Just because you dont belive you can do it yourself.... you call it a art where as I see very tight tollerances. My choice to pay to have it done was purely financial. I didnt want to pay the same for the tools i would use once, and spend a ton of my time doing it, when for the same price i could pay to have it done. I am sure I could get it right the first time.... The kid that did my install really did just through it in A in 1 and B in 2 style, if you dont understand tolerances and what is physicaly happening when you adjust things, your gonna get whine and not know how to fix it.

That said, your right its not easy, but its not so hard that you cant do it yourself with the proper tools.

 

ok grabber what tools would you need?
because the tools needed would be worth alot more then the install.
berring press with a force guage.. thats expensive. lash dial not so bad. anyways Im the first guy to say do it yourself but without a lift this ones pretty well impossible unless you pull the whole axel. also the cost of failed attempts in parts would be great.. not to mention if you blow your posi out or even potentialy worse
you could do it but i wouldnt reccomend it.
you might get it right but at what cost of time and parts and tools
I would leave this one to the pros

 

also do you have TQ wrench?? Bearing puller?
Im not trying to be a dick but there really is alot more to it then people give it credit for and its really a weak link in the car that has a potential of going boom

 

sorry one more thing...
im a HD mechanic apprentice.. and i can make anything work...
but gears might not work perfect and trial and error can get expensive

 

if you read my post before where I said the tools I would nead you would realize I already answered all this, and weighed the costs.

 

OK, lets get into this...

A bearing press with force gauge, what the hell do you think you need this for? your shim is setting the space there. Put the Pinion in your freezer and the bearing in boiling water. let sit a few minutes, drop your bearing on your pinion

Backlash. Its pretty straight forward to adjust. Theres shims on the retaining bolt on the ring, and when your adjusting your backlash you check it in multiple spots and where one side is off you subtract shims from opposite side and add to the side your checking. Its a Zero sum game, you adjust till you get the backlash right with no extra spacers. tolerance .008-.015" as measured from the backlash gauge (one of the tools I already said I would have to purchase,

Pinion Shim - I used ford racing gears, as they use a master system for making there gears so you do not need a pinion depth gauge. you do however need a micrometer to measure the difference in length to pinion center. then its a simple equation between what theres measured and what your new one is, taking into consideration the shim they used to calculate your shim.

If you get those two right the only thing left to make sure of is the proper set of bearing preload (the most common of the wines, also what mine had) There you need the torque wrench, a pry bar and a screwdriver.

Those are the three biggest things that get dicked up in the install and cause whine or just bad installs... Like I said, I understand them and am confidant that I can do it. Others do it pretty often, if you know what your doing with a tool in your hand, and know how to do the research and can follow a manual, its hard to dick up. Thinking there is a mystery to it and that people can just throw them in with a artistic fashion, is why shops can charge $900 to install with a BS guarantee and take a ton of extra money from you.

 

tools listed before are probably worth about 450-800 bucks not including a force guage for the press depending on "budget brand"
add at least another hundread for a decent TQ wrench. My MAC is worth 400 alone.
and if you just had to adjust the bearing preload once thats a new berring as they can not be removed without damaging.. thats another 40 ish bucks a shot. new fluid and friction modifier again another 40 ish bucks a shot. all if you dont actually break anything. As for the whine or grinding.. that could wear the gear so on so on.
again not trying to be a dick
trying to make you realize that master mechanics of 30 years explained all this to me a while ago after trying to find a GOOD mechanic to help me with this. all of them refused this as they wouldnt do this but all agreed to help stroke the car.. go figure.
its really an art and there is more of an experience thing too
i stand by my statement of your gonna be cheaper to pay a pro to do this

 

ok well fill your boots brother!
you obviously know more about it then me
I hope it turns out well for you

 

Oh and cause you felt the need to throw your apprentace mechanic in there. I just got out of the Marines where I fixed missile guidance systems and F.L.I.R night vision devices. I was also the Calibrations NCO responsable for all the calibrated tools we used (including all the mechanics tools)

Now I fix fully automated clinical chemistry analyzers and DNA analyzers.

an 8.8" rear end is not beyond me.


i didnt intend for this to get mean and personal man, but I am so tired of seeing people on here shoot other people they dont know down, because they themself cant (or wont) do it.

 

meh you type alot faster then me in anger... lol the last line of my last post was why I really got so angry, not really all at you