Your talking rearends, we talking front ifs diffs. On a rear diff you just unbolt the cover to check inside.

 

I thought they were pretty much the same.

 

With a solid front axle it is, both have covers.

Ifs like a s-series and later model fullsizes have are a lot different. They split in half.

 

Well I picked up sat & decided not to put new seals & gaskets in because they all looked good & the truck it came out had 141,000. So that didn't seem to bad.

So the good news is that I got the "new" Sonoma diff & diff tube/guts all mounted in the truck & every when perfect except I snapped a bolt on a u joint clamp & now have to drill it out.

The bad news is that I can get the lever to move manually at the diff & the 4wd will lock in. BUT I used a vise grip to keep the pin engaged & it worked but when I give it even a little gas it starts growling like the ring gear isn't all the way over but the pin is pulled out as far as it can go.
So is that normal if the tires are off the ground? Or do I need to get new ring gear & drive gears?

 

Im glad its you not me LOL.I would have just left the 3.42`s or whatever you have in it.

 

Well bravada a come stock w/ 3.73 which is nice with 31s but I still only get 12-13mpg. According to the overhead console. But I'm pretty sure that's off because of the larger tires.

 

Before i slapped 300 lbs of bumpers on mine i was getting about 22mpg with 31s and 3.73 gears. The bumpers cut it down to the high teens.

 

Well I'm also dragging around a full roof rack w/ r lights, full tool box on it & the spare up top to so imagine some of it is air risistents & some because the ECM is reading wrong because if the bigger tire. Biggest factor I think is the front diff is always engaged in a bravada another reason why I switched.