in the spring of 2009............short story....maybe a long one

[BigLeo69]

in the process of setting up my 8.8 straight rear axle, i came across this spring between the gears i looked over and over at it and then thought is this a shipping clip to support the gears prior to axle install. (the complete kit axle 3.1 kit) ended up being a 3.73 in lieu of the 3.55 but thats another story.
well i looked at a blow up pic of the 8.8 in my chiltons and didn't see the spring clip,
so i decided well its not needed.
never saw the f5r manual blowup till about a month ago for reference page 246.
well it shows it as a preload spring............now the story starts.
is it needed????
well i decided to get to a 95 gt 8.8 thats been formatted for my neighbors street rod.
so yesterday i get the inspection plate off and BAMMMM the SOB's in there.
now i am bumming
pull the tires
pull the brakes ohhhhhhhhhhh the brakes.. can you say e-brake
to pull the axles, this e-brake from hell has decided not to be able to pull its tension out so i can put the clip in it to remove the cables i am close to cutting the freaking thing, i put a ratchet strap on it to pull back the tension and that won't do it, it works on the brakes as far as tension to the spring, so WTF.
i wasa hoping to get the damn clip in and button this rear-end up tonight a simple task, and the e-brake will not pull back to put the hold down clip in it.
i have done this on others so anyone know what is going on with this dumb mechanism.

always thought about a e-brake mod, but i just want to become road worthy.

any help woould be greatly appreciated, its time to hit it on another day with a better attitude.

Leo

[LewPoberezny]

Is this the clip of which you speak? Why do you need to take park cable out? I think you should be able to push axles in to remove c-clips with out removing caliper or rotor.

[BigLeo69]

yep thats the clip, the chiltons didn't show it. you think i would of remembered on my old 8.8 that i rebuilt on my old 84 f-150 when the ring and pinion clashed and broke.
good thought i will try it tomorrow, i was thinking i needed to pull the axles out some to get the retainer back in, because of the spring load on it. yep the axle will push in once the pinion shaft gets pinged out but don't know with the brakes capturing it.
won't hurt to try.
>>>>>>still an issue with the e-brake doesn't make sense<<never did like the damn thing.

thanks Lew i hope it works

[NicksPapaw]

Leo,
What you need to do is put a hose clamp on the spring, tighten the spring in a vise and while still in the vise, tighten the hose clamp. Place into gear set and tap into space where it needs to go. Take a diagonal cutter and cut the hose clamp off and remove. The whole process takes about 30 minutes and can be done while laying on you back under the car. Don't ask me how I know this.....

[John F]

The spring is only in 8.8's that have traction loc because it's needed to preload the clutch plates. Chiltons does the 8.8 in two sections. It's actually in the next section. You don't really need to go through all that trouble to install it. Just hold it with a pair of pliers and pound it in with a dead blow hammer. I'm not sure that you need to pull the axles to install it. I would try it with the axles in place first. You do have to pull the calipers and rotors off to get the C-clips out.

[BigLeo69]

thanks gentlemen

got it in used a plastic blow hammer and a brass drift. saw the trac-loc skematic and it didn't show the pre-load. hell i don't remember seeing it in my 84 8.8 it was a limited slip, but it was years ago when i changed the ring and pinion out.
also cut the 4-link baby shock mounts off the axle while i was there, 2lbs lighter now. and that was a b!tch to get the back part of the bracket, left my saw-zall at work in the gang-box so i used my porta-band and a grinder with a cut-off wheel, and cleaned it up with a flap wheel.