I went to the junkyard today to score a rear disc conversion off of a ZJ for my XJ. I drained the rear end and removed the cross pin retaining bolt expecting the cross pin to slide right out like differentials I have worked on before. I tried a little encouragement with a punch and a BFH, but it was a no go. I tried from both sides also by turning the diff and beating on the other side. The cross pin will move about 1/32" with my fingers, but it feels like it's hitting a hard stop even though the retaining bolt is completely removed. Without being able to remove the c-clip axles, I couldn't get the backing plates off I needed for my swap, so I gave up and came home to research. According to what I've found, the cross pin should have come right out with very little encouragement. Has anyone ran into this before and found a fix? I swear I beat on it for about 45 minutes.

 

The cross pin retaining bolt probably broke off leaving a portion of it left inside. If you still have the bolt check it to see how long it is and see if it has snapped off. I have seen it before

 

^^^^ this
Happen to me on more than one occasion.

 

I ended up going back to the junkyard and spotting another ZJ. Same setup as the prior one, but as expected, when I removed the cross pin retaining bolt, the pin fell right out. I went back over to the one that was giving me issues and couldn't find the bolt I had taken out to see if a piece was broken off the end. Who knows... Thanks for the help guys!