Question about carriers

[fouronereason]

I have a 12B 3.73 and a 12B 3.08 both gov-loc, are the carriers different, they appear to be the same, its the ring gear that looks thicker on the 3.08 by maybe an 1/8 of an inch. My question is can I take the 3.73 ring gear and bolt it on the carrier of the 3.08 using all the same shims that came from the 3.73 diff. i'm trying to piece my diff back together, just temp, until I can find a 14/60.

 

[jbz400]

no you can not just swap ring gears. you would need to swap the hole carrier. if you are dead set on using the 12 i would use the shims w the gear i was planing on using. but it is a must to check preloads, backlash, and contact pattern after the set up. i dont know how much you plan on driving it until you get the 60/14 combo but if not set up right you will be back where you started. if it were me i would start looking for the 14 bolt w the right gear all ready in it, but then you are stuck w 6 and 8 lug axels. or you can try geting a matching set of 3/4 ton axels

 

[fouronereason]

Yea, I pretty much just figured out I'm F'ed, got a pile of **** and I'm trying to polish a turd

 

[4X4HIGH]

There are 3 different carriers for the 12 bolt axle as follows...

2.73-down

3.07-3.42

3.73-4.56

 

[fouronereason]

What exactly is the difference, they looked the same to me?

 

[4X4HIGH]

What exactly is the difference, they looked the same to me?

The offset of the ring gear flange that the ring gear bolts to is in a different place.

 

[fouronereason]

kinda figured that cuz when I bolted the series 2 carrier gov-loc with the 3.73 in the rear end the backlash was so far off that shims wouldnt even fix it. But I bolted a series 3 open carrier into with all the same shims and it seems to be fine no with very very minimal backlash, thanks for the response