OK, I"m dumb, have searched though everything on the forum I can think of, and after an hour of fighting with the car I still can't get it so I could use some help.

I have swapped the 3.90 diff out of my car in favor of a 4:10 during my auto/5spd swap. In trying to re-install the halfshafts I cannot get them to "snap" into the diff. The factory manual makes it sound so easy "push the halfshaft into the differential" but as hard as I push it just won' t go.

How important is it for the split in the clip to be facing upward? I lost track of that orientation when moving the diff around to get the halfshaft lined up. Since it took some time to get the dif in position and aligned with the mouting holes etc, I'd rather not have to pull it out again to check the clip orientation.

How hard should I have to push?

TIA

-Chris

 

Chris,

did you use a new clip?

howard

 

I didn't I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't necessary, but now I have no clue where I read that so maybe that's my problem? I assume that this should "plug in" without too much pain.

 

For anyone else searching that comes across this post, I ended up pulling the two additional rear hub bolts off. This allowed me to pull the rotor/hub/half/shaft assembly outward. I then re-aligned the clip with the open end up as the directions say, and gave it a little bump and it went right in.

I did check the specs on my clip also to be sure it the gap/diameter was appropriate.

I can only speculate that my initial difficulties were because
a) the clip wasn' oriented properly
b) I wasn' pushing straight into the diff, and I was causing something to bind.

 

I'd lean toward reason 'A'. I replaced a side seal but was careful not to move things around while doing so. Indexing the clip at 12:00 it popped right back in with little effort. But good reminder thread just the same.

 

the FD is less critical cause its RWD, but on a FWD car, the clip needs to be replaced, its partially the spring tension that holds it in.