10 bolt front

[NEK5]

ok need your opinions..i blew up, well at least had most of a tooth, come out of one of the spiders, and now i think its leaking from the pinion..so my question is, i have a 10 bolt front (not sure of its complete condition) that i got from a member here, would it be worth just swapping in the whole front axle, or just swapping the internals and changing the seals?? if i swap out the axle completely, would it be worth it to slowly rebuild the front axle that will go in it??....change axle shaft joints, tres, and the like??

 

[Chevy305]

much easier to swap the whole thing instead of internals. Believe me it was a nightmare trying to swap gears on my rear axel and the front is a little more complicated.

I knew you were hearing weird noises after wheeling with us, but I had no idea you chipped a pinion tooth.

How's the rear axel doing with DirtyJim's posi?


EDIT: I realize now you said spider tooth and leaky pinion. So I thought you wanted to swap the whole ring and pinion setup, but just a spider gear is easy to do. You may not even have to remove the axel shafts depending on which spider gear.

As for the leaky pinion, if you haven't changed your diff fluid yet then you need to do that and your leak may just go away. I wouldn't worry too much about a leak like that unless diff fluid pours out of there.

 

[NEK5]

much easier to swap the whole thing instead of internals. Believe me it was a nightmare trying to swap gears on my rear axel and the front is a little more complicated.

I knew you were hearing weird noises after wheeling with us, but I had no idea you chipped a pinion tooth.

How's the rear axel doing with DirtyJim's posi?


EDIT: I realize now you said spider tooth and leaky pinion. So I thought you wanted to swap the whole ring and pinion setup, but just a spider gear is easy to do. You may not even have to remove the axel shafts depending on which spider gear.

As for the leaky pinion, if you haven't changed your diff fluid yet then you need to do that and your leak may just go away. I wouldn't worry too much about a leak like that unless diff fluid pours out of there.

well its leaking and i already changed the fluid, i`m almost positive thats where its coming from, i`ll investigate more today, the rear axle is sweet with the posi, right now i have a wobbly wheel on the driv/rear and i am trying to figure out what it is, hoping its just a bent rim and not a wheel bearing

can anyone else chime in on not having to take out the axle shafts, depending on the spider?

 

[NEK5]

i`m also not positive its a spider either, i didnt really inspect it, although i should have, but the piece looked like one of the tooths for the spider

 

[goldwing2000]

If it's a spider, you can change it with the axles in. If it's a side gear, the axles have to come out. If you don't know the difference, the spider gears are smooth bore and rotate on the cross shaft. The side gears are splined and rotate with the axle shaft.

Inspect the other three gears carefully. If one broke, then the others might be damaged, too.

 

[NEK5]

so should i just swap in the whole front axle?

how hard is it to change the pinion seal??

if i swap in the whole front axle, would it be worth taking it apart to change the axle shaft u joints?

 

[Chevy305]

so should i just swap in the whole front axle?

how hard is it to change the pinion seal??

if i swap in the whole front axle, would it be worth taking it apart to change the axle shaft u joints?

No, I wouldn't recomend swapping the whole axel. That would be more work than just swapping spider gears.

It is pretty hard to change your pinion seal if you don't know what you are doing. I am changing my pinion seal this week on my rear axel, hopefully it goes well

 

[NEK5]

No, I wouldn't recomend swapping the whole axel. That would be more work than just swapping spider gears.

It is pretty hard to change your pinion seal if you don't know what you are doing. I am changing my pinion seal this week on my rear axel, hopefully it goes well

if that is whats leaking i should be able to get help, if i cant just swap spiders without taking out the axle shafts, or if i check them and they are all damaged, should i swap in the whole axle?

 

[goldwing2000]

If all the gears are damaged in some way and the new axle is the same ratio, it would probably be easier to swap axles.
Be sure to check the condition of u-joints, ball joints, bearings and seals on the new axle before you do all the work of a swap.

 

[Chevy305]

If all the gears are damaged in some way and the new axle is the same ratio, it would probably be easier to swap axles.
Be sure to check the condition of u-joints, ball joints, bearings and seals on the new axle before you do all the work of a swap.

he is talking about the spider gears, not the ring and pinion gears.

I would replace all the spider gears. Since you are replacing the spider gears you might as well put in a LockRight in the front. They just replace the spider gears and it offers great locking too. I have one in my rear end. I like it so far. they are a little over $200 from Jeg's I believe.

Hey you know with a posi rear and lockright front, you would have a true 4x4 and you could make it through those mudy water holes you got stuck in. You would be a lot more capable, even more capable than my truck !!!

 

[NEK5]

he is talking about the spider gears, not the ring and pinion gears.

I would replace all the spider gears. Since you are replacing the spider gears you might as well put in a LockRight in the front. They just replace the spider gears and it offers great locking too. I have one in my rear end. I like it so far. they are a little over $200 from Jeg's I believe.

Hey you know with a posi rear and lockright front, you would have a true 4x4 and you could make it through those mudy water holes you got stuck in. You would be a lot more capable, even more capable than my truck !!!

i`m not going to be puttin a locker up front, the posi in the rear is good enough, and i dont plan on doing anything that drastic anymore....depending on the condition of them, would it be worth finding new spider gears instead of tearing apart the other axle, or no?and what am i looking at for a job to change the pinion seal?

 

[blackblazer717]

screw swapping junk around, just clean up the spare, paint it and put it in...
LUKE

 

[Chevy305]

screw swapping junk around, just clean up the spare, paint it and put it in...
LUKE

or that works too...

 

[Chevy305]

So I am happy I replaced my rear pinion seal today!

However I now had to put my spider gears back into the rear end (for now). I had to send my lockright into Richmond Gear so they can assess it and decide if they want to give me a new one. I hope they do so I won't have to deal with any more exessive play in the rear end.

With an open rear end it is a lot easier to do burn outs but one wheel peels kinda suck for on-lookers.

 

[goldwing2000]

he is talking about the spider gears, not the ring and pinion gears.

I would replace all the spider gears. Since you are replacing the spider gears you might as well put in a LockRight in the front. They just replace the spider gears and it offers great locking too. I have one in my rear end. I like it so far. they are a little over $200 from Jeg's I believe.

I never said anything about ring and pinion. I know what gears he's talking about (see my previous posts).
As I said before, if the spider gears are fragged, then the side gears are probably fragged, too. Since you have to remove the axles to replace the side gears and you have to tear the hubs down to remove the axles, it would be quicker and easier to swap the axle if you have a replacement with all good parts on it.

 

[NEK5]

so how should i go about doing this? what should i check on the other front axle?

 

[goldwing2000]

so how should i go about doing this? what should i check on the other front axle?

Post #9:

Be sure to check the condition of u-joints, ball joints, bearings and seals on the new axle before you do all the work of a swap.

And, of course, visually inspect all the gears.

 

[Chevy305]

I never said anything about ring and pinion. I know what gears he's talking about (see my previous posts).
As I said before, if the spider gears are fragged, then the side gears are probably fragged, too. Since you have to remove the axles to replace the side gears and you have to tear the hubs down to remove the axles, it would be quicker and easier to swap the axle if you have a replacement with all good parts on it.

Sorry I read your post quickly

 

[goldwing2000]

No worries...