I've looked through the workshop manuals to see what nightmare I'm getting myself into pulling the diffs. It appears it's not TOO terrible, but I note that they seem to mention bolt replacement. Lots of replacement rather than reuse.

What's the deal with this? Stretch bolts / nuts? Is this something I really need to do, or just milk money for the LR Stealership?

For anyone that's done this before -- does this look right for parts required to do a swap?

• 2 halfshaft retaining nut (axle nut)
• 2 stabilizer nut (swaybar nut)
• 2 outer tie rod ends (nut, but why not just replace the ends)
• axle tube o-ring seal
• 6 Torx bolts for front driveshaft
• 3 differential mounting bolts (but not the 4th?)

What about special tools? It looks like they've got some sort of special oil seal puller? How about to get the axleshaft out of the hub? a special tool to push it back toward the center of the vehicle?

Any thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated. I think the front will be coming out this weekend.

Dave

 

I have no thoughts(on this) or tips, but make sure you do a well illustrated write up
Is ARB the only company that sells lockers for the LR3?

 

It does recommend to replace them, which I did once. The shop said to just re-use them when I replaced the drive shaft, so I did. No problems, but I have a spare set of them on hand in case I ever need them. I think the main point is they would like to sell you bolts.

IMO it is not necessary to replace all those bolts, from experience which I haven't.

Are you doing the ready to install ARB's?

ARB is currently the only option unless you want to do a conversion to add factor. I can be done, quite a bit of work, add the ecu and missing wiring harness. Been working on something but it has been slow going due to lack of a good ECU programmer among other things.

 

To answer the question about a specialty oil seal puller, I seriously doubt you would need a Land Rover tool for that. If pulling the seals on the car, you certainly need a generic seal puller tool that you can pick up at any local auto parts store. Otherwise, you risk gouging your differential case and leaking oil from that area in the future. However, if you're pulling the whole diff, then you may not even need the seal puller. They are just designed to hook the back of the seal and then use leverage to pry them out without damaging the area where the seal seats.

 

I ended up ordering the parts individually, most of which from Lucky8. I've got a shop near my house that specializes in transmissions and differentials and has plenty of experience with locker installs of all types, including many ARBs. They've been open in the same location for almost as long as I've been alive. They've been my goto when my personal friend was too busy to do lockers.

I figured the seal puller was not too big of a deal. What about the device to push the axleshafts back in from the wheel hub?

Dave

 

You are in luck sir, putting a front locking differential in my rig was my weekend project.

I replaced all the nuts that called to be replaced, but I didn't replace the driveshaft or differential mounting bolts. The nuts are all nylock or some similar locking nut design and should be replaced. The bolts didn't look like torque-to-yield or anything fancy, so I just threw some loctite on and re-used. Having said that though, the only reason I didn't replace them is because I forgot to get new ones. It does seem like cheap insurance to replace them.

You will also need 2 axle retaining circlips PN# TDL 500030 these are used to hold the shafts inside the differential and cannot be re-used even if you wanted to.

You may or may not need the O-ring for the axle tube. I purchased my differential with locker through Centurion differential and sent my core back. My core used RTV sealant instead of an o-ring, the locker that I installed required the o-ring, so I am glad I had bought one just in case. You can tell by the presence or absence or a groove on the diff where the tube installs.

I didn't use any special tools for this job. I used an air chisel to remove the half shaft from the knuckle, and a generic oil seal puller tool to remove the oil seals. I did use a press and a 67mm hole saw (I ground all the teeth off of it) to press in the new seal

This job was fairly straight forward. The procedure outlined in the workshop manual covers about everything, just a couple lessons I learned

-You CANNOT do this job alone, there are just too many places you need a third hand.
-In order to release the half shafts from the differential, you are going to have to use a soft metal drift and a hammer and drive them outward. The front right shaft you can smack on right after it exits the axle tube. There is thin sheet metal 'deflector' to keep debris from hitting the axle seal, dont hit that! I attached a picture that wasn't of the LR3 axle but it will give you the general idea. For the left axle its the same procedure but you will have to remove a support crossmember that runs forward to back right under the differential.
-The differential is a complete and total PITA to re-install. It will only go in one way. From what I remember the diff needs to be angled back so the front of it is higher, then have your assistant work the jack as you hold the diff steady. have the diff a couple inches back from where it needs to be. You will need to raise the front mount on the diff higher than where it affixes to the frame then slide the diff and jack as far forward as you can, swing the back of the diff up, bring the drive shaft into the diff flange. (The drive shaft fits inside the diff flange) Then bring the whole assembly back then lower it into position. Chances are you will fight and struggle with this for about an hour like I did.
-I purchased the proper E10 external torx socked in 3/8 drive to remove the driveshaft bolts, and promptly found the socket was too fat to fit. Fortunately I went in person to Sears and while I went there for the socket I happened to glance at a set of Univeral wrenches that were on sale and decided what the hell. These saved my butt. An 8mm universal wrench is what I used to remove the bolts -When re-installing the half shafts make sure they are compressed all the way before driving them in. This is another time an assistant helps out greatly.

 

Thanks much! -- I picked up the o-ring and the circlips that I did not have on my list of 'things to get'!

Good tip on the universal wrenches - Those are actually what I carry in my bag that stays in the truck while actually offroading. Glad to see they'll come in extra handy if my eTorx sockets don't fit.

I hope to have someone with me during reinstall, not positive about removals. I really would like to pull the front out this weekend, but unless the parts show tomorrow, I may not have the nuts to do it. The big offroad weekend for the summer is 2 weeks away, I'd rather not find out I still need some wacky bolt or have something go wrong -- I could easily get into a situation where I need a part and it's not going to be able to be shipped overnight in time!

I'd rather just wheel it one more time without the lockers. Maybe if I just throw the boxes in the back it'll help with traction...

I'll know in the next few days anyhow! When I do this, I will be taking lots of photos for folks, as I'm sure more folks will be doing this process in the upcoming years!

Dave