Tearing down a rear axle assembly of serious vintage and no small amount of weathering; down to the final steps and trying to extract the punkin from it's socket.

The consarned thing refuses to budge; only thing left holding it is ancient and apparently high-strength sealant, but I cannot get it to separate.

Unit is on the workbench. Absolutely no gaps or overhangs on the carrier to try to leverage it, and I can't get even a knifeblade between the carrier and the axle housing. I've never seen one bonded this tightly.

Anyone know a good trick to try?

 

Mayby some heat.

 

Massage it gently with a BFH, maybe with aid of a chisel.

 

Dead blow or bfh (and a block of wood) hitting the casting webs from the side? Sounds like it just needs enough to get it to pop

 

Yes, I'm sure once the seal is broken even a little it will come along. But it's ignored me pretty successfully so far.

Good suggestions so far; keep em coming!

 

I did this just a couple of weeks ago, I used a brass hammer , thinking it would be less likely to damage the diff. I had to strike it pretty hard and never got a visual indication that it broke the seal, but the sound changed a little, so I retried the putty knife and bingo, it went in.

 

I did the same with a weighted rubber mallet. I hit it pretty hard on one side then did the same on the other side. Worked it back and forth until it popped off.

 

Mass and shock are your friends here. A good size brass hammer cushioned with a 2 X 4 would be a good place to start. Dead blows and such don't provide the bell ringing shock to split apart the bonded parts. Might try soaking the joint with some PB blaster or similar too. I have this king size metal mallet with raw hide faces that is undefeated in situations like this.

 

Got 'er done last night; alternating use of a cold chisel & a hardwood block, powered by a 3lb short-handled sledge. Once it was up enough to slide the putty knife in the joint & run it around the seam, the fight was over.

Thanks to all for contributing ideas and encouragement. Sometimes just knowing that what you're trying has worked for others is what's most needed.

 

Dang it Glenn! I have a spare rear end from a 79 with only 30K on it and spiffy LSD unit to put in it from rwatson (Thanks Robert!) that I was saving for a project sometime. Well, geez Wally, now I have to pull it out as you have shamed me into realizing I need to do this.

Its always something for us SA guys.

 

I'll be a while at this one - mucho parts needed to refurb this big-bearing disc rear. So you may beat me to the punchline even if you start late.

Inspection was the first step, which required strip-down.

 

How much are big bearing rears going for nowadays?

I'm still sitting on a pristine GSL-SE rearend, complete disk to disk including calipers and parking brake cables. I don't want to shred it up so I'm mostly using it to measure off of while I build my 9" (glacially slow progress) and I'm going to probably sell it in the spring if not sooner. Raising funds for a down payment on a (gack!) 2.0T Camaro.

$1000 seem fair? That's in rebuilt, throw-it-in-and-drive condition.

 

Might be, but I'd never be in a position to pay that myself... this one looks to be in very good shape internally regarding the diff itself, but lots of surface rust on calipers & rotors, bent backing plates, no brake cables... and the rear axles were equipped with lug studs. Pads were about 3/4 worn.

I paid $350 for it, picked up myself. I'll probably have to put another hundred, maybe two, in it before it's ready to mount.