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This afternoon I pulled the differential out of the garage and started on it. It clearly was in need of a good cleaning. My plan for the rear end is to leave the differential gears alone and just address the rear brakes, grease seals, and wheel bearings. This afternoon I spent around an hour cleaning off much of the years of dirt, grease, and grime.

Here is the differential as it was when I pulled it off the frame: I removed the hard brake lines that connect to the right and left rear brake cylinders from the junction with the soft rubber line above the center of the differential. I used a 7/16" open wrench to loosen the hydraulic fittings after spraying on some Liquid Wrench. The lines came off without much trouble. I removed the line on the left side in the same manner. Here are the brake lines removed. Then I spent a full hour cleaning the differential and axle case. I used some Simple Green, a wire brush, and a lot of scouring pads. Much of the dirt came off and revealed that the black paint on the differential is actually in pretty good shape. There are some surface rust areas, but nothing to be overly concerned about.