Swapping Diffs

[stonefox]

The front axle shafts on my 63" SWB showed spline wear on the diff side. Having a donor 71' IIa vehicle lying in wait, which seems to have unworn diff and axle shafts, I decided to swap them. I've been told they are the same , and they look the same. Any pit falls to this seemingly easy swap.
Now thats a funny one .... an easy Landy project....ha hah!
Neither of them just popped right off ,they took a little persuasion. I'm assuming getting them back over those axle housing bolts will be a real hoot!

[gambrinus]

Do you have a Green Bible? It's an easy project...

RW

[stonefox]

RW,
Yes on the Green Bible. Actually it went fairly smooth. But,I'm have a heck of a time lining up the axle shafts with the diff though.I can see that they are right up to the splines when I look from the opposite side,but can't get them to engage.I don't get it, they are the matching axle shafts that were with it in the donor vehicle. Am I just rushing it ? Thanks Sean

[gambrinus]

rock the truck back and forth a touch... just try to get the diff to turn a bit.. the shafts should slide right in.

[Terrys]

rock the truck back and forth a touch... just try to get the diff to turn a bit.. the shafts should slide right in.

Work smart, not hard. Rockingthe truck (unless it's in 4x4, with TC in neutral, it won't do anything) doesn't do anything that rotating the axle doesn't also do. Apply a slight pressure to the outer end of the shaft and it will pop right in when the spider and axle align. Never had one that wouldn't in 15-20 seconds tops.

[stonefox]

Well, I know this should be pretty easy. I've had them in and out of my work trucks before.
Last night I took off the SPH in hopes that I could get it to engage, just to be able to see it clearly . Still no luck, although it seemed to start , the shaft was not centered in the axle oil seal. Almost like the new diff is back to far from the housing or the axle itself is bent . I'm contemplating swapping the whole axle at this point, instead of trying to make the two into one.

[lrdukdog]

axle

If the tube is bent then they won't line up for that easy fit. If it's not too bad a bend you can "help" it with a few taps.
Jim Wolf

[Terrys]

with both axles out, you should be able to look from one side to the other with a circular aperture. If the casing is bent, the aperture will be more cats-eyed. I can't see where taking the swivel housing off would make it any easier, other than being able to possibly grab the inner yoke and lift up slightly. The axle will start into the spider before the bearing.
Are you having trouble with both sides or just the left (long) side?

[stonefox]

problem solved

I dropped the axle housings out of both vehicles to find that the suspect one has a wicked bend in it.This probably the cause of the axle shaft wear that started this whole round about . I feel a little better that it wasn't operator error in trying to get them to fit. I guess in hindsight I should have swapped the whole thing to begin with. This afternoons project is switching over the SPH that I just finished resealing and getting it back under the Landy.Thank God for donor vehicles. A local guy has 4 88'' and 2 109'' they are all rusted to sh*t but I can see some of their parts would be priceless. Thanks for all your time fellas.