BAJA_BLAZER said:
Set it up in a press, works easy.
I had one that would not even start to crush in a 20 ton shop press. I brought the unit to a shop that specialized in transmissions, transfercases, and rearends. His "A" frame on the press was actually starting to bow (and no this was not a harbor freight cheapie model press). He had never had that happen before. He had a larger press but was worried about hurting the pinion. I ended up taking it home and trying to figure a way to do it.
It took putting the pinion support assembly in the housing, adding weight to the bed (I'll explain why later), putting a 4ft pipe (monkey) wrench on the yoke, then a 3/4" breaker bar and socket to turn the nut on the yoke using a floor jack as I could not do it even with a cheater pipe. At first the truck started lifting up and causing the pipe wrench to turn (resting against the concrete floor). As the truck lifted, it allowed the pipe wrench to turn (BAD idea). I was then able to get enough weight in the bed to keep the truck from lifting and eventually was able to get the sleeve to crush (became MUCH easier after it started crushing). Needless to say making sure the socket and breaker bar stayed on the nut with all that force and weight was NOT fun.
I told the guy at the shop what I had to do and he said he has never had to do anything like that, but after seeing that the press couldn't start to crush it he understood.
The next one I did, I did not have access to the tools (ie. 4ft pipe wrench), so that is when I decided to go the spacer route (much easier/SAFER). Did I mention I hate crush sleeves
.
I brought the old crush sleeve and pinion to the shop and had them machine a spacer .005" shorter, and then used shims I had laying around from another project to make up the difference. The key is keeping the ID of the spacer large enough to go over the pinion and the OD of the spacer small enough not to contact the inner bearings or cage.
