Can anyone direct me to a DIY for a rear end swap on a fox body. I broke an axle last night, got a 8.8 replacement with 3.73's. My first attempt at changing a rear end, any help appreciated.
You will need a couple of jack stands and a couple of floor jacks help also.
after the rear of the car is raised up high enough so you can get the rear end out and the body secured with jack stands. disconnect the brake lines and e-brake cables. disconnect the drive shaft.disconnect the sway bar from the lower control arms. place a jack stand under either the pass or driver side tube and place a jack under the opposite side lower control arm. jack up on it enough to take some pressure off and remove the lower mounts for the rear shock and quad then take out the rear bolt for the lower control arm. slowly lower down the jack, this will let the control arm down releasing the spring & taking care of the lower control arm at the same time. when the spring tension releases pull it out of the perch and repeat for the otherside. unbolt the upper arms from the diff side of the rear end and pull it out. reverse to install.
If you have drum brakes (I do),I unbolted the brake assemblys from the differential (4 bolts each,no need to pull the brakes apart either) and hung them from the top of the shocks with string.That way,no brake bleeding or brake shoe installation trouble.Just replace the 4 bolts on each side.Super ease.I just swapped my diif...again...Saturday after work.Took about an hour and half or so.Luckily,I have no rusted bolts either.