9in questions

[demon]

I have a 79 bronco, the door tag says 16 for the axle, which i determined was a 3.73 open dif (please correct if wrong). First, how much is it usually for a rebuild at a shop. It is leaking horribly from the seals, and the bearings are shot. Also the pinion out of the 3rd member has major play in it. Should i pick up an axle off of craigslist? And if yes, what years would they swap in from without modification (i don't have ability to weld it right now, and i would swap ring and pinion gear).

 

[J&SBroncolvrs]

I'd go to the junkyard and pick up a third member. find a decent one and you'll likely never have to touch it again

 

[Johnny Reb]

I have a 79 bronco, the door tag says 16 for the axle, which i determined was a 3.73 open dif (please correct if wrong). First, how much is it usually for a rebuild at a shop. It is leaking horribly from the seals, and the bearings are shot. Also the pinion out of the 3rd member has major play in it. Should i pick up an axle off of craigslist? And if yes, what years would they swap in from without modification (i don't have ability to weld it right now, and i would swap ring and pinion gear).

Have you checked the pinion bearing? I got an old Ford an it made a bad rear-end sound. After changeing bacrends --and back--)because the one I put in was to high) I thought I would go ahead and change the piniojn bearing. I made a world of difference. I have no noise at all now. I think I gave about $7 for the bearing. Well worth it.Oh and when you put the new axle bearing back in.Make sure the plate that holds the axle in(that the dimple is on the top) if not--it will leak.

 

[demon]

yeaaaa i'm just getting it rebuilt. turns out its only about 700 to get it done right, but thanks for the input! i may try my hand at building a thirdmember myself so the tips were great to keep in mind

 

[muddrivermike]

I thought a stock bronco 9 inch were factory 3.50s in the axles?

 

[demon]

yea me too but i found a site that had the code charts and it said the "16" stood for 3.73 open dif. this very well may be incorrect