to use or not to use.......input requested!!

[5spdman]

:roll:

So I'm in the middle of building up my 91 XLT. It was stock, with 3.55 gearing, but is currently without any axles and awaiting"new" ones...I had decided that to keep this on the cheaper side, I'd only "upgrade" the rear axle; pulling one from a second gen with a 3.73LS diff, and figured I would remove the 3.73 pumpkin from my 93 sport that I will be scraping in only a weeks time, giving me the cash for the rear axle and maybe some tires. Everything was going good at removing it from the sport until I got to that long bolt that runs along the side of the diff housing.....

All I did was turn the nut at the bottom of the beam, and part of the diff housing broke off.....after that, I decided to call it a day and left it hanging there, so I don't know what the inside or the rest of the housing looks like...........

Question for you all is do I abandon this FREE method of getting 3.73 gears up front and pay to pull one at the yard, or do you all think this would still be okay to use if other than that tab seemed to be in good order? It is a daily driver (well, not as of this current moment,) and was going to be my ride home for Christmas (3,600 mile round trip), but if using it is a bad idea along the lines of safety, I'll buck up and scrounge the money for another housing with the 3.73 guts....

 

[Blue91Ex]

you want the gears in it why not just take the ring and pinion and leave the housing? just be suuuper careful with the diff in ur current truck..

 

[RangerX]

If you were planning to swap the whole axle over, just swap the diff itself. It does unbolt from the axle beam, comes off as a unit like a 9" axle. But douse all bolts down with PB blaster, if one was frozen, others may be too.

 

[Anime]

x2, just swap the diff with the gears intact over, you can leave the TTB in the 93 with the diff removed.

If it's got 3.73 gears, you could just use that rear axle.

It's a shame to scrap a perfectly good parts vehicle.

 

[5spdman]

Just for clarification, in case someone missed it, the pictures are of the diff in the 93 that I planned on using for the 91.

you want the gears in it why not just take the ring and pinion and leave the housing? just be suuuper careful with the diff in ur current truck..

The diff from my current truck has been out for a few days while the beams get some paint, drop brackets installed, and await the new diff. If I had the time and the tools, I WOULD just switch the ring and pinion, but with what tools I have, that's not an option...

If you were planning to swap the whole axle over, just swap the diff itself. It does unbolt from the axle beam, comes off as a unit like a 9" axle. But douse all bolts down with PB blaster, if one was frozen, others may be too.

x2, just swap the diff with the gears intact over, you can leave the TTB in the 93 with the diff removed.

If it's got 3.73 gears, you could just use that rear axle.

It's a shame to scrap a perfectly good parts vehicle.

That was the plan lol! The beams are really rusty, the knuckles are stretched, and the pivot bushings are beyond shot...removing the diff with the gears was what I was aiming for. All of the bolts had come out just fine...this was the last one I needed, and that's when that tab snapped off.

Anime, the thought had gone through my mind to use the rear axle from the sport, but it too was in rough shape...flaking rust, leaking driver side axle seal...the original plan was 4.10, but I couldn't find a ranger front diff that wasn't $300 from the yard. If for some magical reason I spot one at the U-Pick-It in Flagstaff this time, that's what I'm going with, but until I can get to the yard next weekend, the plan is 3.73LS from an '01 I spotted last time. It is a shame to scrap it...made a lot of memories in that truck since I started driving it in high school (holy crap, been almost 9 years), but I can't get it back to Ohio, parents don't have the space for it, and money is starting to get tight...I've also pulled about everything I could to use on the XLT, so there isn't much left.

Here's the story on the two trucks; 5spdman's slow and cheap XLT build

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Use it!

Clean up the rest of the housing and look it over real well but definitely use it!

 

[5spdman]

Oh it's getting cleaned for sure...paint looks bad applied over oil and sand...

 

[Anime]

Oh, didn't see that the "tab" that broke was part of the diff housing, so much rust and dirt.

You'll have to decide if you want to go to the trouble of pulling it and taking out the gears then. Thing is, unless you want to swap the gears in yourself and learn how to set them up, you wind up paying a shop to do it, and unless you can find someone willing to do it for cheap, you will pay quite a bit for the service, usually lots more than you could buy a 3.73 or even 4.10 front diff on here for and pay to have it shipped.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

That tabs sole purpose is to create a pivot point and support the housing when you break the seal off the beam.

Use it.

 

[5spdman]

Went a head and took it out this morning...other than that tab that broke off, it's pretty clean and in good shape. My torx bit broke trying to remove the drive shaft...soaking in a lot of PB Blaster at the moment and I'm heading into town anyway, so I'll stop at Sears and get it replaced.

 

[Styx]

Yes use it that is not a safety issue where it is broken... once it is all cleaned up take a good look to see if there are any other cracks in the area of the broken tab. My bet is no... Good luck on the build and have a safe trip home for Christmas...