I am in desperate need of some help this morning. When I bought my T/A, my friend who owned it told me that the rear would need to be re-built. I have evaluated the situation, and it seems that the rear vibrates because there is no fluid in the diff. It looks like the front pinion seal has been leaking for quite some time, and all of the fluid has drained out.
I am going to pull the cover off tonight, and try to see what is salvageable from the rear. My fear is that I am going to have to replace the front pinion bearing, and both axle bearings, as well as all three seals. I just called Autozone this morning, and the have some of the bearings, but they need to know what size ring gear I have. Is there anyway to find that out, without physically taking the rear diff. cover off and measuring?
Once again, it is a 1988 T/A, with a manual 5-speed. It seems to be an open rear, as I have not been able to spin both rear tires at the same time. Any help would be appreciated. I do plan on doing this tonight, and I am currently driving it everyday, so I would not be able to let it sit overnight all torn apart.

 

Count the bolts on the rear cover. 10 is a 7.625 10 bolt ring gear, 9 is the heavy duty 7.75 ring gear aka 9 bolt rear.

Miles
www.9bolt.com