All,

I'm going to be removing the rear end out of the SRT6 today to see what blew up in it last weekend. In looking at the service manual, the process seems overly complex! They have you removing the exhaust, removing the rear hubs and a ton of other things.

The Chrysler service manuals for my older FWD turbo mopar vehicles have the same over complex process described for removing axle shafts, and following it would take hours and require an alignment. I do it in 20 minutes and only remove a few bolts to get the job done and don't touch the strut assembly so no alignment is needed either.

When I look at the SRT6, it looks like the service manual is overcomplicating the rear end removal process. Plus I found this reply in another thread:

"remove splash shield on right rear near rearend, remove bolts from(inner end of) all lower control arms, pull both axles, unbolt rear of driveshaft, unbolt center pumpkin and drop down and out. done".

Can anyone confirm those basic steps will yield an easily removed rear end? I'd much rather have it out in an hour than spending all day following the steps in the service manual....LOL!

OK - gonna be a good son and take my mother out for a mother's day brunch and then I'm gonna wrench on the SRT6 this afternoon. Any advice before then would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jon

 

give buggin or amx1397 a pm. both have removed the diffs more than a few times and can give you all the shortcuts. a foto writeup would be nice as theres about 20+ of us that will need to do in the near future

 

Be more precise, rear end?.. Is that the rear bumper? Or the exhaust from underneath? If it's just the bumper it's fairly easy. Have to open up all inner interior in trunk in order to get 4-6 bolts out. (facing back but also down towards the wheel, or is that just for the front.. Cannot remember..) The other screws are seen from the outside, under the car in the bumper. Hard to explain but sure others have done this and are better at it to explain. Otherwise just pm me and I can be more thorough in explaining.

 

FUBU...he's talking about axles and rear diffrential..the "rear end" as we refer to it over here.

 

FUBU - 32Krazy got it correct. I am removing the rear differential housing.

32Krazy - I believe the quoted text I included in my initial post was posted by buggin. Hopefully either he or amx1397 will confirm that short list will get the job done.

If I don't hear back, I'll probably try it that way and keep removing items as necessary to get it out. I just don't want to have to drop the exhaust or transmission cross member and all that other stuff if I don't have to.

Jon

 

I haven't tackled this yet, but I would think your info is correct...you may have some of the exhaust in the way, but I would think you would be fine following that procedure...certainly the way I am going...

 

Oh la la, well that is a bit too "deep" in the read end for my liking. Way too difficult for me hope all goes well.. Adding a new LSD ?

 

Jonnyb, please snap some pics of your process/progress as you disassemble.... as Krazy mentioned, there are 20+ of us that have to do this in the near future.... we thank you in advance..

 

What ever you do, don't follow my directions, they are for the SLK32. We are lucky enough to have a different axle setup and can drop the pumpkin without removing the axles. The SLK has stub axles in the diff w/ the axles bolting to them and the SRT has a 1-pc design...

 

guess what alan? my 03 has the same axles as the srt-6!!! looks like only the 02 had the 2 piece stub axles

 

Wow, bummer dude.

And those instructions above weren't mine. I don't have to remove any control arm bolts or axles.

 

Yup - sorry to misquote who quoted the info...LOL!

I just re-ran the search and that info was posted by Moparrbust in Bulldogger's thread.

I'm heading outside shortly to begin the removal (if I could just get my mother to leave ). I'll be sure to take pics and post them. I doubt I'll figure out the absolute easiest way to get it out on the first try, so you guys can improve upon it when you start doing your installs.

Then I'll use the knowledge you all share after you do yours to do my next swap for the LSD install (hopefully) later this year

Jon

 

Okeee-Dokeee...that procedure I posted in my first post works with a few minor tweaks, and it took me just under two hours to get it out. Now that I know the little tricks, I think I could pull it in less than an hour the next time. One thing to note - you lose your rear end alignment going this way, but in looking at the service manual procedure, you lose your alignment that way too. I do not see a way to not lose the alignment and get enough hub movement to get the axles out.

Anyway, the results are in - one shattered spider gear, a gashed up diff pin, and a few scrapes and nicks on the rear end cover. The ring gear and pinion look OK, as do the axle shafts and rear end casing. Even so, I found a used rear end for $450 so I may order it and install that for now, and then get an LSD and take my time and install it into my original rear and put that back in the car later this summer.

I can post pics and step by step instructions in a few days for those of you who are interested.

Jon

 

Okeee-Dokeee...that procedure I posted in my first post works with a few minor tweaks, and it took me just under two hours to get it out. Now that I know the little tricks, I think I could pull it in less than an hour the next time. One thing to note - you lose your rear end alignment going this way, but in looking at the service manual procedure, you lose your alignment that way too. I do not see a way to not lose the alignment and get enough hub movement to get the axles out.

Anyway, the results are in - one shattered spider gear, a gashed up diff pin, and a few scrapes and nicks on the rear end cover. The ring gear and pinion look OK, as do the axle shafts and rear end casing. Even so, I found a used rear end for $450 so I may order it and install that for now, and then get an LSD and take my time and install it into my original rear and put that back in the car later this summer.

I can post pics and step by step instructions in a few days for those of you who are interested.

Jon

 

pics would be great. if you want to unload the housing and ring and pinion let me know your price shipped to 37128

 

Jonnyb, there is a SRT differential at LKQ in Birmingham for $350. Here is the link I used to find it..... I got one with 11K miles for $375 in SoCal and they drove it over to Unitrax for me...

Search Results


Please post your pics and how to.....

 

Be really careful with LKQ. I just tried to buy some parts based on their computers interchange and when I had the guy pull the part and read the part number (2004 E55 ECU) I stopped him after after the first three digits which were 112 so the ECU was for a V6. He tried to convince me it would work in a E55. He didn't have a clue. I am not sure you can tell a n/a from a SRT from the case number since the only difference in the rear ends is the gear ratio.

 

EDIT: Nevermind - I just punched the VIN into Carfax and it came up saying SRT6 and then asked me to buy the full report. So I think I'm good to go!



OK - I just called Leesville Auto in Rahway, NJ (one of the listing in that parts search) and they gave me the VIN of the car it came from and I found the last 5 of the VIN (51629) in the SRT6 database on this site. So I think I found one and it's a decent price too!

Does anyone have a carfax or a way to definitely confirm it's an SRT6 if I give out the whole VIN?

Thanks,

Jon

 

Also, ask them to tell you the ratio stamped on the back of the housing. It's on a flat spot next to one of the cover bolts. It will clearly say 3.27 or 3.07

 

i think i have a couple carfax reports left. pm me the vin