Rear end

[walkinparadis]

Tomorrow my father in-law and I are replacing the entire rear end. Differential and all. Can anyone please give me some pointers. It started when the rear end was making a grinding noise and found this rear end from a family friend and decided to just do the whole thing instead. I got the fluids and a new seal. what else do I need to know. He is a good mechanic and I can turn a wrench when told to. That is the extent of my knowledge of vehicle maintenance. The vehical has about 83,000 miles and it is a Trailblazer.:undecided

[LMMJ]

what year is the donor axle? Your 02 has drain and fill holes so no gasket needed if thats the case

[bstromback2002]

I believe our cover gasket are reusable so i would open it up and make sure everything is clean and there isn't any pitting or anything else unusual in there

[markarock]

My son and I did this job this summer on my 03 Envoy SLT. It was very easy, all things considered.

Pointers:

1. Jack up the whole truck, level, and support it with sturdy jackstands. Not required, but it made it easier.

2. The toughest part will be removing the sway bar endlink attachments. If one or both links are bad, now is the time to change them.

3. A transmission jack would be best, but you can do it with a hydraulic jack. I used a cheap transmission jack and it was sure convenient.

4. If you can use the backing plates and emergency brake parts on the replacement differential, you will save yourself a lot of time. My original backing plates were heavily rusted, and the replacement unit's backing plates were in great shape, so I was fine. If you have to swap backing plates, you will have to remove the axles. If you have to remove the axles, consider whether to remove and replace the seals.

5. Pay attention to the orientation of the bolts and nuts--mark, photograph, or draw them. It is easy to forget.

6. Put the springs in place before you connect the lower control arms to the frame.

7. Replace the fluid in the replacement differential.

8. This is an excellent time to replace your rear shocks.

9. This is an excellent time to replace your rear rotors and pads

10. I removed my calipers/bracket as a unit, IIRC. Don't let them hang--use coat hanger wire to support them while you are working.

11. Be very careful removing the trunnion bolts. Be even more careful threading them into the replacement's pinion yoke. My threads were very rusty because the differential had been sitting outside--get yourself a tap and make sure the threads are clean and lubricated before you install the trunnion bolts. This is a critical step if your diff was setting outside for any length of time.

[walkinparadis]

Thank you all, the donor is 2002 with 86000 on it.