cant the front axle be disasembled without removal?
 

dads '03 blazer has a front differential issue, there was a grinding noise while going down the road, i think the engaement fork may have been partially engaging. can the tube be took off the differential while the rest of the diff stays put in the chassis? im sure the r.h. shaft has to be pulled. vehicle was in 2H at the time, noise did go away but theres metal flakes in the front diff oil.

Yes you can do the work without completely removing the axle from the truck.

s10extremist.org The one at s10extremist is better then the youtube.

thanks! thats very helpfull, i hope to get started on this possibly tonight. i might have good parts from the '94 parts blazer to use. my '97 has had a stuck "on" vac switch, so i just bypassed it completly and have a hand valve i can turn on or off the vaccum to the acutator. i pretty much leave the front axle "live" during the winter and turn it off once the snow is gone. i suspect the switch on the t/c of dads was letting some vacuum to the acutator & partilly engaging the front axle, causing the grinding that was heard & the mettallic hypoid oil when fluid was checked.