how hard is it to get a race out of rear end??

The axle bearings are a breeze if you get/rent the right tool. I rented a cuff-link style puller. It threads into a slide hammer. Both were free rentals at my local Autozone.

The toughest race to remove was the pinion race closest to the diff. There are notches in the housing where you can use a punch from the driveshaft side to pound out the race. You'll need a fairly long punch to reach it. I got mine from HF fairly inexpensively.

It's not that hard to change the pinion bearing races, but I would not change them if I did not need to. You can remove them with a long punch. It would be best to install them with a bearing race driver tool and a press, but if you are careful a hammer and punch would work. A brass punch would be best. I happen to have a brass punch set and some old Hobie cat rudder pins, of aluminum, that I also use for soft punches. Gotta be careful that they don't have chips break off in the housing, with the aluminum, though.

Unless they are visually badly worn, I would re use them. I just put 4.56 gears in and reused both the pinion bearings and races. So far, no problems and no noise.

I do have the long punch (actually a Craftsman drift), a bearing race driver set, and a press. However, having had no problem with two 7.5 in axles over the last 10 years, I did not change the bearings or races.

tbadair said:

how hard it is to put a new one in ?? I am thinking I might just reuse the old one if it is in decent shape

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I don't plan on going back in there very often, so I decided to go with all new bearings. The factory bearings and races didn't look bad at all with about 73k. The pinion preload was nonexistant though - no noticeable play by hand, but not enough to register on my in/lb torque wrench, either....must have loosened up from the factory setting over time.

Replacing the pinion race is not bad. I just used the old race to pound the new one in place. You just have to take your time and drive it in evenly so it doesn't get cocked.