[thradke]

I am doing the same job on my '00 Suburban. It's not too difficult to drop the front differential if you know in advance that you have to remove the steering link to obtain the proper clearance to get it to drop. I don't know if the setup is the same on a '97. As it turns out, you can remove the inner axle shafts with the differential still on the car, but with some of the mounting bolts removed. At that point, prying the output shaft seals out isn't difficult if you have a seal puller or a heavy-duty screw driver.