Early Classic Enterprises 6 Inch Drop & 5 Lug Drum Brakes - Early Classic Enterprises'

Here Steve is seen attempting to unbolt the stock Panhard bar. Notice the stock location for the Panhard rod mounting point on the top of the differential.

After the impact wrench failed to loosen the Panhard bar's mounting bolts, Steve resorted to cutting the bolts off with an abrasive cut-off wheel on a pneumatic die-grinder.

Because Early Classic's Panhard bar interferes with removing the differential cover, Steve's next step was to remove the differential cover and began to exchange the stock 6-lug axles for Early Classic's 5-lug axles. After removing the twelve bolts holding the diff cover in place Steve dislodged the cover with a mallet and flat-bladed chisel.

Steve's first step to removing the stock axles was to position the ring gear with the 9/16 hex-headed setscrew at 11 'oclock looking at it from the passenger side rear 6-lug axle flange. He then used a 9/16-box wrench to unbolt the right-hand threaded setscrew.

He then rotated the ring (sun) gear forward (clockwise, viewing from passenger side) by turning the axle flange until the retainer pin could be extracted from the bottom at 5 'oclock viewing from the passenger side.

Steve said to make absolutely sure CCT readers understood the spider gears can fall out of place and cause a lot of grief if care isn't used while removing the retainers from the axle ends inside the spider gear cage.

To dissolve 40-plus years of hypoid gear oil sludge Steve sprayed on aerosol parts wash and then flushed out the entire differential housing until it was clean as possible.

Here's a close-up view of one of the two axle retainers found on the inside of the spider gear cage. Be sure to inspect the axle retainers for minute cracks.

Notice the hypoid gear oil wetness created on the axle at extreme left by the leaking axle seal. At right is the pair of beautifully machined 5-lug axles from Early Classic Enterprises.

Here's how the rearend gears appeared with the new 5-lug axles installed. The white substance is white lithium grease Steve applied to the inboard and outboard sides of the axle ends.

Before replacing the 12-bolt differential cover Steve cleaned it thoroughly with an aerosol parts wash and scraped every last trace of the original gasket.

To adhere the 12-bolt diff cover gasket and help to ensure there wasn't a leak between the cover and the differential housing Steve used a caulking gun to apply brand name sealant The Right Stuff.