question on the rear diff...
 

I was under my car yesterday and noticed the two cross mounted bolts on the diff mounts.

Wouldn't it be easier to remove these bolts then remove the axles and take the diff to a shop and have them remove the pesky 4 bolts?

Is there that much to removing the axles?

Not much to leverage on the 4 bolts holding the diff to the diff mount.

thanks

Are the pesky bolts you are talking the ones on the driveshaft? If so they come off easily with an impact gun.

no the drive shaft is already removed.

the pesky bolts i am refferring to are the one on top of the diff that hold the diff mount to the diff.

no real way toget to them to get enough mechanical advantage to remove

Exactly. Take the diff mount out with the diff. Two bolts and you're done.;)

Jeff

do you have to drop the axles to pull the diff? how do you do that?

Yes you do. just get a pry bar and pop the axles right out. It may take a little of force but they should pop out easily.
Do you have a FD manual?
It tells you exactly how to remove them.
Good Luck

93 FD

Wow... bad advice all around. :)

You don't have to remove the axles from the differential or the differential from the car (or even unbolt the PPF) to remove the four 17mm nuts which hold the differential mount to the top of the differential carrier. If you unbolt your cat-back from the midpipe/main cat (just leave it hanging loose) and remove the two rear belly pans, you've got all the room you need.

Put a jack under the differential and remove the two horizontal 17mm nuts and bolts which hold the differential mount to the rear subframe. Once that's done, you can lower the differential until the axles are resting on the rubber bumpers in the rear subframe, which gives you enough room to get to the four 17mm nuts on top of the carrier. At that point, a combination 17mm/19mm wrench is long enough to get to each of the four nuts, and you can use a small mallet or hammer to tap-tap-tap them loose. If you've got an air ratchet, so much the better. :)