Differential rebuild parts source?

69427

The Artist formerly known as Turbo84
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
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Clinging to my guns and religion in KCMO.
Got the '69 (iron) rear end out for a bit of a tune up. I got most of the usual parts I think I'll need (in dust covered boxes), but not all. Anybody have a favorite place to purchase the small parts (shims, seals, bearings, etc)?

Thanks.
 
I check all the boxes/parts to make sure nothing made in China....same for tires...JUNK :bomb::flash:
 
Lucked out and had all the parts I needed for the moment. A former co-worker of mine used to race a widebody C3 in IMSA, and several years ago gave me a crapload of C3 parts that he no longer needed.

Right now I'm amusing myself getting the side yoke end-play worked out. Two questions:

1) I don't recall seeing end play spec/range anywhere in print in the Chevy chassis service manuals. Any official numbers out there?

2) Anyone know how Chevy actually set up the end play on the manufacturing line? They certainly had to be able to do it a helluva lot faster than I'm accomplishing it.

Thanks.
 
Have you read Gary's article in Tech/Rebuilding Tech? It's been years ago since I did mine but it was very comprehensive and easy to follow.
 
Have you read Gary's article in Tech/Rebuilding Tech? It's been years ago since I did mine but it was very comprehensive and easy to follow.

Thanks for the suggestion. For whatever reason, I failed to notice Gary's threads in the Tech section. I appreciate your mentioning it.

So far I haven't run into any actual Chevy specs/recommendations for the axle end play, but if I read things correctly, Gary shoots for 5-10 thousandths, and Tom (of Tom's Differentials) in one of his youtube videos recommended 10 thousandths. I've got 6 and 10 thousandths currently, so I think I'll try what I have.

Thanks again.
 
I just saw this so it might be to late to reply but here goes. There was no GM spec on the axle endplay and stock built posi's to date are all over the place. I had in a new loaded,assembled in Mex, posi. Once I removed the huge springs there was over 030 endplay in the clutch stack alone.

Endplay will come from e basic areas or a combination of them.

1- worn axle ends
2- Posi setup
3- enlongated case holes, not too common but I have had to repair them in the past.

Like Tom I tune all my posi's. A correctly tuned posi will not have springs in it regardless of what I see and read online.

If you assembled your diff the common way by checking the lash for 002-008" and you have the numbers you found then you are all set. If it was tuned I would expect it to be closer but a lot depends on the axle. They should be between .185--.200" from face to snap ring and 50-55 rc in hardness.
 
I just saw this so it might be to late to reply but here goes. There was no GM spec on the axle endplay and stock built posi's to date are all over the place. I had in a new loaded,assembled in Mex, posi. Once I removed the huge springs there was over 030 endplay in the clutch stack alone.

Endplay will come from e basic areas or a combination of them.

1- worn axle ends
2- Posi setup
3- enlongated case holes, not too common but I have had to repair them in the past.

Like Tom I tune all my posi's. A correctly tuned posi will not have springs in it regardless of what I see and read online.

If you assembled your diff the common way by checking the lash for 002-008" and you have the numbers you found then you are all set. If it was tuned I would expect it to be closer but a lot depends on the axle. They should be between .185--.200" from face to snap ring and 50-55 rc in hardness.

I watched Tom's youtube video a while back and "tuned" the posi as well as I felt comfortable at. It's definitely improved from where it was at.
Ring gear backlash is at .007".
I initially had zero clearance with the side yokes, but after mixing and matching some yokes and cross shafts from some dust covered spare rear ends I ended up with 6 and 10 thousandths clearance. (At this rookie stage of the game I'm a bit gun shy of purposely taking length off the end of the zero clearance yokes.)
I'm going to run this setup for now and see how it feels. My labor and parts are free, so I can always come back and revisit the clearances again if I'm not happy with things.

I appreciate your input here on the forum, Gary.
 
6-10 is ok. Hell there are some vendors telling their customers .100" is ok.

If the posi is correctly tuned then the cross shaft will slide out with the posi in any position.
 
6-10 is ok. Hell there are some vendors telling their customers .100" is ok.

If the posi is correctly tuned then the cross shaft will slide out with the posi in any position.

Had pretty good luck with the cross shaft sliding in and out without any problems during the process. I'm a bit unclear as to what you're indicating regarding "posi position". Are we just talking about the rotational position of the differential gear case, or after rotating the side gears/yokes relative to each other to change which differential teeth are meshing at the moment, or something else?
 
When the posi is correctly tuned, you can move the posi into any position on the bench- up ,down, sideways, on an angle and the cross shaft should slide out in any position. There should be no lash and no binding.
 
were would someone buy a new set of gears and all the parts to go thru a diff.?
 
Go to the source- Tom's differentials. For the iron diff's he is the only one making them still in the USA. Yukon are Randy's brand name and would be either reboxed Tom's or imported.
 
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