I just disassembled my rear axle on a 1983 F150 due to some broken teeth and have a couple of questions so I order the right parts from the parts store.

1) What is the name of the gear that attaches to the yoke->driveshaft?

2) There is a bearing that appears to be pressed on the gear in question 1. Do I need to bring it to a shop to have the bearing pulled and put on the new one?

3) What is the name of the gears that are held in place by the 5" long shaft, I think it's called the differential pinion shaft?

4) What is the name of the gears that were attached to the axle shafts using the c-locks

Correct me if I am wrong, but the final gear is the ring gear.

 

1) What is the name of the gear that attaches to the yoke->driveshaft?

Pinion gear- You would order the pinion gear with a ring gear as a matched set.

2) There is a bearing that appears to be pressed on the gear in question 1. Do I need to bring it to a shop to have the bearing pulled and put on the new one?

Yes the bearing that your replacing there will need to be pressed off and a new one pressed on if your swapping new bearings. Be cautious to make sure that the shop replaces the shims behind the new bearing. The old shims are fine to reuse, just make sure there still there.

3) What is the name of the gears that are held in place by the 5" long shaft, I think it's called the differential pinion shaft?

the gears that are held in by the cross shaft are called the spider gears.

4) What is the name of the gears that were attached to the axle shafts using the c-locks

The gears that are held in by the axles and c-clips are called side gears. If your replacing gear parts replace the c-clips as they are all that hold the axles in. They cost like a buck or two from the dealer and are cheap insurance.

If your in need of parts for your differential let me know as i have tons or spare diff parts that i'd be more than willing to sell cheap out of the garage.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the final gear is the ring gear.
and i'm not quite sure of what you mean by final gear. the name has been used to describe the differntial as they are the "final gears" that power goes through on its way to your tires.

Good luck to you and once again, let me know if you have any questions. If your reinstalling your parts yourself be aware that you can't just bolt the pinion back in...it takes some special setting up. I'd be more than willing to walk you through it.

Ryan
Ryan50hrl(No Email Addresses In Posts!)

 

Ryan answered the questions for you, now here's some friendly advice:

1. If you are new to fixing a rear make sure you have at least a book on the rear end or know how to get immediate technical help. You're going to need some special tools that most people don't just keep around...dial indicator being one.

2. Setting a rear end up can be a pain and takes a lot of time and patience when you're new to it, breath deeply and often.

3. Read some more posts on the subject here at the site. This site has been the best help when I've ran across problems.

4. Last word of advice...get acquainted with the job before you dive into it. From my interpretation of the wording in your first post it sounds like you just pulled this thing open without reading up on the subject.

Nobody likes to be critized, but you're just begging for trouble with a rear end.

-Kerry

 

Thanks for your well headed warnings however I live quite a ways from an expert so I was forced to attempt this thing myself. The only thing I had to go by was a Chilton's manual but they don't talk much about the rear end in much detail. The reason I asked about the gear names was because the names in the book didn't make much sense for instance the pinion and ring gear they just call the "gear set". I did read about pre-loading but without a torque wrench I am afraid I had to fell it out by hand. It only needs to last me a couple thousand of miles so I decided to buy used parts just in case I louse it up. Thanks again.

 

Where can you buy new side gears?

I recently bought two carriers one with 3.00 gears and the other with 3.50 gears. Both of them have 31 splines and my axles only have 28.

Can I exchange the 31 spline axles for the 28 spline or do I have to replace the side gears to match the axles I already have?

At the moment I just pulled the spider gears and put in a spool so I could go to the track but it's not much fun driving to the track with the rear locked in posi all the time.