Gear Swap Help

Hello all, looking for some info on a gear swap. I am taking the 3:73 gears out of the 74 CJ5 D30/D44 and putting them in an 86 D30/D44 which had 2:73 gears. I am having problems placing the carrier with gears in its new home. Do I need to redo the whole install process as if they were new gears or can I just drop them in the 86 housing. I have tried but they are a bit too tight to go in. Any help would greatly be appreciated.
I have looked into it and found the carriers are the same and the bearing install kits are the same for those years, splines are also the same count but just wider axles.
Thanks in advance
Sam

 

do you have the fsm ? sometimes the housing needs to be spread slightly to get the gears in.and yes it should be treated as a new install as far as setting them up.

 

Sounds like you need a spreader and you may have too much carrier pre load and need to remove some shim from the carrier bearing and yes, you need to set them up as if they were new.. making sure your contact and preload are all correct etc..

 

Thanks guys. That's what I thought but just wanted to double check. I was hoping not to have to spend the money to do it but what can you do.
Thanks again.