I had the retaining bolt break on the axle shaft. Axle and tire exited stage right while in operation. I read the one thread about another guys having to remove his. I do not have the same design as his though. Does a bottle jack need to be used with this design still to gain clearance for removal?
Well, this is what I do on those but you will need a few things. Remove everything attached to the entire differential including the driveline. I have on my truck those same housing/mounting bolts except mine are 6-8 inches longer. I take one bolt out at a time and replace it with the longer version. Once you get to the last bolt on each side, support the differential housing with a floor jack and remove the last 2 bolts. When you release the floor jack, those longer bolts will guide the differential down to the point it is resting on the longer bolt ends. At that point, I remove the bolts on the side I need to remove. Normally the housing is low enough below the frame that it will come out straight once it is unbolted. Mind you, I have done this numerous times in the field on many different makes of machines with these type of axles. This is how I do it in the FIELD. Its not a bad job, just be careful and safe while your doing it.
So your saying that the complete axle needs to be lowered to be able to remove the right axle tube? Im just making sure I understood you correctly
That’s what I do.
Yep