Continuing adventures, 70D differential

But I now have both bearings pulled, and even with the spur gears removed completely, the shaft with only the ring gear attached will just not go in, no matter how it is handled.

Seems like the only thing left to do is press out the shaft, heat the ring gear in an oven, put it in the case and then slide the (cold) shaft through from the right, which requires pulling the reduction gear cover! But they can't possibly have done this on the production line, could they?

Anyone who has ever done this on a 70D *please* contact me and tell me how you did it! Others have done it on other 2-cyls. but maybe they aren't as difficult... if I ever get it done I'll post the secret. Thanks!

I'd also thought of the shaft being off center, but the diff center is up against the shoulder where it belongs. I also checked for the same P/N and teeth count as the one that I'm replacing (and if you recall that one would not come out of the main case until I cut the ring gear at the broken tooth and pushed it off the carrier).

The thought of wrestling a 75 lb gear heated to several hundred degrees doesn't exactly seem like a great idea - but I'm about out of options...

Thanks for the interest. I'll keep posting as new things come to light and (hopefully) some other 70D owner won't have to learn all this the hard way!