14bff pinion crush collar failure

[91jimmyguy07]

Anyone had this problem?My crush collar has failed twice,the last time destroying all gears and bearings.What happens is,it collapses,allowing he pinion to go too deep,resulting in he pilot bearing being knocked out ,then chewed up in the gears.I was told by an old- timer drag-racer that I can by a heavy sleeve to replace the thin crush collar.I"m running a 454,4 speed manual,456's,lockers,and 44 Boggers.Hope to retreive some info.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Not posted in the right place (the garage would be better) but:

Who's setting up your gears? That's the first thing I would look at.

Crush sleeves are inferior to shims, even if nobody makes a "kit" to retrofit it you could make it yourself.

I've never heard of a 14 bolt crush sleeve failing and there are so many of us here running 14 bolts that it makes me think something is wrong with your setup.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Anyone had this problem?My crush collar has failed twice,the last time destroying all gears and bearings.What happens is,it collapses,allowing he pinion to go too deep,resulting in he pilot bearing being knocked out ,then chewed up in the gears.I was told by an old- timer drag-racer that I can by a heavy sleeve to replace the thin crush collar.I"m running a 454,4 speed manual,456's,lockers,and 44 Boggers.Hope to retreive some info.

Someone isn't setting up your gears correctly. I've never heard of or seen a crush sleeve fail. It sounds like whoever is setting up your gears isn't getting the crush sleeve to crush and set the proper pinion pre-load which is causing your failures.

 

[Jason4x4]

or the nut is backing off.

 

[4X4HIGH]

or the nut is backing off.

That's easy enought for him to keep an eye on.

 

[tRustyK5]

It's not often I move something to the Garage...

Anyways, this would be the right forum for this thread.

Rene

 

[smalltruckbigcid]

Wow what timing. At work last week we had the new style 14gff if for a crush sleeve failure. The best we have is very heavy loading and a lead foot. It actually walked the rear pinion bearing forward about a quarter of an inch. That let the pinion move a lot and the carnage was high.

But if you have done this before then I would look at setup and assembly errors first.

 

[BGKYK5]

Too much preload? Overcrushing the sleeve on assembly?

 

[6.2Blazer]

If everything is setup properly there should be very little force acting on the crush sleeve that would make it crush further, and anybody who has set one up previously knows how much force it takes to crush as 14-bolt version.

My first guess is that they are not setting it up properly to begin with.

 

[BGKYK5]

It does take a heck of a lot of force to crush the sleeve. When it starts to crush it goes quickly though. I was leaning on the pipe I put over the breaker bar handle and checking drag after each lean. I wasn't getting anywhere, and then suddenly I was on the high end of the spec (but still in spec). If somebody is crushing it with a monster impact.....

 

[cuervo]

This is all from Bill's site.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PR-ARB/articles/14b_Gear_Setup/

[edit - this is what I had read some where, not from Bill]

I read in one of the tech documents about 14bff setup and then saying, it took 300 to 350 lbs of torque to get the crush sleeve to start crushing. I find it very interesting that the preload is set with the pinion retainer removed from the housing and that even the support bearing can throw off the setting.

[/edit]

Bill's words here.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pinion Bearing Preload[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Set to: 5-15 in-lbs for used bearings / 25-35 in-lbs for new bearings[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To increase preload – tighten pinion nut in small increments to crush crush-sleeve[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To decrease preload – install new crush-sleeve and start again[/FONT]

Note: For a 14-bolt, pinion preload is specified for the pinion bearing retainer removed from the axle housing and with the yoke and pinion oil seal installed. Too little preload diminishes load-bearing capacity as the load-bearing surfaces between rollers and race are decreased. Too much preload increases friction, resulting in excessive noise, heat, and rapid wear.