Ok so whats the trick?? I have a 85 10 bolt, Eaton diff, new races/bearings for carrier, stock carrier shims. Im having trouble getting the new carrier in place.. It seems the shims are bigger now with the new diff. Do I need to buy new shims? But when I took the old diff out I had to almost pry it out with a big screwdriver to pop it out. I guess I was thinking it would have just kind of fell out after the bearing caps were off. It seems like the stock setup would have been a PITA to put back in. So is there a trick to getting the races/bearings, carrier, and shims all in place in one smooth go? Thanks for any help.

 

http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19773
Read this.

 

Carrier bearings are supposed to have preload on them; that is, the carrier plus bearings, should be somewhat larger than the space in the housing. Something in the range of .010 - .015".

Normally one uses a tool called "case spreader" to open up the housing and allow it to fit. However I don't have one of those, so I have to do it abnormally; which is, I take 2 big c-clamps and compress the bearings so that they'll go down into there.

 

Another trick that works surprisingly well is to put the whole carrier unit in the freezer for about an hour, then hurry back out to the garage with it and put it in. I had one that wouldn't go in no matter how much I hammered or pushed on it. Put it in the freezer til it was good and cold, and the sucker literally dropped in place! You wouldn't think the cold temperature would make the metal contract that much, but it really does work! I've also done this with ring gears. Freeze the carrier and put the ring gear in the oven, and the ring gear just drops in place instead of having to be pressed or tapped on to the carrier flange.