Remove the green plastic parts and set them aside (first note their orientation). Now it is time to remove the shifter rods so that you can remove the gear stacks and get that diff out! Begin by removing the check plug pictured below. Then pull back (it is not necessary to remove) the spring, check pin, and check ball that hold tension on the input shaft's shifter rod (which by the way is responsible for engaging 3rd and 4th gears). The use of a telescoping or pen style magnet will most likely be necessary to pull back the check ball.
Now here comes the hardest part of the whole job. The shifter fork on this shifter rod is held in place by two lock rings. These lock rings are positioned in a small recess and because they don't have typical snap ring nipples on them, they are extremely tricky to remove. I searched Sears, Advance Auto Parts, Autozone, and even some local tool shops, but nowhere could I find the right style lock ring pliers to remove these rings--and I know what you're thinking, but standard snap ring pliers will not work. As it turns out, Matco tools sells the appropriate set of pliers for this job, but they are $25.00. Not wanting to pay this, I simply ground down a pair of my own lock ring pliers. You basically just need them to be able to fit in the recess in order to remove the lock ring. After some considerable grinding, I was ready to remove the rings.
What I did was basically position the pliers on the ring and heftily push forward with the pliers while very lightly (and that is the key to not slipping off the ring) opening them. I did this until the ring was just slightly off of the shifter rod since it is extremely difficult to take it fully off with the pliers. At that point, I popped it the rest of the way off with a flat head screwdriver. Keep in mind that these are pretty high tension lock rings despite their size so be careful to hold on to it while prying it off so that it doesn't fly off somewhere. This particular shifter fork has two rings that require removal.
Next remove the roll pin from the bracket pictured below. It is a two pieced roll pin, the inner of which requires a 3/32" punch and the outer of which requires a 5/32" punch.
You are now ready to remove that shifter rod. You will need to pull it up and out of its seat so that you can pull the shifter fork laterally off of its coupling sleeve. This will not come easily. I clamped on to the upper part of the rod with a pair of regular pliers and pulled up until the rod came out and I'd suggest this method as it is nearly impossible to remove it with only your hands. Once the rod is removed, I'd suggest storing it in a ziplock bag with its lock rings and roll pin until it comes time to re-install it.
Its now time to remove the next shifter rod (which by the way is responsible for engaging 5th and reverse). First, using your magnet, remove the check plunger and check ball that hold tension on the rod. Next, the lower bracket has two of the tricky lock rings to be removed. After that, there are two of the two piece roll pins to be removed. You can pull the shifter rod out with its brackets but the shifter fork cannot be removed until the final shifter rod is removed. Store this rod the same way the first was stored (i.e. with all of its small parts).
The final shifter rod is responsible for engaging 1st and 2nd. Removal of the final shift rod is pretty easy (because there are no lock rings!). First, remove with your magnet the two check balls that hold tension on the rod. Next, there are two of the two piece roll pins to be removed. After they are out, simply remove the rod the same way that the others were removed. Once it is out, the shift fork from rod #2 can be removed.
At this point, you only have two gear stacks and the diff left to be removed. The gear stacks will simultaneously pull out with great ease. Be careful during removal so as not to damage any bearings. Store these gear stacks away in a safe place (now might be a good time to send them out for cryo-treating if you were considering it). After the gear stacks are out, the diff simply lifts right out of the case and you're left with what is pictured below.
Now it is time to install the friction type limited slip into your diff assembly. First, using an impact wrench with a 14mm socket, remove all of the final drive gear retaining bolts.
Pull the final drive gear off of the assembly. You will see two screws holding the viscous fluid housing together with the pinion shaft/gear housing. Remove those two screws with a large screwdriver. They will be pretty tight but not too tight to take off by hand, just be careful not to strip the heads and use a torque driver if necessary to loosen them (I didn't have to and you probably won't).
After removing the screws, separate the two housings and set the viscous fluid housing off to the side. What you need to do is run the pinion shaft through the friction type limited slip. To do this is simple. There is one roll pin (5/32") holding the pinion shaft in place that you will first remove. Once removed, simply pull the pinion shaft out slightly and place the friction type limited slip in the housing. Run the pinion shaft through it and re-install the roll pin that you removed.
--Continued on next post--
