Reply To: Long threatened Worm Gear axle rebuild

[Bill Lyons]

Here is the Worm Gear.

Couple of dismantling suggestions based on what I ran into. There may be an easier way, but it escaped me.

1. Before you remove the axle from the car, with the car in gear, remove the worm gear adjustment cover on the lower back of the center section. Remove the cotter pin and loosen the large worm gear nut. It helps to provide better resistance as it takes a lot of force to loosen.

2. I took out the Bull gear first. This requires the removal of the carrier bearing cup, or the bearing on the right side of the Bull Gear. The carrier has a lot of side play once you take off the left bearing retainer, but I had to cut the bearing cage tops off with a Dremel/abrasive cutoff wheel and take the rollers out to get enough room to remove the gear.

3. I took the worm out last. It can only be removed to the front where the oil seal is mounted.