Dodge Ram Limited-Slip Differential Upgrade - Pumpkin Carving - Tech

First things first-pull the back wheels and brakes. You have to pull them to get the axles out.

Before removing the rear cover, be sure to clean the area around it.

Before removing the center section, Tod took careful measurements, noting the factory backlash for the ring-and-pinion. We're just changing the center section, so we wanted to ensure the gears are set up the same as the factory.

To get the retaining shaft out first requires removing the threaded pin holding it in place. Once the threaded pin is out, push the retaining shaft from the opposite side, and it will slide out.

You may need to work it a little, but it will come out.

Using a block of wood and hammer, knock the axles inward in order to remove the C-clip retainers.

The axles won't come out until you do.

A threaded adjuster enables the mechanic to adjust the amount of preload on the differential's bearing. It also gets used for backlash adjustment. You will need to loosen it up in order to get the center section out.

Carefully remove the factory bearings with a bearing puller. Normally, we would replace the bearings, but since the factory bearings were fairly new and we didn't have extras, we chose to reuse the original bearings.

The ring gear came off without any problems. We cleaned everything before putting it back together.

Many of the speed-sensitive controls use a sensor that is mounted in the top of the rearend, and it gets its signal from a reluctor ring on the differential. The Auburn unit comes with the reluctor ring as part of the unit. When reinstalling the ring gear, be sure to use a little bit of anti-seize on the bolts. (HINT: sometimes it helps to heat the ring gear in an oven before reinstalling it on the differential. The heat expands the metal, making the ring gear practically fall into place.)

Here's where paying attention to details during disassembly pays off. We made sure that when we reinstalled the bearings on the differential, we reinstalled the shims in the same order as we removed them. This should get us close to the proper back lash.

After the center section is reinstalled, reinstall the axles and don't forget the C-clips. When installing the axles, you have to line up the splines on the axle with the splined hole in the center section.

The differential pinion retaining shaft was lubed and slipped back in place, along with the threaded bolt holding it in place. Tod checked the backlash, making sure to be within the .010 inches of tolerance that was there before we started.

Replace the cover by sealing it to the rearend using silicone, tighten it down, and refill it with a good gear lube. With a new set of gears, a break-in process would be required. Since we used the same gears, we merely let the truck idle in gear while it was on the lift to ensure the new lube was covering everything.

Now with both tires grabbing at the concrete, launching the Ram is a lot more fun.