Hello all,
To start off, I messed up. My right side axle was leaking, so I went to replace it today. I opened the diff, pulled the center pin, un-clipped the axle, and went to go pull the axle out. *TING* my spider gears shoot out. Of course in the rush I was in I forgot to put the pin back in to avoid this. 5 hours and lots of colorful language later I'm still stuck with a useless truck that I was planning on taking on a 500 mile trip tomorrow, I CANNOT for the life of me get the spider gears back in. I realize this is because of the clutch packs and springs pushing the planetary gears together. Whats the trick? Best answer I can find online is that ford has a special tool for this. Buying the tool is not an option as its easily $500 Im guessing, and my other option is taking the carrier out and taking it to ford to have them throw the spiders back in real quick, BUT I have problems with this too because I can't get the clip off of the left axle to pull it out and then pull the carrier, once again, do any of you know any tricks around this? I can't push the left planetary back far enough to get the clip to slide out.

I'd prefer to just be able to get the spiders in myself if yall can help but advice on how to pull the left axle clip would also be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: this is all for a 9 3/4 sterling rear w/ ford posi trac and yukon 4.88's

 

im guessing you got it figured out?

 

Talked to my gear guy that helped me out when the front carrier was stuck. he says he's seen it before so I had a flatbed take it over to his shop and im waiting to hear back on Monday. I just wish I had the tool to press the plantetarys in then there wouldn't be a problem. Oh well, live and learn.