Whata ya know, here's a video:

 

Ahh man, I was slightly wrong then. Shows how long its been since I have done one! Guess the adjusters sit off to the side until after the caps go on. They do not go through the axle tube. Then you screw them in with the tool. Close enough. Still cant punch them tight. Crazy man got the boot either way.

 

I watched the whole damn thing. Not once did he use a punch to adjust anything. He used picks to get things in place, but NEVER a punch and hammer to set the carrier bearings.

BTW Turbo, EXCELLENT video. Was spot on with everything I did. That said, a warning, this was a straight rebuild, nothing changed. When regearing, that pinion needs to get the proper shims...you need to pay attention to what it was, what the new pinion measurement is (usually scribed on the new pinion) and shim accordingly. The rest is pretty spot on.

Also, this video was done at a professional shop, by someone who has VAST experience doing this. I don't suggest trying to do it by "feel" at all, until you've done a ****load of them. A dial indicator and inch lb running torque wrench for the pinion/backlash is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for a beginner, as is a guiding hand with experience. Can you do it? Sure! But be smart about it, it can get really expensive if you're not.


One last thing about our friend crazygary...he's gone because it was obvious he was only here to troll, cause trouble, spew excrement, and not back anything he had to say, with only a handful of posts. He had opportunities to back up his claims and chose the child's route. I personally don't want that here on our site...this is a community to share knowledge, and I aim to keep it that way.

And his comments on coming back with another "crazy" name?


Sorry buddy. Your IP addy is now on radar, haha

 

I love happy endings.

Hey OP.... HOPEFULLY you're still around and can gain some useful info out of all this. This is a good forum and there's lots of great knowledge on here. Sometimes you just have to pluck a few weeds out of the garden.

 

I'm about 98% certain you can set those adjusters with a curved/bent punch. I may or may not have one that's meant for doing that sort of thing in the rare event that it has to happen.

Not right, but it gets done all the time on axles with side adjusters. It's easy to spot the next time around, the adjusters are always chewed up from it. Typically they won't get as much preload on the carrier bearings as is ideal, and the gears suffer for it, but it will run.

Similar to guys setting wheel bearings with a punch. You can always tell, it looks like a teething beaver went nuts in there, and normally they don't have as much preload on the bearing or torque on the lock as they should.

However, in either of the above cases, if you're planning to do the job ahead of time either buy or make the correct tool before you start it...