What's the difference between a carrier and a differential? Isn't it the same thing? Is a carrier the part that houses the axles and the diff. houses the ring& pinion?
this is probably a bad idea on my part, but im going to try and answer this all ive ever heard a differential reffered to is in the case of the entire rear end. all ive ever heard or a carrier is in the case of a ford 9", where the gears are held in the 3rd member, so im guessing the carrier is the thing that houses the gears. most likely has some flaws to it, but i think you get the general idea :TU:
That's where I was heading: A carrier is the ring gear/pinion assembly mounted to the casting, as in the case of a Ford 9" (where the assembly loads from the front). The differential iself is the center section where the ring gear mounts, comprised of spider gears and provides the ability for the wheels to rotate at differing speeds during a turn. This is as opposed to a spool, which supports the ring gear but locks the axles together solid. All this stuff is loaded into the housing, which is the cast piece that the axle tubes stick into. In the case of a GM 10 bolt or 12 bolt, it is loaded from the back and a stamped pan or cover is placed over the opening. I would refer to the whole deal as the "rear axle assembly" (or, colloquially, the "rear end"). :TU: K
If I read this right, a Ford 9" looks similar to a Chrysler 8.75 set up. (e.g. the whole ring& pinion and yoke is bolted to the entire rear dif./axle assembly. Doesn't have cover that is bolted to the rear of it. I noticed on a site that specializes in GM rear ends that they sell carrier, diferentials, and axle assemplies which confused me.
the carrier is just the section that carrys the ring and carrys the spider gears ,the part would have the bearings on each side the diff would be a would be the carrier and spider gears the housing holds the diff and in some cases houses the pinion
