Dana 60 Diff Spreader

[rharveysr]

I took the rear cover off of the Dana 60 that is my car this past weekend. Its a good thing that I did because of what I found. Somehow moisture got into the housing and the rust or whatever had set in on the caps of the center section. There were spots of it laying in the bottom of the pumpkin as well. So I decided that I needed to pull it down and clean it all up. It has an Eaton posi unit in it now. For some reason the housing of the posi has what looks like gear marks from the pinion gear. The marks are so deep that it cracked the posi unit. Now it will be replaced with something else. The unit turns smooth...but I dont want to ignore it and wish later that I had replaced it.
I have talked to a few people and they are telling me that there is a couple of ways to get that unit out Either you use a couple of pry bars and work easy to pry it out and the other is use a diff spreader. I have priced the spreader and the lowest is $300.  Anybody have one that they would rent?  I only need it to remove the Eaton so I can clean that axle housing. A buddy of mine owns a hotrod shop in southern Ca and he will do the install of the new unit.
Give me some idea's

thanks
Rick

[mopowers]

You could make one pretty easily if you have a picture to go off of.  Some thick angle iron, threaded rod and some nuts.  One thing to be aware of though, is it is really easy to over spread the housing.  If you do, it won't go back to where it was.

When I did my Dana 60, I didn't use one and it turned out fine.

[rharveysr]

I have tried a little pry bar action and it didnt want to move. I thought if I could just open it up just a hair...I should be able to use the pry bar method.  There are is 3/8" steel laying around the house that should work...I had thought about that.  I still dont k now how you can flex that much steel with cracking something..

Rick

[orangejuice360]

U ain't gettin rough enough.  Get a BIG prybar and man up on it.  Better yet, if you are going to replace the carrier there is nothing to worry about.  Hell Just torch it out.  That axle is pretty tough.  The small amount of heat won't hurt the ring gear any.  Here's a testament to the D60 axle's toughness.  I have one in the front of my 87' W150 with 100,000+ miles.  shaft seals went out and filled the housing with sand on my last mud run.  Drove for a week until I noticed a little clunk.  pulled the cover, I pouted a little as the mud ran out , rebuilt with new bearings and seals only, gear pattern is good, still turnin 35" tires with no complaints.  And I beat the snot out of it.  

[79ramcharger]

Prybar method - use 2 one on top and one on bottom. The prybars we use in the shop are pretty stiff and 3 foot long.

Spreader method - the one we built for the shop is made from 1/2" steel.  Make a square with each corner hinged. The top of the square we use a 3/4" fine thread turn buckle. Weld a pin that fits tightly into the holes on the axle housing onto the side of the Square. You should now be able to put the pins into the axle after some adjustment of the turn buckle. Before going any further Get a dial indicator on the housing. Before going any further Get a dial indicator on the housing. Do not spread housing any more than... oh damn the book is at the shop and I can't remember if it is .020" or .030". Well any way don't over spread it as it will not spring back.

We only use the spreader method as a last resort at the shop.

Steve

[oldkimmer]

..........................I have never used the spreader................kim..........................

[GTS Cowboy]

They're a bear to get out sometimes ,but you have to really lean on that pry bar...a little at a time ,working from side to side