I have a 1996 v6 camaro RS with the limited slip rear end.

Took the car in yesterday for some noise in the rear end. It had just started, drove 30 miles to work and left it with my mechanic across the parking lot because I didn't want to mess anything up. They opened it up today and saw that the pinion bearing was bad.

Everything else is fine BUT the pin holding the bearing in has been sheared off. this is what I remember of what my mechanic said he may have worded it different. I haven't looked at it myself yet or I would be able to describe it better.

all I know is that his conclusion was he might not be able to get it out of there and I'll have to get a new rear end. So far he's found a few at $400 to me that sounds high but then again I don't know much about them.

Has anyone ever had this happen before and if so what was the solution, if any? I like my LSD and it's in good condition otherwise. I don't want to throw a lot of money at this old car too, I'd like to just replace the bearing and go but he's worried that him trying to get it out will just screw other things up.

 

call the wrecking yards in your area and see if any have a good rearend for any 4th gen camaro. z28/ss has posi/limited slip so you will want one from z28 or ss, i think its like 86-02 are the same. far as i know the only thing would be traction control, if you have traction control then you will need a rearend with traction control. if you dont have traction control then you will need one without traction control

 

Thanks for the info, and I don't have traction control so I'll be sure to make sure I get the right thing.

So is it safe to say my current differential is trash unless he can get the screws holding the pin out of there? It just seems so sad a little bolt could ruin such a good thing... Oh well. I will see what happens tomorrow I guess.

 

right if you can pick up the whole unit for 150 bucks from the wrecking yard your money ahead. also way easier to install the whole thing than it is to replace the carrier. low miles used one would be what your wanting

 

Thanks for your help. We looked the old one over real well and the pin had gotten into the gears, no big chunks but a lot of fine metal shavings so we decided to not even try replace the bearing, too much of a chance that the rest of it would be on it's way out soon.

I'm going tomorrow to pick up a low mileage (85k) 3.42 gear posi-track (zexel/torsen) they're asking $400, I called around the area and most posi rear ends in my area are going fro $350 (higher mileage than my car) all the way up to $600, and the open difs aren't much cheaper. I'm hoping my mechanic will help me talk this guy down a bit on his price so I can get it bought and installed for under $500.

 

wow the good rearend shop around here charged be 400 to install ring and pinion gears and seals with bearings. i supplied the parts.

 

IF we could have beat the heck out of it and got what was left of the pin out it was gonna be $250 to tear it down and whatever parts needed replaced, but since the pin wouldn't come out without a 90% chance of breaking the carrier and we pulled so much metal out of the gear oil I figured it would be easier, quicker, and probably cheaper to just swap it out with a used one. I also didn't mention that the pumpkin leaks from some seam too, so what I had was pretty beat up.

I'm hoping I can get them to $300 on the rear end and get it installed for $150 or $200 if I have him do some other stuff under the hood.