hello there !this is my first posting ..i have read piles of others and found this site to be awesome -i reply to some that i can help with but not as knowledgable as most ...here's my problem-found shavings on fill plug at rear diff,pulled cover and found wear on the small gears in the central bunch(nest i think its called)(ring gear seems ok) i am going to take this apart and try and replace ...unless there is more than is required ..wont know til im in there...is there a list of bearing part #'s and seal#'s that i can pre-buy or cost out before i tackle this and would there be any reason to change to diff gears ...its a 3:55 limited slip(original) on a 93 f-150 xl 4wd -i do lots of highway driving and some four wheel stuff(nothing too crazy)-i have read a bunch of threads on this site about this and printed a bunch of info that was suggested as tips ...but that was on later modeles '99 and newer do the same tips apply to a 93...?sorry for the dijoointed way i type but this is kinda new to me..i'll get better-thx

 

Keep in mind that some metal shavings in the case. Any time you have gears meshing you will get shavings. Chunks or lots of shavings are bad. The gears you're refering to are the spider gears. To get them out you'll have to pull the axle shafts and the cross pin. If you decide to replace them you'll need the gears plus the shims that go in behind them. You will need to check the cross pin holes in the carrier to check for ovaling. If they are ovaled you will need a new carrier and will need your gears setup again. As far as seals and bearings to replace the only ones will be the seals and bearings at the ends of the axle tubes. The other bearings (carrier and pinion) are going to require a whole new gear setup and given the questions you asked you don't have the required experience to do a gear setup. If you change the gears at that time it will cost about $1200 for a 4x4 and $600 for a 4x2. Changing to a different gear ratio would only be needed if you're running over sized tires and need to relive strain on the driveline. What amount of wear are you talking about on the spider gears?