10-bolt Qs

[NerdBoy]

As seen in a previous thread, I tore up the gears in my 10-bolt this weekend. I'm on a limited budget, and a friend of mine has an axle for a good price that might work for me.
However, it's a gov-loc.
So, I was thinking I could just take his, and swap my Auburn carrier into it. Thing is, the one he has might be a 28-spline, and mine is a 30-spline. Is it possible to swap carrier and axles between the two? I'm trying to avoid having to deal with an entire axle rebuild, here, as kits tend to be about $100.

If the axles won't swap, what parts do I need to swap in his pinion and ring gear into my housing? I am aware of the crush sleeve on the pinion. Is there anything else I would have to replace?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[pauly383]

Yes you can swap axles and carriers if the axle is from a like chassis and is teh same width . You will need to reset the gears though , and that can be a PITA for most of us .

 

[K5MONSTERCHEV]

You MIGHT need to reset up the gears. Check the backlash and pattern on your friends gearset. Take all the shims and keep them separate, left and right and pinion. Then bolt your auburn to the ring gear, put it all in the housing with the shims from your friends housing, check the pattern and backlash, it might be a little different, just set it up to what it was originally (before you pulled it out of youri friends housing).

 

[NerdBoy]

I thought there was a pretty good writeup on setting the gears around here somewhere. Anyone know where it went? I tried a search, and didn't find it.