As the title says the rear end in my '86 f150 4x4 "died" recently. I was told by my dad that it would be a lot easier to just replace the hole rear end, and swap my new brakes from the week before over to new rear end. So I did some hunting around and found one with the 3.08 gears I needed for $100. When I got it home dad noticed that it needed wheel seals or w/e they are called for the rear end. They are $10 for a set so no biggie, we started stripping off the stuff I didn't need and opened up the case. This is were it got "interesting", forgive me if I get any terms wrong. First the little bolt that holds the pin for the spider gears in is part rounded. An hour, some heat from a butane torch, and some finessing with a hammer got it out. So next he went to pull the big pin in the spiders and it wouldn't push out. He had to give it a light tap to get it to move at all. This is when we found the 1/8-1/4 inch deep groove in both ends of the pin about an inch wide. A few "colorful metaphor's" later he explains that he had never seen a pin tore up like that, and he has been at it for around 30+ years. So we made a trip back to the JY that I got it from, to see about swapping it out for a different one. The guy I got it from took a look and said basically the same thing then added, "Why isn't the carrier and housing chewed up?". After some looking, he didn't have another rear end with 3.08 gears. So he gave me my money back, and sent the rear end I had back home with me in case we wanted to try swapping things around between the two rear ends to get one working. He is closing his doors, to bad really, so is only interested in the weight for scrap, and asked me to bring back what ever was left.

I found another one in town with 3.08 gear in another JY but its going to cost me $250 for it, and its buried were I cant get to it for a few days at least. So, to the question to you folks is what would you do? Buy the other rear end, that is a craps shoot as to whether it's a "good one" or not. Or try swapping things between the two rear ends, and chancing the metal shaving's that are there eating up the good parts.

I really like the truck, having spent all the time to put a box and topper on, doing the carb/distributor conversion, and new breaks and tires all around. That being said I'm not loaded for cash, the $100 was a bit hard on the budget. I don't want to have to sell/scrap the old girl, but I'm not sure how many other options I have.

Thanks for any advice you have for me.

 

Brain fart

 

If the gears in the junk yard unit are good, pull them and put them in your housing.

OR

Pull the carrier from your housing , swap gears and put it in the one you picked up.

Also check the outside ends of the axles where the outer bearings ride. Ford's great idea of the rollers directly on the axles. If they show excessive wear, use another axle.

May want to check/replace pinion bearings while in there too.

I wouldn't pay $250 for a 8.8 unless it's been gone through and guaranteed to be good. $100 max. for an "unknown" one.

 

Ahhhh. Sorry. Im on my phone. Sometimes words seem to run together.

Sorry

 

OK so I was rather vague it would seem. We are trying to stay away from going to far in as to avoid dealing with the preset crush ring/shims or what ever it is at the pinion. I would have to talk to my dad to get the full reasoning. If I remember right he said it was a major p.i.t.a. to get the pinion set right. He also said something about all the steel shavings in the housing's, from the dead pinion and the spider pin respectively, getting into the bearings and eating them. The carrier and gears in the JY unit I have look to be good, or so he tells me. I have no idea what the gears in the one in my truck look like as I have yet to pull it out.

The concern being this is my daily driver, or was, and I just dont like the idea of the rear end locking up on me at 65 on the highway. I have the feeling it would make for a really bad day.

Again thanks for any advice.

 

How clean is the inside of the housing you got from the jy? Could you just take the pin and bolt out of yours and put it in the one you got from the jy, then replace the wheel seals?

If you don't want to mess with the pinion, your options are kind of limited on what you can do.

 

Setting the backlash and preload can be a pain, but when you remove the differential carrier, keep the shims in order, exactly as they are removed. The pinion crush sleeve sets the pinion bearing preload - get a crush sleeve eliminator kit. It is a series of shims that will make make setting the pinion preload so much easier. If you replace the pinion bearing, save the old one, use a cartridge roll to open it ever so slightly, so it can slide on and off with using a press, to use for as a mock up bearing. After assembly double check your mesh pattern just to confirm it is correct, but if you have the same gears, and same shims for the diff carrier, you should be good.

Since there may be some metal in there, removing the carrier and pinion will allow you to clean it really good. Using a diff cover with a drain would allow a magnetic plug to be used to capture any little pieces of metal that may still be left. Just a thought.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Good luck with getting it fixed up.

 

I got it "bandaided" together useing my pin and the little pin that holds it in my spider, and one axle. I rinsed as much of the steel out of the housing as I could. I'm still looking for a good rear end to put in so I dont have to worry about what is left in there eating the bearings and leaving me walking.