D60 Carrier Bearings

[WarNose]

While rebuilding my front suspension i thought it would be a good idea to change the leaky inner axle seals on my D60. I tried running a rag between the ring and pinion gears to pop the carrier out (a trick I read about on another forum that I do not recommend) but it it started coming out unevenly and put the carrier bearings in an ugly bind, possibly damaging them. So now I would like to change the carrier bearings. If I built a case spreader would I be able to just replace the bearings and use the existing shim set? Or is this now something that I need to take into the shop and have backlash and everything else checked/set? Thank you.

 

[79jasper]

You could check all that yourself.
I would clean and inspect the bearings. They might be fine.
And this is gonna sounds hokey, but unless you plan on driving at highway speed with the hubs locked, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

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[Macrobb]

That's one of the major advantages of these trucks - hubs unlocked, nothing is moving. So you can limp along on a failing front U-joint, or sketchy front axle for a long time, if you only rarely need 4x4, as long as you keep the hubs unlocked.

 

[riotwarrior]

Should be non issue

I popped mine out with two prybars....popped back in easy peasy..bit of tapping but easy....

 

[WarNose]

Thanks guys. Here is a picture of the case spreader that I built. There are 2 short pieces of 3/4" bar stock welded on the underside to fit into the holes on the housing. The carrier popped out pretty easy. I also had better pry bars this time around, so I might not have needed it after all. I actually had to take the spreader off to get the carrier all the way back in. It was slightly deforming the case into a v-shape, making it narrower in the back.

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