well here i go-
i'm upgrading suzi the psychic(an '89 sidekick) by putting a locker in her rearend.
so far i've managed to pull the axles and have everything free to where i should be able to pull the 3rd out, but it's pretty well glued in there!
chilton's is pretty useless for this project and doesn't even give torque specs for the carrier, much less any advise on how to access it. but i'm pleased with my progress so far.
question:
 how much can i beat on this thing to break it loose? should i be hammering a pry bar between it and the diff. housing to pop it or will that deform things?
also:
 i got torque specs for a later model tracker off ack's faq and they look reasonable, but would they be different for an '89 kick?
great fun so far, and i look forward to playing with the carrier, as it will be a new experience.
richard

I just loosen up the eight or ten nuts that hold the third in and then put a floor jack under it and break it loose while trying to lift the rig off the ground, then I pull the top mount off after you have some jack stands on the frame.

good show.
i can do that- i was doing some beating and it got dark.
i was afraid of damaging something with poor visibility and quit.
thought i'd solicit some advice before i attacked it again tommorrow.
what do you think |removethispart|@ torque specs for the carrier?
ring gear- 65ft/lb
bearing caps- 72ft/lb
bearing lock bolts- 25ft/lb(same copy also says 10ft/lb for these in procedure section)
richard

my thanks to mrfuelish.
i got the drop light out(only dropped it once-had to get new bulb), put some pressure on it w/jack and persuaded w/hammer. ahha! success!
also confirmed to my wife that i'm still nuts.
upon inspection, i think i'll use those torque specs(more like the 10ft/lb for the adjuster) with loctite, and i should be ok.
what's the worst that could happen?
thanks again.
richard

You might have to buy a socket from like trail tough to get the side bearing preload adjustment correct, other than that just keep every thing clean and use a little loc-tite if you want,If your putting in a locker make sure you get enough side play with the washers so the locker will unlock.

Here's a handy document on locker installation:

http://www.acksfaq.com/pdfs/Backlash.pdf

...found with the search string of locker at Ack's FAQ (see link in signature).

Hope that this helps!

3rd member back in.
i was laying on my back laughing as i found that thing very unwieldy when sealant is getting smeared all over the place and i was manhandling it into place.
the locker seems to function.
i was a little concerned about the supplied shafts that had no roll pin holes in them- i wonder what they are for?
i had resourced ack's backlash info back when i became more serious about this and found it helpful.
the supplied instructions were somewhat vague for someone like me and the preload is a bit of a compromise. seems ok and i will see........
backlash appears the same as before i did anything, and i was pleased with the condition of all the parts inside. looked very fresh.
mrfuelish- i just used a drift for that adjustment(such as it was) and it worked ok. if i were to do a lot of these(oh yea) i get or make the proper tool. thanks for the tips and encouragement.
i look forward to the test.
richard