1996 Collector Edition Corvette

[wxo]

I had a conversation with Thomas at East Coast gear and he did not discourage me from this plan. He was immensely helpful.

Big misunderstanding! The differential has to come out of the car and taken to the shop to change the crush sleeve. I'm going to have them install a rebuild kit so I will have a fresh Dana 44HD when I get it back. This will be a new adventure for me in getting that unit out of the car.

[GMJohnny]

WXO,

I’m not certain about your feelings on this, but when I had my C5 I changed the whole
carrier when I did a gear ratio upgrade. It wasn’t that expensive to do and I got a factory
set up for under $400 ready to bolt in. I know nothing about the rear end in your car but
I’m throwing this out there so you have another option to think about if you haven’t
thought about it already.

GM

[wxo]

I will add this to my list of items for discussion when I take the diff to the shop. Thanks.

[wxo]

Today, I cleaned out from under Silvia. I removed all the tools and stuff that I had used previously and wiped up all the spilled rear end fluid then swept out all the dirt and debris that had been blown in. I always like to begin a new project under the car with a clean floor. Today I started the task of removing Silvia's rear end. I didn't get very far, but at least I started removing the U joint bolts holding the half shafts in place. It looks and feels to me like they've never been off. I believe I will replace all the U joints before I put them back in again.

[wxo]

I got back to Silvia today and made some progress on getting the differential out. The half shaft removal seemed easy, but they weren't. After removing all the U Joint bolts and caps and popping off the tie rod ends, the next step is to rotate the shaft in just the right orientation to allow it to be free to move into an open space above and make room for the bottom end to separate and move downward and out. I'm going to get replacement U joints and take them down to the machine shop and have them installed. The boots on the tie rod ends were severely dry rotted. I'll be doing some research to find out if the rubber boots can be replaced. The tie rod ends are not worn so I would not be inclined to replace them.

Next steps:
Remove the spring.
Drop two suspension arms (four bolts)
Support the diff
Remove the batwing bolts (two) and out she comes. (I doubt it will turn out to be as easy as it sounds)

[wxo]

It took me three hours this afternoon. Now it's headed for East Coast Gear. Probably Monday.

[wxo]

Got the Dana44 back on Tuesday the 25th and it is now bolted back in place where it belongs. Now I'll start putting the rear suspension back in place and then start working my way forward.

[Maverick]

Did West Coast Gear have an explanation for the sudden seal failure?

[wxo]

There was no opportunity to chat with the actual gear box experts. They have a waiting lobby, you sign in on a screen and wait for a service rep to come out. They take your diff and come back to get it when they call you. It's a huge operation.

[wxo]

I got the rear spring mounted back up today. I had some difficulty because I lost track of the original placing of the spacers above and below the spring. In the process of figuring out which spacers went where, I learned that the spring is an NYR version with a 39.9 # spring rate and I have a 24mm sway bar in the rear which all correspond nicely to the F45 suspension on the car. Tomorrow I hope to complete this phase of the activity by attaching the end bolts to the springs. Then, I will have to take a pause to wait for a call to go pick up my drive shaft and axles from the shop that's installing new universal joints all around. Once I get the axle half shafts back in, it will be time to work on getting the dreaded C Beam back into place between the tranny and diff.

[wxo]

I was able to get the two ends of the rear spring attached today. It was a bit sketchy jacking each end enough to attach the bolt. That spring is nothing to mess with. The first try resulted in the end of the spring slipping off the jack while on the way up. No damage done (I hope).
I decided that I don't have to wait for the shop to finish the half shafts to be able to move forward on this. I started cleaning up the C beam in preparation for getting it back in place. I can install the axles and drive shaft after the C beam is in place.

[wxo]

The Dana44 had this tag on it:

What a surprise! I call East Coast Gear and they explained that conventional gear oil sticks to the gear teeth better than synthetic oil and thereby cushions the meshing teeth better. He also added that there is an additional cooling effect with the conventional oil.

[Basement Paul]

Unless this guy is some chemical expert, I would very much disagree with him. That being said, since he's the builder, I would heed his warning and run conventional.

-BP

[wxo]

I found it interesting that this appears to be the policy of this major differential rebuilder. The biggest portion of their business appears to be off-road vehicles. I agree that the best thing is to follow their advice. I have already bought the conventional gear oil. It will go in today. Furthermore, this gear oil has limited slip additive already in it. I was wondering if I should also add the small bottle of the GM LS additive I had already bought. I decided not to add it right now, but if I get chattering, I can always add more.

[MostMint]

Unless this guy is some chemical expert, I would very much disagree with him. That being said, since he's the builder, I would heed his warning and run conventional.

-BP

To me 90 weight is 90 weight, but he could be an expert of real world experience. After enough of them come in having used synthetic, and needing redone under warranty, such a rule could come about.