not too long ago. We basically had no idea what we were doing, but the bearing got changed, we took absolutely no measurements, and 1 or 2 thousand miles later there are no issues. Maybe we just got lucky

 

I guess I should ask if it has the Sterling 10.5 Rear Differential.
Want to make sure I get the right tool set.

Sean