Funkwagon455

My '92 Custom Cruiser started making groaning noises after only 253,000+ miles, so I decided to change out the axle bearings and seals. After purchasing the parts needed the day before starting the project, my friend (and co-mechanic) coolly said to me "Be careful not to break the bolt that keeps the axle retaining pin!" I have disassembled many-o-differentials and I found his comment a little random. That evening, I happily started to tear into it with a good attitude and a confidence that I was fully prepared for the task.......that was until I went to remove the center section pin. The 5/16 head bolt had no problems threading out, but the small pin on the end of the bolt that retains the larger pin (which retains the axles), was not present upon removal. The pin had broken off of the bolt! If you've torn differentials apart before, you'll know how bad this situation really is. Many folks would sooner resort to swapping the entire differential before they fooled with trying to extract the broken portion. HOWEVER! I located a machine tool vendor that sells a kit which includes two drill guides, two extractors, a long drill bit and a new bolt shipped to your door for the low-low cost of $45 frustration saving dollars. The kit is reusable, and took me ten minutes to extract the broken portion in its entirety. The name of the company is Fabbri Associates item number #DPK-01,DRB01. Phone number is 866-449-3606. I was thoroughly impressed with the simplicity,speed and price of this tool. If you are ever unfortunate enough to have this happen, save yourself the agony and order this tool!

Funkwagon455

And the result

Professur

http://www.fabbriassociates.com/

shipping is a little excessive tho

Octania

I had one of those break once, was not aware of the removal kit. picking at the tidbit did not remove it.

Replace the carrier says the boss
can't remove carrier with axles in place
can't remove axles with cross pin in place
can't remove cross pin due to broken retainer bolt.

I had to hammer the cross pin out, took like an hour, ruined the entire carrier. What a pain. Parts cost was probably $700 or so. Makes any shipping on the extraction kit look dirt cheap.

Professur

The end of the pin looks round ... how do you drill that without it spinning?

Fun71

Thanks for sharing this info - that looks to be a great solution if you're ever in that unfortunate situation.



Now I gotta poke fun at you: Why did it take you twice as long to do this than it should have?
From the web site:

Funkwagon455

The drill guide bolt retains pressure on the pin while you are drilling keeping the pin from further rotation. Ten minutes includes dragging pneumatic hoses, waiting for the compressor to pump up, chucking up the drill and making an after work beverage probably contributed to my extraction time. As a side note, there was a thread left on the shaft so it was still required to screw the shaft out rather than just slide it out. Hear me now and believe me later, this kit is a good idea for those who are faced with this problem. Remember, stress is a killer and $45 plus a few days wait saved my household a truckload..

Octania

I heard you brother

Is it late enough to believe you now. 'cause I want to!

joe_padavano

I had this problem on my 84 Custom Cruiser. Didn't want to wait for the extractor kit to come, so rather than destroy the carrier, I simply ground out the end of the cross pin where the screw was. Took a little while, but once I exposed the remains of the screw, it was pretty simple to unscrew it and remove the stub. An indication of how common this problem is comes from the fact that the local Buick/GMC dealer had both the pin and the retaining bolt on the shelf - for a car over 20 year old!