The problem was faily obvious to see - oil pissing out of the hubs on both sides - and after yesterdays run on some gravel roads the keen eyed will note a couple of bolts had actually fallen out (they were brand new bolts & locktighted in
)
So I looked at options - the obvious one being drill out & re-tap the threads but that would mean the truck being off the road for a while & it's my daily drive so when a whole new rear diff came up on TradeMe I reckoned I was sorted. I picked it up for bugger all from where Rex works (cheers for the bargin) & collected it on our way back down from Kerikeri on Monday
It was brand-new ex-army stock & was complete including brake drums, shoes, & cylinders - in fact the only thing missing was wheel nuts
. So I reckoned I'd get it swapped over today - I mean how difficult could it be 
First problem was the first of the U-bolts I started on - it looks like a wheel has come off on the road sometime & the ends of the U-bolt was welded to the nuts
So out with the angle ginder & ..........
At this point I realised it wasn't gonna be taking me to work tommorrow as I don't have new U-bolts
but carried on anyway. After a fair amount of cursing I finally got the other bolts undone & dragged the old diff out.
I swapped the brakelines & diff breather over & then thought it may be a good idea to check the diff ratio - guess what new one is 3.54 & old one was 4.7 F**K Oh well best leave this one for now & start stripping down the POS rangie outside to get to the diff.
Oh well at least I got dirty today
- just not with mud 
Funnily enough the missus wouldn't let me inside 'til I'd stripped & hosed myself down
) out - like this
