Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - How to install a mini spoom into ford 9 "

It's not that tough. I did mine myself and had never seen the inside of a dif before that.

First, go the the "tech articles" section of this site under "2000 Articles" and read "Building A Ford 9 inch Rear End". VERY VERY helpful if you're doing anything with the 9". Print it out and keep it with you during this process.

Block the front wheels and jack up the rear. Put both ends of the axle on stands. Remove the wheels. Remove the drums. Remove the 4 nuts holding the axle retaining plate and brake backing plate onto the end of the axle tube. There's a hole in the axle flange to get a socket on these nuts.

Pull the axle about 12" out of the tube. You may want to put a drain pan under the end to catch any gear lube. Do this to both sides as you can't remove the center section until the axles are out ot if.

Remove the 4 nuts on the u-bolts that hold the rear u-joints to the yoke. Remove the u-bolts and drop the drive shaft. You might want to hang the shaft from the frame with a bungee to get it out of the way.

Remove the 10 nuts and copper washers holding the center section to the axle tube. Save the washers or replace them if they're trashed. Put a drain pan under the center section to catch all the lube that will spill out when you break it free. CAREFULLY remove the center section. It's very heavy and usually stuck on. You may have to pry it off, but be careful not to hack up the mating surfaces.

Once it's off, set it yoke down on 6x6s or a stack of 2x4s.

REREAD the tech article again.

Before you take the carrier out and apart, note how much play there is in the gears. This is the backlash. When you put it back together, you'll have to set this back to what it was.

Remove the four bearing cap bolts. Remove the bearing caps, ring adjusters, and bearing raceways. Remove the carrier (the big thing that the ring gear is bolted to). Mark the ring gear and carrier so you can put it back in the same location. Remove the 10 bolts holding the ring gear on and remove the gear.

There should be two philips head screws under the ring gear that hold the carrier cover on. Remove those and remove the cover. The spider gears are held in by one long steel pin and two short ones. Those pins are held in with small retaining pins. knock out the 3 small retaining pins and slide the large steel pins out. The spider gears should fall out. See Photo

Put the mini spool in where the gears were and put the long steel cross pin through the carrier and the mini spool. Put the retaining pin in to secure the cross pin. See Photo Put the cover back on and replace the two screws. Bolt the ring gear back on and torque to specs. Install the carrier back in the center section with the raceways, adjuster rings, and bearing caps.

ADJUST THE BACKLASH as indicated in the Tech Article.

Torque the bearing cap bolts to spec. Install the center section back into the axle tube. Replace the 10 copper washers and nuts and torque to specs. Reconnect the drive shaft. Reinstall the axles and retainer nuts and torque to specs(see note). Reinstall brake drums and wheels.

NOTE:
FILL THE DIF WITH GEAR LUBE before you test drive. This can be a PITA, but there are some tricks to make it easier. You can install one axle, brake drum, and wheel, and remove the jack stand from that side. Raise up the unfinished side as high as possible and pour the dif lube right in the end of the axle tube.

Good luck and I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.

Kevin K.