Front Diff Mount Replacement
11-29-2003, 12:41 AM
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NASA/JSC - Clear Lake, TX
Posts: 870
well, after sitting on my shelf for the past couple of months, i've finally got time to replace my front diff mount, which i broke drag racing in navasota.
is there anything i should look out for? any tips yall might have to make it easier? a friend here in town replaced his and he said the removal process goes something like:
1. remove exhaust equipment in the way
2. remove rear suspension sub-frame
3. support differential
4. remove front diff.
5. replace with new one.
6. put back together
i have a haynes manual. hopefully that should do me. any special tools i will need, other than metric socket set, torque wrench, cheater bar, and some antiseeze?
is there anything i should look out for? any tips yall might have to make it easier? a friend here in town replaced his and he said the removal process goes something like:
1. remove exhaust equipment in the way
2. remove rear suspension sub-frame
3. support differential
4. remove front diff.
5. replace with new one.
6. put back together
i have a haynes manual. hopefully that should do me. any special tools i will need, other than metric socket set, torque wrench, cheater bar, and some antiseeze?
11-29-2003, 01:02 AM
#2
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Peoria, AZ
Posts: 10,906
11-29-2003, 02:00 AM
#3
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NASA/JSC - Clear Lake, TX
Posts: 870
i realize you're proud of your illustrated diff removal process, but i'm not removing mine. i'm just changing out the front mount.
also, i hear people talking about a "pinion snubber", what is this? should i wait to put in my new comp diff mount and use this snubber? supposedly it prevents breaking mounts...
that's what they say on the evil forum at least, so i'm questioning this device.
also, i hear people talking about a "pinion snubber", what is this? should i wait to put in my new comp diff mount and use this snubber? supposedly it prevents breaking mounts...
that's what they say on the evil forum at least, so i'm questioning this device.
11-29-2003, 03:48 PM
#6
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 147
You might be able to replace it just by lowering the subframe.
If you're not gonna drop the diff with the subframe, get a swiveling socket extension. Otherwise you won't be able to tighten the 2 bolts where the mount attaches to the subframe.
If you're not gonna drop the diff with the subframe, get a swiveling socket extension. Otherwise you won't be able to tighten the 2 bolts where the mount attaches to the subframe.
11-29-2003, 03:55 PM
#7
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: IL
Posts: 2,930
Replacing it without dropping the subframe and diff like 1revvin7 illustrates in his photos will probably turn out to be more work than just dropping it and doing it the easy way. I also question your ability to properly torque down the nuts with it all up in the car, they will be hard to reach and a swivel socket will definitely be required.
Lowering it down a bit will likely be necessary to remove the mount, at that point you might as well just go all the way down and make it easy on yourself. The nuts on my front diff mount worked loose recently from what I suspect is a resonance problem due to removing the large weight from the diff mount. I attempted to tighten them back up without bringing anything down and it was quite difficult to get any tools on the nuts, even using a swivel extension. The amount of torque I was able to get to the nuts was definitely not up to spec, I'm going to have to drop it before spring gets here. And I didnt even try pulling that mount out, I was just tightening the bolts.
bite the bullet and lower the assembly to the ground where you can work on it easily.
Lowering it down a bit will likely be necessary to remove the mount, at that point you might as well just go all the way down and make it easy on yourself. The nuts on my front diff mount worked loose recently from what I suspect is a resonance problem due to removing the large weight from the diff mount. I attempted to tighten them back up without bringing anything down and it was quite difficult to get any tools on the nuts, even using a swivel extension. The amount of torque I was able to get to the nuts was definitely not up to spec, I'm going to have to drop it before spring gets here. And I didnt even try pulling that mount out, I was just tightening the bolts.
bite the bullet and lower the assembly to the ground where you can work on it easily.
11-29-2003, 05:23 PM
#8
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NASA/JSC - Clear Lake, TX
Posts: 870
thanks for the help, i just left it (diff) on the car and replaced the mount no problem. i took off my y-pipe, took off both subframe mounts, detached the subframe link, and lowered it with a jack. i reach all nuts using a combination of wrenches and sockets without too much difficulty. the only extra tools i needed was a socket ujoint and a 10" extension. and all nuts were torqued properly to 60-75 ft-lbs, except the one i had to use a wrench on.
from start to finish: 3 1/2 hrs.
seems my old one was already broken and someone did a cheap fix of just welding extra plates on. their welds obviously didn't hold up, since the bead pulled off the diff mount.
hopefully this new mount will hold up on wednesday night at navasota. i'll try slipping my clutch a little more to extend it's life.
from start to finish: 3 1/2 hrs.
seems my old one was already broken and someone did a cheap fix of just welding extra plates on. their welds obviously didn't hold up, since the bead pulled off the diff mount.
hopefully this new mount will hold up on wednesday night at navasota. i'll try slipping my clutch a little more to extend it's life.
11-29-2003, 06:52 PM
#10
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Peoria, AZ
Posts: 10,906
I was going to weld mine in, but was swayed away from that by other members. Yes pengaru you are right, you don't have to remove the rear suspension, just need to drop it down 6inches or so. I replaced my front diff mount with a competition hardened rubber unit. I'm also going to put a bump stop above the differential like drag racers.. Going to go tear out bigturbo74's diff tonight, get the rest of the pictures up, I got hasty with removing mine...