Cracked differential cover

[Alloydude]

Been a while since I last posted anything here. Had an 84 Corvette and another site had a lot of information relative to my Crossfire injected motor. Anyway I got rid of that old 84 an got my self an even older 74 and after thoroughly checking out my new jewel when I got it home I notices one of the 4 bolts holding the leaf spring to the differential cover was completely missing and the other side was welded. Could be a disaster if that breaks. Well bought a new cover and was wondering if it can be replaced without completely removing the whole differential and cross member? I went so far as to cut a hole in the floor to gain access to the top bolts going through the cross member. Has anybody done this job that has any information that would save me alloy of grief? Thanks

 

[TimAT]

I'd split the carrier (front half) from the rear just to make it easier to handle. Did you get the HD cover? Keep this from happening again. Cutting a hole in the floor to get to the mounts is an option. You need to pull the half shafts, driveshaft and forward mount. Then remove the rear spring and you can drop the cover.

IT may be easier to take out the crossmember bolts and drop teh cover and crossmember as a unit.

 

[JohnZ]

When you put it back together, DO NOT torque those four spring retainer plate bolts fully until the car is on wheels at normal ride height; just snug them (15-20 ft-lbs.) first, and torque them later. Torquing them fully before the car is on wheels is what causes the rear cover to crack. You'll find that warning in your Chassis Service Manual.

 

[Alloydude]

Thanks for the helpful information. Yes, I definitely got the heavy duty cover. I have too much other stuff to do to this car that to have to worry about this thing breaking on me again, Thanks for the heads up on the spring retainer. I didn't catch that in the service manual. I'm gonna try and wrench on it this weekend. Ill keep you posted on the outcome.. Kurt :bang

 

[Alloydude]

Well, the new cover is in. Turns out I didn’t have to completely remove the carrier or drive shafts or even the exhaust for that matter. I did however cut a 6x8 square hole in the floor to gain access to the 4 bolts holding the cover to the cross member and the 2 top bolts holding the cover to the carrier. Supported the carrier with a bottle jack that conveniently slid between the exhaust pipes. Loosened the front mount near the drive shaft and removed the 4 bolts that went through the cross member and lowered the carrier about 3 inches which was just enough the remove the cover. Of course this was all after removing the leaf spring. The whole job took about 5 hours and about 4 beers. Hope this helps anybody out the considering this task. Just gotta figure out how to fix the damn hole in my floor now.