I have purchased the new spider gears for the rear axle of my 88 Bronco custom w/ the straight 6 4.9L. It has the Dana 44 rear axle and the spider gears have given out, finally, it has 331,854 miles on it!! My problem is that I can't seem to find an illustration of the rear axle and I have been unable to get the ring gear/carrier assy. out of the darn case. I am assuming that I have remove these before I can install the new gears, the old gears exploded so they were easy to remove but the new gears don't want to go in while everything is in the diff. case. Is there anyone who can help me with the info I need or how I can obtain the info?

 

Your Bronco should have the 8.8 ford rear end.

 

Yes, it has the 8.8 rear end and I still can't figure out how to get the diff. guts out so I can replace the spider gears. Can you help me?

 

I can help some. Remove the cover and you will see a center pin approx.5/8 of an inch. You should also see a small bolt going through that pin it is a 8mm 12 point bolt. Remove that bolt might need to heat it some becuase it has a thread locker compound on it. Once removed you should be able to slide the pin out. Once it is out push your wheels in toward the center of the truck they should move a little. Once pushed in you should be able to see two c-lips on the end of the axles right on the inside of the spider gears remove them and slide your axles back out and then you can remove the spider gears.

This is just what I remember off the top of my head it has been a while since I have done this. But it should help you some.

 

Thank you for the info., but I was able to remove the gears. getting the new gears in is the problem, a friend told me that I had to remove the ring-gear/spider-gear carrier assy. before I can install the new gears. However, I removed the bearing caps from the diff. bearings and the assy. won't budge. Do you know if I have to perform this task or can I install the new gears with the assy. in place? If I can, how ?

 

Question is... If you got the old ones out, what is preventing you from doing the reverse (of the removal) to get the new ones in?

 

and if you bought spiders for a rear dana44 they wont be the same as a 8.8 rear axle.

 

You should be able to roll them in pretty easily.

 

Do you have the tools to set the backlash?