A555 Diff Carrier Bearing Replacement

[RMEpowerbox]

I pulled the diff out of my a555 to inspect it, and thought all was well. Upon closer inspection, it sounds like one of my bearings has a very small rough spot. No real visible defect, but when I push down on the race and rotate it on the bearing, I hit a small spot every rotation. Seemed to get better the more I messed with it, but with 205k miles on the bearings, it wouldn't hurt to replace them while I'm here.

My fear of doing this is not getting the preload right on the new bearings. I don't want the diff to make any noise! How do you guys do this? Does the shim usually have to be replaced? Any tips and tricks for the removal/install of the races and bearings would be helpful as well.

[turbovanman²]

If your simply replacing the bearings, the original preload will be just fine. The proper way is to use gauges etc, another way is to remove the pinion and see how much drag the carrier has but if your not taking the trans apart, just reuse the originals, you'll be fine.

[cordes]

The FSM states that the preload should be checked any time the bearings are changed out. If you can change the bearing and the cups shimming the diff properly will be the easy part. I've got the tools necessary to do the job. I picked them up off of ebay for pretty cheap.

[turbovanman²]

The FSM states that the preload should be checked any time the bearings are changed out. If you can change the bearing and the cups shimming the diff properly will be the easy part. I've got the tools necessary to do the job. I picked them up off of ebay for pretty cheap.

True, you should, but I have done alot of diff's over the years and its pretty close, I've never found one that needed to be reshimmed.

[cordes]

True, you should, but I have done alot of diff's over the years and its pretty close, I've never found one that needed to be reshimmed.

That will probably be the case. I know my transfer gears were about perfect when I put those in back when.

I would go ahead and check the play anyway though. The 555 gear sets aren't getting any easier to find.