you got lucky, I had to pound my pinion cross pin out, cut it, and pound it out more. it had about 10-15° in it

 

Who said I didn't pound? I had to use a ratchet strap hooked to the frame to pull the carrier out of the rear end. No amount of prying would make it budge. And yes the axles were pulled out, c-clips removed and the bearing caps were off. At least on the second attempt they were.

 

Thanks for the kind offer but that would involve shortening the drive shaft and re gearing the front.

 

no probs just lookin to help ya out.

i think my buddy has a 9.75 with disc brakes not sure on the gears thoe its brand new out of a E-250 we thought it was a 10.25 for the longest time then we took numbers and mesurments its a 9.75 i could see if hes looking to sell it.

 

I ordered a shim kit form a local shop. Should be in tomorrow and I can then set up the new carrier and be back on the road. I started cleaning out the housing and ran out of brake cleaner. The metal flake soup is everywhere.

 

Went to the USA yesterday with a friend and picked up 4 bottles of 75W90 and a gallon of 2% milk. Fluid was for the diff and milk for my morning coffee.

All back together and runs fine.

Edit: Setting up rear end is not all that hard. Just a PITA lifting a 9.75 differential in and out of the axle to shim it.

 

I've learned a trick with the 10.5, I leave a cap on one side or another to hold the carrier while I shim the opposing side. Then swap the process after shims are in. a 10.5 detroit isnt fun to hold in place and shim either.

Mine was a bitch to set up, and I think its off just a touch still. Couldn't get the gear paint to lay out on it it was weird.

 

Same thing happened to me. I could not get a proper gear pattern because of the paint. Ended up going by feel. Might be because I reused my pinion and Neal's diff and ring gear. I did eventually figure out your trick of leaving one cap on but not after a half an hour of lifting and shoving that pig in and out. I can imagine a 10 ½ is quite a bit heavier.

 

Ah yeah, swapping ring/pinions is supposedly a no-no I'm sure I'll be back into mine and seeing if pulling the last shim from under the pinion makes a difference.