cross pin is causing trouble, please HELP!

[ogkw87]

Alright, sooooo today I ran into serious trouble trying to replace my wheel bearings.

My diff's cross pin wont come out!

I did the standard,
-jack up and remove wheels
-remove breaks and rotors
-remove diff cover, drain
-remove diff cross pin retaining bolt(yea, it came out)

and thats where I stand. The pin would not come out. I determined that it was binding on one of the pinion gears but I could only get it to stick out about 1/4 of an inch from the carrier.

I fiddled around with it for a few hours, checked manuals, forums, blah blah blah, all to no avail.

ANY IDEAS???

 

[mounty71]

Probably the ring gear it's hitting, not the pinion gear. But regardless, you shouldn't need to take the pin out to get the shafts out of the housing. Just turn the pin so the notch faces one of the shafts, then press that shaft in so you can remove the c-clip, and the shaft will slide out. On the 8.8 I just installed in my truck today, I had to use a c-clamp over the axle flange and brake backing plate to get an extra bit of clearance to get the c-clip in/out. Turn the pin around 180 degrees to face the other shaft, and repeat. That's how I've done every 8.8 I've worked on.

 

[ogkw87]

I didn't see much clearance but those flats may work out. Ill report in when I try it.

 

[mounty71]

Ya the shafts don't need to slide in much in order to remove the c-clips, maybe 1/8".

 

[ogkw87]

Cross pin/pinion shaft not giving me enough room to press in axle to remove c-clip. I attempted to rotate the pins so that the flats are facing the axles, and the axles are still not getting enough clearance to press in. Is there a particular reason why I just can't remove the cross pin? I have attempted to press it through and it's not coming out of the carrier. Really feeling stuck. Any ideas?

 

[mounty71]

At least on the lower geared rear ends I've seen, the cross pin won't come out because the ring gear is in the way. I've heard of people slightly grinding down the teeth on the ring gear and not having problems, but still, you should be able to slide the axles in enough. What I had to do on my recent Bronco axle swap was use a c-clamp over the axle flange and brake backing plate, which pressed the axle shaft as far into the axle as physically possible. Try that?