95 S10 Blazer, Front Diff Removal.

OK, this seems to be a never ending saga. I bought a rebuilt front differential for my wife's Blazer. Have followed the Haynes manual for removal and have completed everything. The carrier is sitting loose in the vehicle, drive axles removed, output shaft tube removed, etc, etc as per the manual. The manual states to "lift and rotate" the carrier to be able to remove it from the vehicle....... yeah right! I can not see how this is going to come out. Yoke gets caught up on the exhaust and oil lines when I try to lift and rotate, gets caught on the lower carrier mounting bracket if I try to drop it, the forward carrier mounting tab hangs up on the crossmember etc etc etc. Has anyone successfully removed the front carrier without breaking out the plasma cutter????

Any tips here would be appreciated.......... I also need to get the new carrier back in, what a pain in the #@$ having to remove the output shaft to get it in.

If GM had bolted in the lower carrier bracket so it was removable, the whole carrier would drop out.

I need to get this lump out of my shop. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Al T.

It helps if the center link is removed, gives a few extra inches. To remove, the pinion is lifted up first, then the whole unit is slid towards the rear of the vehicle. It should clear the brackets at this point.

When you reinstall the right side tube, use some grease to hold the thrust washer to the housing so it doesn't drop.

Oh yeah, I had removed the center link also. They certainly didnt make this easy. I tried what you suggested when I was working on it last night but it didn't seem to work. Maybe the front of the carrier had dropped down to far to get it out this way. I'll try again tonight............. there just didn't seem to be enough room between the carrier bracket and the oil pan to be able to bring the carrier back enough to get the front mounting tab to clear the cross member.
I still think a bolt in bracket would have been the way to go.

After a couple of more hours of frustration I finally went over to the GM dealership and told the technician that works on the differentials what I was doing. He got a smirk on his face and told me that they take the rear bracket (that's causing me all my grief) and bend it out of the way to remove the diff. They then are able to remove and reinstall with the output shaft tube in place. He also said they do not remove the front steering knuckles etc as there is enough play in the CV joints to get the diff out. They do remove the center link as instructed in the Haynes manual. I'll give it another try tonight.

Al T.

Diff out and new one back in. Anyone need to do this, bend the bracket, leave the axles, steering knuckles etc. etc. in place.

Al T.

So all and all...how much did your Haynes manual guide you and how much was it somewhat bogus ?

Just curious... ?

Haynes manual was great, gave me a clean spot to set my tools............

Al T.