Just noticed a slight leak out of my RH side axle seal, leaking 90w gear lube out onto my disc brake. Unfortunately, this is unlike any other axle I've worked on before. Usually, to replace outer axle bearings and seals, you must either:

A) Pull the diff cover, pull out the retaining lock, and the pull off the C-clip on the inner end of the axle shaft, and then just slide out the axle shaft.

But, on this diff, there are NO C-CLIPS on the inner ends of the axles.

B) Pull off the four nuts that hold the outer bearing/seal retaining plate to the backing plate, and slide the axle shaft out. This doesn't work either.

I've tried everything but a slide hammer to try to pull the $*!@? shafts out. (Is this how it's supposed to be done?)

If someone out there has any experience with a Borg-Warner differential/axle, and has successfully pulled out their axle shafts for this (or any other) reason, please email me (or post here) and let me know.

Many thanks - Paul

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'87 IROC 350 T.P.I. (L-98) w/t-tops: K & N's, MAF minus screens, throttle body coolant bypass, 180 thermo, Accel H.O. coil & 8.8 mm wires, 24 lb. injectors, Edelbrock headers w/3" cat-back & Flowmaster, 700R-4 w/Transgo shift kit w/Corvette servo & Hurst dual-gate slapstick, Borg-Warner posi, Koni adjustable racing struts & shocks, Competition Engineering subframe connectors, Hotchkis performance strut tower brace, Aadco polyurethane sway bar bushings/link kits/control arm bushings, Sumitomo HTR 50-Z's (P255-50/ZR16's), Mobil One 15w-50. And a beautiful new black paint job.

 

if it doesn't have c clips it must be a 9 bolt. never had one apart, but if you have 4 bolts on the retainer flange i'd say yeah you need a slide hammer if it's stuck.

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ICON Motorsports

1st & 3rd

 

Use the hammer.

 

To repair it you remove the 4-bolts as stated before. You can often get it out by re-attaching an old brake rotor or drum to the wheel studs and banging it with a mallet. Once apart, the seal, bearing and bearing retainer all need to be replaced. Be sure to specify it is for a rear with a 7.75" ring gear. Also the seal is different for right and left sides having moulded skives inside that help to retain the gear oil. Most Auto Parts stores don't stock the parts and will have to order them, delaying you by a day. The old bearing retainer and bearing are pressed on and need to be removed by splitting them with a chisle and hammer. You should use a hydraulic press to press on the new bearing and bearing retainer. If you don't have a press, take it to Machine Shop to have it pressed in. Don't try and do it with a hammer. The axle should press right back into the housing and re-installthe 4-mount bolts. Job done. Good luck, Lon.

 

i need to remove the axles to put on new backing plates, do i need to replace any seals when i do this?

Also, anyone know where i could get a set of backing paltes for a 9 bolt?

 

Farm Kid, No you don't need to replace the wheel seals to change out the backing plates. The axles will slip out after removing the 4 bolts. You just need to find someone (like me) that has a spare set of 9-bolt backing plates available. E-mail me if you want them. Good luck, Lon.

 

A good stiff "tug" on the axle should pull it apart. If not, try tapping with a rubber mallet from the back side. Mine pulled out, so give it a try.

The deal about the seal is right on. Specific left and right. Also, take it to a machine shop.auto shop to have the old bearing removed and the new one pressed on. You don't want to try hammering the new on on. Spend a few dollars and save yourself a lot of headaches and wasted money.

Lon, I might be interested in those back plates, how much? (email)

 

The bearings are Timken set 9's (Tapered). When I replaced mine, no one had the tapered bearings (only the straight), so I went to the local bearing shop (Gopher bearings) and picked them up. There is a lot of hard to find stuff on the BW 9 bolt, but they did use standard bearings.

Miles

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88 427 Camaro
12.18 @ 113mph 1.75 60ft

www.koolmeister.com