I'm in the process of replacing my tranny and figured while I have the thing up I should replace the rear differential cover gaskety since it looks as if it's leaking... moist around the edges, though not near the drive axles...

 

Anyway, Do I have to rip apart the whole rear suspension to get access to remove that cover?

 

I look around on the nessage boards but did not find anything...

 

thanX

No, you don't really remove any suspension to get to it. You drop the rear differential to swap the plate. Remove the lower cover (below the diff) if it has one, then there's one large bolt up above the diff that's hard to get too and the two holding it to the rear hangar. Not sure but I bet you can leave the axles and driveshaft attached to just swap the rear plate. I've swapped diffs like that before on older models - remove those three bolts mention above and the diff will drop down and hang by the axles.

 

Make sure it's not fluid from up front. If you have any other leaks forward of the rear diff, they often drip while you're driving and over time some catches the bottom of the rear diff, making it look like it's leaking. Very common for leaks at the engine (of which there are many possibilities) or trans to, over time, get the bottom of the diff wet.

Edited May 2, 201015 yr by grossgary

thanX gary... I'll look at that tomorrow, sounds easy enough besides that one nut you mention. I did notice that the two holding to the rear hanger are quite rusty =] ... Rustaru

those rears I think are actually nuts that screw onto studs in the diff. if the nuts are rusty they just end up pulling the stud out - so the stud and nut basically act like a bolt. should be simple. one time i couldn't get one off and had to actually use a torch to melt the bushing around it out, that was really annoying but luckily it was just a parts car. rust, BLAH!

 

as for the bolt up top - it's bolt and nut so you'll need a wrench on one side and socket on the other....from memory, so i could be off though, it's been awhile since I did an EJ rear diff and I just removed and have an EA on the floor of my garage.

 

good luck.