Can you take the ring and pinion out of one of the rear 3rd and then put the chunk back in to get the vehicle to roll around without the axles/tires pulling out?  I need to get the vehicle to the junkyard so I need to keep those in/on there. :P  If I can do it safely while keeping the ring and pinion I'll probably be selling the rear gears.

From my experience, IMHO and all that stuff...

I don't see why you couldn't pull the axles out, rip the guts out of a third member, reinstall the axles then flat-tow the truck to the junkyard...  Suzuki uses the free-floater design where everything is held together at the wheels, not the dif.

I tend to pick the carcass so clean that you can throw the remains onto a Harbor Freight $200 4x8 1000 pound trailer and go to the steel recycler. Or make two trips of it.

Unless you are a packrat like me, four months later you take all the stuff that is still laying around and throw it on the trailer for a trip to the steel (or aluminum) recycler.

That way, you are confident that you won't kill someone on the road. 

I'm tempted to litterally part everything off of it but it's sat here for a year almost now and the snow is coming...not to mention the Mrs would like to see it gone...and frankly so would I.  I think it has a short future after I get the diff swap done.

Definately keeping these gears.  The 3rd would have to be reinstalled so as to locate the axles in the center, correct?

Be careful with that remember the third is also stablizing the axles ie if you put weight I bet the axles will touch the housing. unless you are talking putting the third back in without the ring and pinion

Let us know how it goes

Dustin

I'd like to take the gears out of the third and keep those while reinstalling the 3rd to keep the axles and tires from sliding out on me on the trip to the junkyard.

I'd like to take the gears out of the third and keep those while reinstalling the 3rd to keep the axles and tires from sliding out on me on the trip to the junkyard.

The third has nothing to do with keeping the axles from sliding out (they are not c-clip axles).  The brake backing plate holds the bearings (which are pressed onto the axleshafts) in the end of the axle tube, therefore holding the axleshafts in the axle housing.
Like mentioned above....the ends of the axle shafts may rub the axle housing, but since you are junking everything anyway, it really isn't a big deal.