You Do NOT need to grind 5.29 in SF Axle

[therealratfink]

I just finished installing 5.29 and an auburn limited slip in my 91. I was able to grind the center pin to install the 5.29 without grinding teeth. I had already decided to do it this way, when I opened the Auburn directions to find a procedure listed just for this occasion. Gears are in with no noise and no missing teeth. The old 4.0 responds a bit better now with the 35s then it did with stock gearing. Now to check my speedo with my GPS....

 

[agent orange]

Did you have to grind deeper than the cutouts for the spider gears? If not then i see no reason why that would compromise the strength. I ended up grinding both the ring gear and the center pin so as to not weaken either one too much.

 

[therealratfink]

With the Auburn limited slip pin there are no cutouts, but I would have had to grind maybe 10% futher then the stock cutouts. This should in no way effect the strength. I only ground roughly 60% of the pin length (leaving 40% still fully round), inserted the pin fully, set the ring gear indexing it so that the space between two teeth line up with the pin, and slid pin out (with the ground side faicing the teeth) to verify I had enough clearance to install the C-clips. I was able to install the axles without problem. This does mean the pin can never be fully removed with the ring gear in tact, but that is not an issue since the carier can easily be removed assembled.

 

[therealratfink]

Here are the direction from Auburn.

 

[agent orange]

If you cant take the pin out, how can you get the c clips out? I guess i dont know how an auburn works, but that doesnt sound like a good idea to me. My pin is gonna be a bitch to get out, i chucked it in the freezer to make it slide in easier, and now that its swollen back up it wont slide out. A drift should knock it right out though, next time i take it out ill hit it with a grinder some more.

 

[therealratfink]

You can slide the pin out far enough (assuming the flat area is long enough) to get it out of the way. On our diffs, that means the pin needs to be slid out toward the gound angling just out side the cover. This allows the room necessary to remove the c-clips, but also allows the pin to remain in the carrier.

 

[therealratfink]

FYI I did have to clearence the housing a fair amount to get the 5.29s to spin clear. That suprised me since I have never had to do that on an 8".