Rear differential problem
#21
03-30-2021, 12:46 PM
I always get a little bit of a chuckle out of how sought-after the 8.625 rear end is in the S10 community. You literally can hardly give one away in the full-size truck community, ESPECIALLY if it's a Gov-bomb. 
#22
03-30-2021, 01:37 PM
Originally Posted by LesMyer
Hope the OP comes back for the info. It turned out to be more than a trivial parts search!
Looks like he has the 4WD version of the rear end I have in my S10 racer. Mine originally came out of a 2002 S10 Extreme 2WD with 4.3 and a 5-speed. 2WD 8.625 has 26.5" axles and same small bearings. Completely broke the spider gears in a aftermarket Eaton clutch type posi the very first time I used a new trans brake. Driveshaft spinning - wheels not turning. Lucky it didn't break the housing. Took entire housing out of the vehicle for repairs. Now mine has all new gears/bearings, a full spool, and c-clip eliminators w/tapered wheel bearings designed for a much earlier 8.5 10-bolt. Had to convert to drum brakes because c-clip eliminators were not compatible with disk brakes. That required cutting the centers of new backing plates oversize to fit on the slightly larger register of the disk brake axle. (And the c-clip company said their product wouldn't work on my axle.......) Also I had to whack off the bearing end of each side of the housing flush with the backing plate to install them (that really made me cringe to do it) - no going back! Put it all together with a new forged pinion yoke, new forged slip yoke, new 4" driveshaft with 1350 ujoints, and a new Strange LPW rear cover that holds the carrier bearing caps in place. It was my first rear end setup and hopefully my last. What a pain!
Here's some interesting trivia for 8.625 rears. Did you know they use standard GM 12 bolt carrier bearings. They can use same ring/pinion as an old 8.5 from the 70's, but the pinion yoke seal is larger ID. You can use an 8.5 pinion yoke in the 8.625 if you change the seal to the one for the 8.5. If you buy an aftermarket Eaton carrier or spool and put it in an 8.625, you don't need the same special bearings (smaller OD/large ID) required for installing the carrier in the 8.5 housing. However the shims in your bearing kit may be for the wrong carrier bearings (as were mine) - you need 12 bolt shims. This seems to be lost on the people configuring the kits.
Looks like he has the 4WD version of the rear end I have in my S10 racer. Mine originally came out of a 2002 S10 Extreme 2WD with 4.3 and a 5-speed. 2WD 8.625 has 26.5" axles and same small bearings. Completely broke the spider gears in a aftermarket Eaton clutch type posi the very first time I used a new trans brake. Driveshaft spinning - wheels not turning. Lucky it didn't break the housing. Took entire housing out of the vehicle for repairs. Now mine has all new gears/bearings, a full spool, and c-clip eliminators w/tapered wheel bearings designed for a much earlier 8.5 10-bolt. Had to convert to drum brakes because c-clip eliminators were not compatible with disk brakes. That required cutting the centers of new backing plates oversize to fit on the slightly larger register of the disk brake axle. (And the c-clip company said their product wouldn't work on my axle.......) Also I had to whack off the bearing end of each side of the housing flush with the backing plate to install them (that really made me cringe to do it) - no going back! Put it all together with a new forged pinion yoke, new forged slip yoke, new 4" driveshaft with 1350 ujoints, and a new Strange LPW rear cover that holds the carrier bearing caps in place. It was my first rear end setup and hopefully my last. What a pain!
Here's some interesting trivia for 8.625 rears. Did you know they use standard GM 12 bolt carrier bearings. They can use same ring/pinion as an old 8.5 from the 70's, but the pinion yoke seal is larger ID. You can use an 8.5 pinion yoke in the 8.625 if you change the seal to the one for the 8.5. If you buy an aftermarket Eaton carrier or spool and put it in an 8.625, you don't need the same special bearings (smaller OD/large ID) required for installing the carrier in the 8.5 housing. However the shims in your bearing kit may be for the wrong carrier bearings (as were mine) - you need 12 bolt shims. This seems to be lost on the people configuring the kits.
George
#23
03-30-2021, 02:14 PM
Originally Posted by Tom A
I always get a little bit of a chuckle out of how sought-after the 8.625 rear end is in the S10 community. You literally can hardly give one away in the full-size truck community, ESPECIALLY if it's a Gov-bomb.
But I agree - the Gov-bomb is pretty worthless.
And please tell the full size truck community that I'll take all the 2WD 8.625 S10 rears you can lay your hands on. I might even pay a little something for them. :-)
Last edited by LesMyer; 03-30-2021 at 02:26 PM.
#26
04-05-2021, 08:34 AM
Wow thanks Les. I am going to check all that. I don’t have the RPO codes DS6, LJ3 or G80 on the sticker in the glovebox. The specs that you say are the right ones for the axle. And yes, mine is 28.8215” long, 30 splines but with the small bearing on the wheel side.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
jmaynard
2nd Generation S-series (1995-2005) Tech
1
07-12-2011 01:03 PM
