carrier berings

[reb42]

hey,need a little help here.I have a 64 chevy stepside,with a1975-80something rearend.I just wantedto replace the axle seals and berings.I have the rearend setting on sawhorses a notice a crunching sound when i turned the axles.So i removed the cover and found a lot of grit or something in the chunk ring and pinion looks good,removed the axles and the noise stopped.thought since i this for i would go ahead and replace what i think is called the carrier berings,but i am uncertain how to do this.Caps are removed whats next . thanks for any help.

[andyh1956]

ok- after the caps are removed (you did mark them for future reference, right?) the whole carrier assy is removed. the axle housing is gonna be tight on it so as to impart "preload" on the bearings so it may need to be spread some. keep the shim packs with the respective side they were removed from. now remove the side bearings. you can cut them off but be carefull not to damage carrier housing. if you pull them you will need a bearing splitter to get under the bearing, a crossbar puller settup that fastens to the splitter & a disc to fit on the bearing stub of the carrier housing for the puller screw to bear upon. the splitter will want to pull against the cage of the bearing & sometimes it comes off & you have to start over & pull from under the race. if it is the original shim pack it most likely will have selective fit iron shims. be carefull, they are brittle & won't stand much pounding, use a soft hammer & try to spread housing if you can. work evenly from both sides as you install the carrier into the housing, the shims go in with the carrier assy- not after! after you seat the bearings install the caps. rolling the assy a lot & tapping lightly as you go then torque the cap bolts. the drivers side bearing usually fails because the pinion gear pushes the ring gear towards the drivers side so that bearing gets more load. now you can check your pattern & backlash. good luck, hope this helps.
andy