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Don, Any good service manual for your truck will have detailed instructions on differential overhaul. However, this is a tricky job that must be done right; you really should take it to a shop that specializes in rear end work. That said, I assume you're a tightwad like me and want to save the $200-400 bucks labor on the job. If you have access to the right tools, it's possible to rebuild your differential yourself. You will need: 1. inch-pound torque wrench, for checking pinion bearing preload. (You'll also need socket adapters to mount the pinion nut socket on the torque wrench.) 2. 1/2 drive torque wrench. (It needs to work in both CW and CCW directions, because the ring gear bolts have a left-hand thread.) 3. Dial indicator, with a magnetic mounting base. Do NOT attempt this job without a dial indicator, no matter what anyone may tell you. You will be sorry if you do. 4. A gas barbecue or some other means of heating up the ring gear so you can get it on the differential carrier. Don't use a torch for this, it can mess up the heat treating. I also recommend that you don't use your wife's oven, for obvious reasons, even though it will work just fine. You will NOT need the fixture used for checking pinion gear depth, even though the manual says you do. Simply reuse the old pinion gear spacer(s). You'll have to pull off the inner pinion gear bearing to get to the spacer; this is easier said than done. For parts, you will need a "bearing kit", which contains almost everything you need to overhaul the rear end: bearings, shims, pinion gear crush tube, etc. Costs less than $100 for a half-ton. The ring and pinion gear come as a matched set; you need to replace both. Costs a little over $100. (Actually, unless the ring and pinion are visibily damaged, you may only need to replace the bearings.) You'll have a choice between the "OEM" and "aftermarket" styles. Get the OEM gear set; it will be quieter. Also, if you don't have a locking differential, now is a good time to buy one. There are several good aftermarket differentials, ranging in price from about 250 bucks on up. I won't go into the details of rebuilding the rear end; the manual will explain that quite well. Just skip over the parts about setting up the pinion gear. Note that if either your original or new pinion gears are marked with a number, you will have to adjust the pinion gear shim stack to adjust for the difference between the new and old pinion gears. If you don't have a good local source for parts, Drive Train Specialists has reasonable prices and were very helpful to me. (I went their store in Warren, Michigan, so I don't know how good their mail order service is.) See link below Good luck.
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