New tires installed told me I had a busted seal on my axle. Went to replace that - drained differential fluid (need changed anyway) noticed broken spider gears

Still had warranty (i thought) but it is voided with 2" lift and 33" tires apparently -

(stealership) - Dealership wants $6500 to replace/ repair damage...seems more than unrealistic of course

how much of this can be done on my own? anything special required to replace the gears or seal?

any suggestions/information would be great? what causes these to break?

 

6500 to replace spider gears? You can buy new spider gears foe under 100 and get 50 worth of oil and lube and change them yourself in a hour.

 

You could get a whole new axle with a locker and gears for less than that. Sounds to me like they are trying to take advantage of you. Setting up gears takes some experience...replacing an axle not so much.

 

What was the actual breakdown of the work involved? It was just for replacing spiders, or are they doing gears also? Or replacing the entire axle?

Youtube the install, lots of people do lunchbox lockers in their driveways so there should be plenty of similar installs to watch. Or just forget the spiders and grab an Aussie Locker, their website should have an install guide somewhere for you to look at along with the youtube vids. Or maybe it's time to consider gears and lockers. Or ...

 

Search around for a $999 re-gear special in your area. Screaming Lizard?

 

no need to. Just keep the shims in order on each side of the carrier, fix the spider gear pins, and reinstall.

 

Front or rear? Either way if the carrier is not damaged there is no need to reset pinion or gear spacing. Just pull the carrier and reinstall new spider gears or a lunchbox locker. The dealer's quote is robbery.

 

I replace the spider gears in my ford bronco's 8.8 axle without removing carrier. I would just put lunch box locker!

 

Go to different dealership, they have to prove your lift and tires was the cause of it.