Gen 2 Diff removal
 

Hi, I'm Max and I've devoted my life to repairing my son's Jag :)

I have read through all of the differential related threads I could find on here and am in the middle of rebuilding my son's '03 S Type differential. I have rebuilt a variety of differentials, but am stuck with this uncommon version. Only one side has a bearing cap (with the opposite side bearing simply recessed in the case).

After removing the bearing cap and the spacer, there is side to side play, but not enough clearance to the angle the carrier out. I must be missing something simple and I know some of you have done this. With a bearing cap at each end, it is fairly straightforward to lift the carrier directly out, but with this one, angling the one end upwards binds the carrier against the case. I've tried with some force, but am concerned I'm not using the correct approach. Any insight into how to accomplish this would be very much appreciated :)

As is often the case, force is not always the best approach! After endless researching the complete lack of info on these differentials, I took yet another look at the disassembled unit in the hopes that something might click. I had made the assumption that the bearing race was inserted from inside the case and didn't bother to remove the axle seal on that capless side. Much to my surprise, once the seal was removed, I saw the familiar and beautiful sight of the holes of a snap ring!! An extremely heavy duty one, but I knew I was back on track.

With the snap ring removed, the outer race can be removed from the outside and that allows the carrier on the inside to move further, clearing the cap on the other side and easily removed.

I won't even get into the frustration in trying to obtain rebuild parts for the unit. There is a lot of incorrect information out there (or maybe a lot of undocumented variations of the diff). The recommended Timken DRK311 rebuild kit photos don't match the listed contents and the listed contents have the wrong axle seal - not even close. It appears to have many of the parts required for earlier gen 1 diffs. Ultimately had to special order the axle seals from the local Ford dealer (once it was clear they were also used on certain LS and Thunderbird variants).

Hopefully this will save someone else a lot of frustration!