Amc 20 adjustment???

[Gohawks]

In the process of checking my rear brakes i found there to be a lot of play in my rear end (AMC20 ). Not in and out play but I can rotate my tire forward and backward a lot before i feel the gears in the diff move. I rotated it while looking at the rear drive-line yoke and it was not moving like a bad u joint. It all seems to be slop in the diff itself. can I adjust that somehow to get me by for a little bit or do i NEED to possibly replace gears now? (Brakes were shot, putting on all new hardware/ self adjusters/ wheel cylinders/ shoes/ drums/ master cylinder while I'm at it) I am having a blast working on my new project tho.Thanks guys.

 

[hagar]

You could remove the differential cover, drain the oil, and take a look inside.
Rotate tire and observe as you stated earlier; see if anything jumps out at you.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Do you have a locking differential?
Gary

 

[Gohawks]

No sir. Just stock rear end.

 

[RiverandSand]

Trac Lok was an option, which was in the locker family, actually an LS. There is a stamped code on diff just to right of the cover on the axle flange. If the diff is still stock that code will tell you what is inside.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

That code is just to the right of the diff cover.
If the same etter is stamped twice, that says LSD.
Is the rear axle leaking oil? If so, where from.
Have you checked the tightness of the main axle/hub nut?
Gary

 

[Mrpeter63]

There should be some slop in it, but not excessive. Only way to tell is pull the diff cover and put a dial indicator on it and see how far out of spec it is. If it is out of spec you can shim the carrier to the right, do the math, reduce the shim size on the right and add the same to the left. Then check again with dial indicator. If you have never done it before i wouldn't attempt to do it and kind of a pain to do without pulling the rear. Thing is it really shouldn't wear that much unless, 1. it was ran without oil, 2. It's got crazy crazy miles on it. or 3. Someone put a ring and pinion in it and just used the old shims and never set it to spec. Does it whine or howl when accelerating? If your ring and pinion are to tight or to loose, you're gonna hear it. Unless your running mud tires then they might hide any noise.... a tad on the loose side really won't hurt anything, Just make noise. Now too tight yea you'll get excessive wear til they gears mesh.... I guess it's possible it could be the pinion bearing but that is gonna make a whining noise when you decelerate and coasting.

 

[Mrpeter63]

Also, if your turning the wheel with both wheels off the ground you might be getting a false reading, have someone hold the other wheel or just jack one side up....