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5.38 gear install in a 14 FF(edit bottom pg2) I'm an idiot

Leper

Leper

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Is the biggest PITA that I have come across. Nevermind about the tooling marks on the bearing surface. That is nothing in comparison. Worry about clearancing the case itself so that the ring gear doesn't hit it, on the gear side. Worry about having to move the entire carrier so far to the left, that you have to put the spanner on that side in a lathe to turn it down, to get it to fit. Then you have to notch the housing to get the lock pin back in on that side. I had to drill a new hole in the spanner to get the punch in it for final tightening. I used all the shims I had, to make the pinion depth correct.

Then after all of that, and the 8 foot cheater bar for the crush sleeve, I put the cover back on and go to install the driveshaft and guess what? The pinion won't turn. Why, you ask, because the bolts heads that hold the ring gear onto the locker are now digging into my diff cover. After removing the cover and removing some material, it all works. I just to get another 5 gallons :doah: of 90wt to put in the diff.

BTW...... A big thanks to Kert for making the razorback so thick.
 
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:haha: But look at the good side it's done. :waytogo: Sometimes your the bug other times your the windsheild. :D
 
The good side is that you were talented enough to do it all by yourself. :thumb:
 
Dang, dood ... should we all expect to do that for 5.38's, like are the 5.13's that messed up?

-- A
 
jiminycricket said:
The good side is that you were talented enough to do it all by yourself. :thumb:
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This would be interesting to see Avery do this himself. :haha: :haha: :haha:
 
thatK30guy said:
This would be interesting to see Avery do this himself. :haha: :haha: :haha:
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It's so hard not to laugh, but jeez, can we give this poor kid a break? Oh boy!
 
Got any pics? It seems like more ammo that 5.13s are as big as the housing will accept. The more I read the more I am just gonna go with 5.13:(. Until I find a wide Dana 70 that is:D.

Ira
 
sorry to see it was such a pain in the ass steven...im glad i didn't wait on 5.38s...i would never be able to justify the SLIGHTLY deeper gearing difference...5.13s will do for me. On cajun4x4s 14bff, his 5.13s set up so easy and quick. it took us more time to get the old bearings off than it did to get the axle set up.
 
I didn't do the job by myself. I was at a buddies house who has set up literally hundreds of ring-pinions. If he didn't have a metal lathe in his garage, I would still be there. When all is said and done, you almost forget how bad the pinion bearing surface looks. I don't see how that isn't going to cause me problems down the line.

To be completely honest, if I had started on the rear, instead of the front, I would have: stopped, reboxed them, ordered 5.13, and sent the 5.38 back. Mabey my set was different, or my axle was a little different. Hopefully someone else has done them without all of the problems I ran into.
 
sandawgk5 said:
Got any pics? It seems like more ammo that 5.13s are as big as the housing will accept. The more I read the more I am just gonna go with 5.13:(. Until I find a wide Dana 70 that is:D.

Ira
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I have got a couple of pics that I took with my phone. If anyone wants them just send me your number because I never took the time to find out how to DL the pics to my computer.
 
Im glad I sent mine back. Its not worth all the extra work to get that gear in there.
 
After getting more input from many people, it seems that I got a set of thick gears instead of the thin. Neither the guy at Randys, or the place where I bought them ever mentioned that there were two. I guess I had assumed that they only came out with one size because of the problems that they were having. So, your install may be much easier than mine. If the rear blows up any time soon, I don't know if I will do the 5.38 or go to 5.13. They just left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
Leper said:
After getting more input from many people, it seems that I got a set of thick gears instead of the thin. Neither the guy at Randys, or the place where I bought them ever mentioned that there were two. I guess I had assumed that they only came out with one size because of the problems that they were having. So, your install may be much easier than mine. If the rear blows up any time soon, I don't know if I will do the 5.38 or go to 5.13. They just left a bad taste in my mouth.
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I was under the impression that 5.38s only came in a thick version. Having a thick set on a 4.56 carrier makes all the other issues make sense. Sucks for your bad luck hope it holds together.:o

Ira
 
After further research, I put the gears on the wrong carrier. I was thinking that the split was 3.73/4.10 in reality it is 4.10/4.56. The place I bought them at said the 4.56 carrier would work, Randy's said I needed the 4.10 carrier(which I assumed was 4.10 and numerically higher). I got it to pattern out, but I'm going to redo it with a 4.10 carrier and consider it lesson-learned.
 
Leper said:
After further research, I put the gears on the wrong carrier. I was thinking that the split was 3.73/4.10 in reality it is 4.10/4.56. The place I bought them at said the 4.56 carrier would work, Randy's said I needed the 4.10 carrier(which I assumed was 4.10 and numerically higher). I got it to pattern out, but I'm going to redo it with a 4.10 carrier and consider it lesson-learned.
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So does this mean a detroit with 4.56's on it wont accept 5.38's?
 
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