LT230 Differential Bearings - Removal

[specwarop]

I am in the process of rebuilding the LT230 in my Discovery 1 and I am at the stage where I remove the bearings of the Differential shaft. According to the manual I require a special tool to remove them.
However, in the interest of saving a bucket of cash, I have been using my own tools or buying much cheaper tools that do the job. For all the other bearings in the transfer that I have removed it said to use their special tool but I got a bearing remover instead. But for these bearings this tool wont fit or do the job.
So I'm in a bit of a predicament, I cant really afford another tool...so I am wondering what you guys have used instead?

Regards,

[langy]

This is going to be a bit rough.....

support the shaft on wooden blocks and use a small/med cold chisel to make a gap your regular gear puller can manage.

Of course there is removing the bearing cage and grinding the remainder down to a point where it will split, or welding lugs onto the remainder so you can use a gear puller.

Did I say it was a rough alternative to a proper (expensive) gear puller set?

[MacMan]

http://members.optusnet.com.au/%7Emacmanmike/LT230Rebuild/images/IMG_0747.jpg

Came off easy for me with a $20 3 arm puller and a $0.01 block of scrap steel.

[specwarop]

Yeh MacMan, i managed to use a arm puller on the bearing on that end. But the bearing on the other end, refer photo, has no room for a puller like that, and the strong-back bearing puller that I have is too small to get around that bigger shaft.

[specwarop]

Im considering just getting a angle grinder on to it haha.

[Disco95]

I think from memory that I took the bearing cage off, removing all the bearings, then I was able to pull the inner bit off with a bearing puller as shown in one of the pics above.

[MacMan]

I think from memory that I took the bearing cage off, removing all the bearings, then I was able to pull the inner bit off with a bearing puller as shown in one of the pics above.

Should have clarified, but I did precisely this for the tricky end.

[Lucus]

do you have access to heating equipment?

Cut the cage off with a grinder. Heat the inner race in three or four spots till its cherry and it will fall off.

Alternatly to avoid putting so much heat into the bearing. Hang the diff so its clear of the bench and able to rotate. spin it slowly by hand while your torch is heating the inner cage and it will fall off.

[specwarop]

Nah no heating equipment.

How did you get the bearing cage off?

[justinc]

Remove the large thin nut, then use the gear itself to push the bearing off, IE pull the gear and it will also pull the bearing.

JC

[specwarop]

Okay managed to get the bearing off and I have progressed to the stage where I put the front housing on and have encountered a few more things...

1- When I put the diff shaft in and then the front housing on so its flush with the main casing (without bolts yet), I can turn the shaft and it move smoothly. However, once I bolt it up and to the correct torque, the shaft doesn't turn very well, its choppy and it feels like something is not right inside the differential...Is this correct at this stage? Is it meant to do this?

2- In an amateur move, I mixed up the balls for the selector shafts. One is small and one big? Which shaft is which ball for?

Thanks for your help!