Hi all - 71 510, stock w/ 3.70 diff. Took it all apart, cleaned it and reinstalled crossmember with diff still out. Now want to put in diff from the rear, but don't seem to have clearance without dropping the crossmember again. Is this correct? I'm trying to put the diff snout into the crossmember and push it forward but the rear of the diff hits the spare tire well and I can't quite get it back far enough. Do I have to drop the crossmember again ? That's a real pain because this car is on a hill, and without the crossmember in there's really no place for jackstands. What's odd is Hanes manual just says unbolt and pull it out - no mention of crossmember or clearance issues. WTF ?

Yep - Xmember has to come out (or at least be lowered down some) to do it right.

Jackstands can be placed under pinch welds in front of the rear wheels, but keep a couple more under the spare well (just in case).

Welcome aboard!

Thanks - that's bad news but lesson learned. If anybody has any other options, plz let me know. Otherwise I will get busy next weekend dropping subframe again..

For those of you waiting on pins and needles (and all you future searchers of this subject) I got it back in and AZhitman is correct, just loosen the crossmember bolts, drop the subframe down an inch or two, and subframe tilts down just enough to slide the diff in. Install the 4 diff spacer shims, the 4 diff bolts (from the bottom) and the nuts on top (fun). Then tighten the subframe bolts back up.