front gear change

[dillon1340]

i have a 91 explorer that i may want to change the gears in. i have changed the gears myself in my mustang so i am confident i can do the rear of my explorer since it's same rear but i havent really looked at the front. i havent been able to find many posts on here for gears. how hard is it to change the gears in the front of a 4x4?

 

[Anime]

It's pretty involved, although most of the work is just getting the drive side of the TTB front suspension off, since the drivers side TTB suspension arm is also the cover for the front diff. Even after it's off, it can be a little tricky getting the housing off, there's a bolt/pin on the top that's hard to remove without grinding off a bit of the TTB that covers it, then of course you're dealing with pulling off the (heavy) solid steel TTB off the housing. After that it's pretty straightforward, remove old reverse cut D35 gears, install new gears, adjust, adjust, adjust, check, check, check, then figure out a way to get the housing back on the TTB without messing up the sealant, which will be the only thing holding the gear oil in there, and reinstalling the whole thing back on the vehicle.

All in all, quite a bit more work than popping off a rear cover and being able to get to the gears. If you've got the tools, the time, and the expertise to adjust gears, you can save yourself big bucks over having them installed.

 

[Brian1]

Its not bad at all once the 3rd member is removed. If you have an engine stand make an adapter to bolt up the 3rd, it makes it easy to work on. Here is what I did when I regeared it

 

[Phillip C.]

what do you have to do to get the shaft disconnected from the pass side it looks as if the u-joints are welded? on the drivers side how do you get that shaft off?? pleze help im trying to swap the diffs in the front cuz it has lower gears then mine

 

[dillon1340]

i'll probably give it a shot when the time comes. planning a suspension lift and larger tires and don't want it to be any slower than it already is

 

[Anime]

what do you have to do to get the shaft disconnected from the pass side it looks as if the u-joints are welded? on the drivers side how do you get that shaft off?? pleze help im trying to swap the diffs in the front cuz it has lower gears then mine

You have to disconnect it at the slip joint under the rubber boot.

There is a C-clip inside the diff that holds that half of the driveshaft in, and you can only remove it by opening the diff to disconnect the C-clip.

 

[Phillip C.]

ok got it all out. 1 more question does this front end take regular 90wt gear oil?????? thanks for all your help

 

[tigercat]

the gear oil weight should be in the owners manual.

 

[glfredrick]

Re-gearing the front pig is no different from any other axle once you get it out of the vehicle, as you probably know by now.

While you have it out, do the c-clip elimination mod. Saves a lot of time on the trail if you snap an axle.

Here's a link to the Ranger Station tech site that details the mod. I did it on mine and wheeled the snot out of it with no problems.

Here is one method (external)
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/c-clip_eliminator_external.html

And the method I used (internnal - goes inside the slip yoke -- must weld the slip yoke cap so it doesn't pop out)
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/CClipEliminator.html

I run Amsoil 75w90. I love the synthetic oil in the differentials. Lets them move easier when cold, and protects them from the heavy loads of off-roading.

 

[jd4242]

Re-gearing the front pig is no different from any other axle once you get it out of the vehicle, as you probably know by now.

While you have it out, do the c-clip elimination mod. Saves a lot of time on the trail if you snap an axle.

Here's a link to the Ranger Station tech site that details the mod. I did it on mine and wheeled the snot out of it with no problems.

Here is one method (external)
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/c-clip_eliminator_external.html

And the method I used (internnal - goes inside the slip yoke -- must weld the slip yoke cap so it doesn't pop out)
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/CClipEliminator.html

I run Amsoil 75w90. I love the synthetic oil in the differentials. Lets them move easier when cold, and protects them from the heavy loads of off-roading.

do you have a pic of where you have to weld

 

[dillon1340]

holy cow that c clip eliminator trick for the front is friggin awesome. i will no doubt do that when it comes time to change the gears.

 

[glfredrick]

do you have a pic of where you have to weld

Here you go:

The picture above was a joke...

This is actually what you are trying to do:

Only change from the bottom picture (a great welding job!) would be to eliminate the welds on the cross pin so that you can still get the axle shafts out. With the cross pin welded like that, you are out of luck with c-clip axle shafts like ours! The cross pin needs to be removable so that you can push in the axle shafts and pop out the c-clips.

 

[jd4242]

thats to make it a posi i was talking about where you welded the cap so you dont have to use the c clip.o and i have seen that first pic before!haha
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[glfredrick]

Oops, I thought you were talking about the spider gears.

There used to be a picture of the cap welded with the c-clip elimination article, but I guess they removed it. It is the cap on the end of the internal splines next to the u-joint. If you pop a spring in there (my preferred method of doing this mod) it helps to tack weld or even weld a washer over that cap to hold the spring in. It is only a dust cap and it will pop out sooner or later under the load of the spring. No big deal if it does, but it will need to be fixed before doing much wheeling.

So, while the axle is out, check out that internal splined cap and you'll see the end that needs welding. Just a couple small beads will do. then pop in a spring. Almost anything that will fit in the hole will work -- I got mine from a spring assortment at Ace Hardware -- take the axle part with you to test fit. A spring that is too long can be clipped a few coils, so go for best fit. I was just able to compress the spring by hand. Any firmer than that is likely too much (they talk about a valve spring from an engine in the article -- that is too much!).