8.8 rearend gear swap -weird shims/spacers

[axle_dem0n]

hey everyone- was swapping gears in the 8.8 for my MK4, and these 4 shim/spacer pieces fell out when I pulled the pinion gear. anyone know what the heck these are? I'm stumped!
thanks in advance!!

[Jacob McCrea]

That's odd. I don't claim to be an expert on those things, but I've rebuilt a few 8.8 IRS units and never saw anything like that. If I had to make a guess, I'd say perhaps they are damaged parts of a factory Trac-Lok clutch pack. I imagine someone here will know.

[michael everson]

Pretty sure they are the "ears" in the clutch pack.
You can see them in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GsLDg3C6Hc
Mike

[axle_dem0n]

thanks for commenting!
yet another broken thing to fix!!!!

[CraigS]

Maybe 10 months ago I installed this in my old 8.8
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fms-m-4204-f318c
You may need a 28 spline unit depending on your axles. Previous to that I had an Eaton TrueTrac which was good but wore itself out in 4 seasons of AX and there are no replacement parts to rebuild it. Just pitch and buy a new one.

[first time builder]

Yes does look like the clutch pack ears but how did they get behind the pinion ? I could see them falling when the ring and center was pulled.

Kenny

[axle_dem0n]

craig, I looked at that before ordering the clutch pack, but no reasonably priced one for 28 spline (and just bought new 28 spline 5 lug axles).
and not sure how long they have been in there but case and gears look ok...