I posted a question about putting in new gears into my rear end. I was told that this was fairly hard, and not to attempt it myself. So, my next question is, how hard would it be to replace a whole rear end. I have a line on a rear end for a 88 f-body, it has 3.43 gears, and Im not sure if its posi, and it has drum brakes.



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Godti
'89 Trans Am (Red)
305 TBI 5spd

 

Relativly easy if you have the basic equiptment. The reason it is a biznitch to put gears in yourself is becuase you have to properly shim the carrier and the pinion to have the gear mesh correctly when torqued. Not to mention you need an impact gun to get the pinion nut off and you have to propelly install the crush sleeve. Swaping a fully assembled rear end requires some strength and not much else if you are going to keep the same brake setup and you already have disk.


[This message has been edited by UVA3rdGen (edited May 23, 2001).]

 

Quickest way to tell if it's posi is to spin one axle (or wheel or whatever u want to call it). If the other one spins in the same direction, it's posi. If it spins the opposite way, it's not posi.

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"WARNING: Objects in mirror are about to disappear VERY quickly!"

 

I had worried about the difficulty of doing this as well up until the point that I actually did it. It was straightfoward all the way through. The only thing it required was a lot of muscle. The biggest pain was trying to catch the brake fluid dripping out of the lines (since I forgot to get caps) between taking the old rear out and putting the new one in. Got brake fluid all over me and stupidly didn't wash it off immediately. My arms itched and burned like crazy for the next few days. Good luck.
bsa

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"If they do not run, Then they will die." - Stonewall Jackson
#3
'87 IROC, 355 TPI, Converted to SD, 700R4, B&M Megashifter, 3.42, Trick Flow Twisted Wedge Heads, Edelbrock Intake, Accel Runners, Comp Cam, Crane Gold rockers, Lucas 23# injectors, Edelbrock headers, Flowmaster 3'' exhaust, Mallory Ignition, Transgo Performance Shift Kit, Corvette Servo, 2,000 Stall Torque Converter

[This message has been edited by irocbsa (edited May 23, 2001).]

 

I've got 3.73 in my '85 z28 5.0. Setting up the rear end so they mesh is NOT easy. There are calculations to do it right and special tools. I recommend taking it to someone who knows. I shattered the pin holding the spider gears which ate my pinion in my 3.55s. Replacing the ring and pinion was 500$ parts and labor for 3.73 richmond. Just my experiance.