404 rear axle repair

[dave404]

What's involved in pulling the rear axle to repair the diff lock? or do I not need to pull it from the truck?
Thanks, Dave.

[minimog]

sorry but you have to pull it from the truck because the way the suspension/torqe tube set up
the easy way would be get the axel seperated from the tube then put on a good set of axle stands if its a rear undue the bolts where the cast spacer is and slide out the portal/shaft(first make sure you engage the diff lock even though it doesnt work it will save you a day in wasted time and labour) as one unit then comes the hard part
undue the bolts holding the diff unit then if you look closley at 3 & 9 oclock theres two locating dowls drive these into the case(trust me it will make the next steps a lot easyer) once these are out of the way tap the diff to saperate it from the axle case dont worry it wont drop out because then you have to spin the diff through 90 degrees untill you can pull the diff out (if it wont come out you have not rotated it enough) once out you will see the locker fork and the caslelated locker coller it should have two locating shoes(might be in the diff pan)
then to fit it back in ensure the locker is engaged and the splines in the locker coller and diff line up or you will struggle to to fully seat the drive shaft
i might make it sound simple it is but then ive striped and rebuilt quite a few this year
if you need any more info just pm me

[dave404]

Thanks for the reply. One point, when you say to rotate the diff, do you rotate clockwise or counterclockwise? Or does it not matter?
Thanks, Dave.

[minimog]

i think its anticlock wise till the crown wheel is flat accross the bottom of the housing (you will see why because the casing is cut out and it will only come out when lined up)