done without special tools?

[HotRodScottsdale]

So I got lucky and found a 83 parts truck for my 84. Now I got it for the body *97% rust free* but found out it has the same rear end as my 84 and I REALLY needed a new one as my 84 came with a shot rear end. After checking gears I found that only the carrier got messed up and the pinion * guess a nut came undone and pinion slid towards and into the carrier* but the ring gear and spiders look fine. In the 83 I just got looks fine but the fluid was very black and gears look worn down. My question is can I take the carrier/pinion from 83 2wd and put it in my 84 4x4 with the 84 spiders and ring gear? Both are 14 bolt s/f 342 gears

[GRADYS Performance]

Gears are made and sold as matched sets. Wear patterns and noise would most likely lead to an unacceptable result.

[HotRodScottsdale]

That makes sense. Thank you

[Dead Parrot]

IF the short term objective is just to get the truck moving under its own power and to gain practice in repairing/installing gear sets, no reason not to try it. Not much to loose as long as you accept that Gradys is probably correct. Matching a worn gear from one set with a worn gear from a different set will likely be sub optimal.

It would let you test the 3.42 ratio for your application. Think of it as a low cost temporary experiment. And you might get lucky and the whole thing will last for several hundred thousand miles.

[wilkin250r]

I haven't done three hundred gear setups, but with the experience that I DO have, and knowing how precisely they need to be set, often using shims less than the thickness of a piece of paper, I would never attempt a mis-matched set of gears.

They're simple mechanisms, a couple gears, a couple bearings, a couple shims. But that simplicity is misleading, because they're very difficult to set up correctly, this is not an easy project. It's not uncommon for a novice to have to remove and install that carrier seven or eight times to get the setup correct.

All the power in your vehicle is transferred through those gears. A sudden failure at even low highway speeds is more than inconvenient. Not only can it damage the axle housing or carrier, but perhaps your transmission/transfer case, or even loss of vehicle control and putting your life at risk, literally.

I don't want to be the guy spouting Doomsday Prophesy, but I think a lot of people think differentials are easy, just because there aren't very many components.

[HotRodScottsdale]

Thanks for the heads up and tips. I'm going to just run the worn gears till they break. Just drive easy till I can get a new set up

[nonstop]

Do you have photos? How are they worn? Chipped? Shiny? Shiny can be just fine. We're there metal shavings in the oil? Might be easiest to put the whole rear in and not worry about setting up gears.