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Dana 44 pinion preload tips

73K5BlazerSS

73K5BlazerSS

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Hey everyone, It's been quite some time since I've had the money and time to work on my blazer. I just swapped the front carrier to a true trac w/ 3:73s. Got pretty lucky and didn't need too many adjustments.

Now I'm setting the pinion preload and wishing this thing had a crush collar. I keep skipping back and fourth over the specified range. Right now I'm at about 1lb of preload. Does anyone have a good guess on how many thousands will get me 14 to 19 in lbs? This is driving me nuts.

Also I'm torquing to 200 ft lbs but have heard 225 as well ?

Thanks
 
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It seems like I'm getting different readings that don't coincide with the shim pack. For example at .071 I couldn't move the pinion. Then at .054 it was too loose. By accident I went back to around .071 and it would move. Is there a chance I screwed up the bearing? The results don't seem consistent. I've oiled the bearings and they will sometimes give me a different preload #s clockwise vs ccw.
 
you are setting the pinion bearing preload with carrier of of the housing ? Double check that all race cups and inner pinion bearing cone are seated fully. Inspect for any cage damage or rollers out of place

Welcome back :waytogo:
 
Yes the carrier is in place, backlash is set. During setup I torqued the pinion with no (small) preload shims until I had about 10 or 12 in lbs. Then I dialed everything in to get a nice pattern. I'm assuming I did this properly?

Maybe I damaged the smaller pinion bearing by removing it from the pinion so many times? I was told I don't need a setup bearing for the smaller bearing. I guess it won't provide accurate results if you open up the inside diameter of the bearing ? I'm starting to think I should have, whacking the pinion out with a punch and hammer seems kinda rough on that new bearing.

It's good to be back, I gotta get this truck running ! I find myself looking at squarebodys for sale so I can have one to drive now. That wouldn't go over too well with my wife.
 
Shouldn't damaged the small pinion by removing a few times. I think I did mine 3 or 4 times. Unless it dropped and hit hard, I don't see it getting messed up.

You really can't get a good read on the preload while trying to turn the carrier too. Recommend removing the carrier. Since you've got the preload and back lash set up should be easy to reinstall after pinion is set.
 
Yea really should adjust preload with only the pinion in the housing…..that torque on the nut seems high to me…my 60 only torqued to 175 ft lbs, I was thinking 150-160 for a 44?
 
My apologies I don't know why I said I had the carrier in the housing. I was thinking about when everything was dialed in. The carrier is out while trying to set pinion preload.
I'll get back to it this weekend, need a break. Hopefully Ill see something obvious.
Thanks
 
The manuals that I have for Spicer gear sets are spec’d at 210~220ft.lbs. of pinion nut torque with 20~30inch lbs. of continuous rotational torque for new lubricated bearings and no pinion seal in place.

You can take some emery cloth to the small pinion bearing contact area on the pinion to ease the repeated on/off ~ in/out while getting it dialed in - won’t hurt anything.
Regardless tapping the small outer pinion bearing onto the pinion shaft should not be a big effort nor should tapping on the pinion to remove it - it’s not that tight of an interference fit.

It’s possible to mar the rollers/races if they get locked up during tightening if the shims were not at the correct dimension - always tighten slowly and work the yoke back-n-forth while doing so to avoid this problem and stop immediately if things get too tight.
Your readings should not change no matter what direction you are going so you definitely have something out of wack going on.

Remember setting preload on any bearing should be done with oil on every roller surface - never do this on dry bearings.
 
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Something was wrong, but I have no idea what. Now I've used all the smaller outer shims and I still can't get the right preload. I'm at .098/.099 in outer shims. I've got no play, and no pre load. Is this normal to have .098 of shims to get my preload? I guess I'll have to steal from the old set of shims and keep going.

Oh and the emery cloth made a big difference. Instead of 50 hammer swings it took only 5 or so.
 
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Is this .098/.099 the crush sleeve eliminator, or under the big pinion bearing race in housing?
 
Wes Harden said:
Is this .098/.099 the crush sleeve eliminator, or under the big pinion bearing race in housing?
Click to expand...
No crush sleeve on our era D44’s.

That’s way too much shim thickness needed - something’s not right.
Can you give us quality pictures of all the pinion and related pieces?
 
Ok here's the pinion with shims, bearings and oil shield setup as if it were inside the case.

From top to bottom I have my big oil slinger no shims (shims are under the inner race). Then I pressed on my new bearing. Followed by the smaller preload shims. The outer bearing, then the oil splash shield. Is there something missing? These are all the parts that came in my setup kit. 20240903_155049.jpg

Thanks for the help !
 
73K5BlazerSS said:
Ok here's the pinion with shims, bearings and oil shield setup as if it were inside the case.

From top to bottom I have my big oil slinger no shims (shims are under the inner race). Then I pressed on my new bearing. Followed by the smaller preload shims. The outer bearing, then the oil splash shield. Is there something missing? These are all the parts that came in my setup kit. View attachment 485480

Thanks for the help !
Click to expand...
Just because the parts come in the kit doesn’t mean you need them. A lot of them are for more than one generation of axle.
I believe the Dana 44 uses shim under the big inner race to set the pinion depth. Then the small ones for preload. If you need more preload, you need to remove some little shims
 
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Yes these are new bearings. I've seen some pics of a smaller oil slinger that has a step pressed into it. Kind of like a reducing washer (donut) for an electrical knock out. Maybe I need that?

Maybe I'm going the wrong way with this. I though I had to add shims to get a tighter pre load.
 
Fastereddie said:
Just because the parts come in the kit doesn’t mean you need them. A lot of them are for more than one generation of axle.
I believe the Dana 44 uses shim under the big inner race to set the pinion depth. Then the small ones for preload. If you need more preload, you need to remove some little shims
Click to expand...
It would be expected to start the setup by throwing the previous set of shims on, making that mixup unlikely. Is that what you did @73K5BlazerSS?

Shims below the top bearing would change the pinion depth. Shims where they are shown would only effect pinion preload. Possibly they can be used in both locations?
 
73K5BlazerSS said:
Yes these are new bearings. I've seen some pics of a smaller oil slinger that has a step pressed into it. Kind of like a reducing washer (donut) for an electrical knock out. Maybe I need that?

Maybe I'm going the wrong way with this. I though I had to add shims to get a tighter pre load.
Click to expand...
No, you’re thinking backwards. If you have no slop but zero preload, try removing .003 to .005 and see what that gives you.
 
Ok I'm an idiot. Now this makes sense. I keep adding shims when I should be removing them. Geez I never thought I'd prefer a crush collar like in my 12 bolt rear. Thanks guys!
 
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