Well, there in and I hurt from head to toe! Started at 0900 and finished at 1700. Removed the diff cover and holy cow the 3.73's are so small and I want 5.13's. Sanded the tubes, blew out with compressed air, and then cut a paint roller in half soaked in PB and ran that in out a couple of times, then the real pain started. I could not get the last 3/16" on the long side all the way in, but all is good.

Next time it will be an axle truss! At least I have gussets and sleeves, which make me feel a little better. Tomorrow I might attempt TF rear upper control arms, rear coil wedges, and rotate the rear pinion up.

 

Mine stuck out a touch from flush as well. All good though.

 

I have mine sitting at my place. I have a couple questions if you don't mind. Did you have any help installing them or did you go solo? Did you use a bearing race driver to pound them in? How big of a hammer did you use? Did you replace the axle seals while you were at it? Sorry for all the questions, but trying to understand what I am getting myself into.

 

Yes, I did it solo. Yes, I used the back side of bearing/races drivers of various sizes, and I also used pieces of round steel pipe of about 18" over the handle of the race drivers. I started with a 3lb. then went to 10lb sledge. No I did not replace seals, and I did leave the knuckles on, just hammer through them. I did one side at a time, as I believe the tire on the ground on the opposite side kept the axle from moving.

The biggest help! I turned over a 5 gallon bucket over, then placed my spidertrax wheel spacer on top, then I could lay the pipe between the lug nut studs to hold it level with axle so I could use both hands on the sledge hammer. Just slow, because I had to reset after evey hit!

I would have taken pic's, but battery was dead. Will post pic's tomorrow to give you and ideal what I used, and how I used it.

 

Here is the video of our install party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOnQ8uLnTOw

 

One thing you can do to make it easier is place the sleeves in the freezer for a day or two. This will cause the metal to contract and become a little smaller.

 

I did this 3 days prior to install! I do not know whether it help or not since it took me so long to get them hammered in! A install party would have helped! Anyone in the Charlotte, NC area installing I am in!

 

Also, install the sleeves before you weld on any gussets. The welds can distort the axle and make it a PITA to get the sleeve in. Don't ask me how I know this

 

I watched that more than a dozen times. But, When your solo with limited shop tools, well lets just say it sucks!

 

Just got my nitro sleeves delivered today, I'll get them installed for free when installers do my gears. Once they're in they want to weld the outer sleeves, would that be a good idea or just hammer them in?