[Mgs] Tale of the rear axle

[Glenn Schnittke]

> From: "Councill, David"<dcouncill at msubillings.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Mgs] Tale of the rear axle
> To:"mgs at Autox.Team.Net"  <mgs at Autox.Team.Net>
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> 	<E7D7B13F08EBC4438FAEAFB46F80C1FA029DF17C at BILEXMB2.msubillings.edu>
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> I have progressed past this point. I was packaging up the slide hammer to
> return to HF but decided to give it a try again with the two arm puller using
> the 2 remaining arms. Several whacks and it popped out.

etc. Rest deleted for brevity.

Dave,

The copper washers are spherical. The fiber washers are flat. When doing this job you want to replace both. If one's worn the other is as well. The flat fibers may very well have disappeared as they very nearly did in mine. The coppers are the actual thrust washers that need replaced and the fibers are kind of place-holders that serve a much lower abrasion thrust function. It's the spherical copper thrust washers that fit on the end of the planetary gears (what you're calling the differential gears) that, when worn, produce most of the clunk you're trying to fix. If you don't have both flat fiber and spherical copper, you might want to hold off putting anything back together again until you have both. It can be a little bit of a bear to get the coppers in but since you figured out dealing with the half axle, you shouldn't have any problem figuring out getting it all lined up.

Curious, what are you using for a guide in this adventure?

BTW, I went to HF for my slide hammer, too, and didn't have much problem getting the half axle out. I would say you just hit upon the problem with old cars - age. My joints get a little sticky on occasion, too.

Glenn