[Gearworks]

hehehehehe geez. i dissappear for a month and see what happens?
seriously though mike you need to get that bearing changed asap. reason being being (aside from the obvious) is that if its already making noise it will lock up and do either 1) snap the axle or 2) rip the the end of the housing off, or 3) all the above!
as far as the 31 spline axles go, there isnt a definitive differnce in the axles themselves other than the spline and the bolt circle, so installing a set of 31's in place of youre 28's would only require attention to 2 things. 1) obviously the carrier has to be the same spline, and 2) a little care is need to get the right bearing setup for youre housing. other than that, piece of cake!
ive been searching for just that elusive model that will slide right in our 9 inches. but so far i havent had any luck. this is further complicated by the different bearing setups between vehicles. my bird ( the one you have the pics of) has the "all in one" bearing (sealed) and i have never had any problem with them, even as bad as i beat her! the problem with the conical bearings like the one you have is they are SOLELY dependant on basically overfilling the rearend so the lube wanders down the axle tube for lubrication. thats the ONLY lube it gets! If youre rear leaks even a 1/4 quart, those lovely HD bearings go byebye quickly. For this reason i use ONLY the sealed bearing in any rear i assemble.
i hope this sheds some light on the problem mike, and i'll be glad to assemble an asphalt ripper for youre cougar, whenever youre ready!

paul
:D

[ 08-29-2003: Message edited by: Gearworks ]