A Quick Tech Tip From the Garage of Tom Zuloaga. The following tip is for anyone with an 8-inch or 9-inch Ford pumpkin style rear-end that wants to have an easy way to remove it for gear changes or maintenance. No special tools are required to get the job done and say goodbye to stubborn center-sections that don’t want to budge. More importantly, alleviate the temptation to pry where prying with your heavy duty flathead screwdriver shouldn’t be done.

The first step is to mark the midway point between the two center vertical bolt holes on each side of the center section. It needs to be in the middle of the machined surface, and in the center of the two holes.

Each mark should be center punched to provide a pilot for the drill bit

Once punched the marks are drilled with a 5/16″ drill bit

Each hole is tapped with a 3/8″-16 tap

When the center section is to be removed, two 1-1/2″ long 3/8″-16 bolts are threaded into each hole and the center section will pop right out. The gasket can usually be re-used if it was glued to the rear-end housing and some axle grease is thinly spread on the center section to prevent the gasket from sticking.

For more information or questions about this Quick Tech Tip please contact Tom Zuloaga.