Do you think you would have had to replace the crush sleeve? I would think you could just take the pinion nut off, put in the new seal and torque the new nut on
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Humpty Dumpty Wrangler Project
- Thread starter nkgilbert
- Start date
03 Jeep Wrangler w/ 5.3 Vortec Swap
This is what I have always done. Pull yoke, install new seal, then tighten nut back up with a breaker bar. Haven't had a problem yet.
nkgilbert
Registered Member
That's what I would think...there are various opinions out there on it. The breaker bar is similar to a large torque wrench and should put enough torque to tighten but not enough to change the size of the sleeve...I read where some guys said if the nut comes off a new sleeve needs to be used, but I don't necessarily agree with it.
I've never changed out the crush sleeve unless we were re-gearing, if just changing the seal I mark the nut and yoke before removal, change seal, reinstall yoke/nut.
nkgilbert
Registered Member
Rear end is done and back in the jeep...been working on drivetrain alignment, pinion angle, custom spring mounts and 4 link in the rear. Finally got everything lined up and rearend back on the frame. Most of the sites recommend using the original skid plate like the original for mounting the transmission, but we decided to go a little beefier and roll our own...welding skills are getting better but still a novice. Decided to go with a 5 speed manual from Tremec from SilverSportTransmissions out of TN, they provide some shifter kits and other accessories specifically for the jeep. Got the motor mounts tacked into place and check the clearance with the firewall...probably need to do another mockup once we get the headers. Be moving on to the from axle someone collected from a '88 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Post some pictures of that in the next couple days...standard Dana44 with some aftermarket suspension brackets welded on. WestCoast Diffs hooked me up with all the components needed to rebuild the diff, ball joints, seals, and u-joints. May still have some reconfig to do with the stock spring mounts but hopefully they will work as is.
nkgilbert
Registered Member
Been a while since I posted anything but progression has been slow and steady...pictures below.
Rear End - rear end is done and mounted back on the frame. We had some issues with the panhard bar and getting the axle centered below the frame at ride height...nothing hard about it but just a pain. More trial and error of taking the tires off letting the weight down and measuring everything, pinion angle, axle position etc. and then adjusting. Pretty happy with how it turned out.
Front End - On to the front end and really found some goblins up there, keep in mind that all these parts and pieces were acquired by someone else and were in pieces when we got it. Using the BOM number on the axle we were able to determine that it was acquired from a 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer with 3.7 gear ratio, which is much higher than the 4.10 in the rear. Plan was to replace all the bearing, seals, u-joints, and gears to match it up with the ones in the back. Was able to acquire all the diff parts and the axle seals from differentials.com and the ball joints and u-joints came from RockAuto. So once everything was cleaned and prepped we started putting the diff back together and set the backlash, pinion preload, etc., made sure we had a set of setup bearing this go around since we were starting from scratch with the new gears and there is no crush washer for the front diff only shims. We got our guestimate for the pinion by measuring the distance from the center of the diff bearing down to the pinion gear to determine what the shims for the pinion depth should be...just a starting point but if your measurements are precise it should get you pretty close. Dropped everything in and snugged it up and turns out we have about 1/4 inch backlash...which is stupid bad. Tried switching out the shims and slam the carrier as far to one side as it can go and maybe shaved a 1/16 off the measurement. Called the guy from west coast diffs (differentials.com) and told him what was up...he asked me what the old ratio was vs the new ratio and said there's your problem. I was unaware that the carrier is only good for a range of ratios. The old carrier that came in the jeep had a range of like 3.3-3.9 and we wanted to go to 4.10. He has now shipped us a new one in which we swapped out the internals and will move forward...should be straight forward from here.
Moved out to the ball joints and u-joints while we were waiting for the new carrier to come and discovered another upgrade that the previous owner had made. He had replaced the stock knuckle/hub with an aftermarket one made by Reid Racing, which apparently is a pretty known name brand in the rock crawler industry. Turns out that the ball joints for those are different than the stock ones...more beefy and deeper in depth. So we are sending parts back to RockAuto and will get the correct ones from Reid.
All the parts came in for the LS 5.3 motor from TexasSpeed. We are going to be reusing the iron block and aluminum heads. Everything else in the motor will pretty much be new. If I have time, would like to take a stab at porting and polishing the heads, but we will see on that one. Goals is to have it running on a stand alone engine mount prior to installing into the jeep.
Also needed a day off to chase them Red Tails...all work and no play.
![IMG_1255[1].JPG](https://ck5.com/forums/data/attachments/359/359147-34ffe4248565e11238eccbdc7a49f947.jpg "IMG_1255[1].JPG")
Rear End - rear end is done and mounted back on the frame. We had some issues with the panhard bar and getting the axle centered below the frame at ride height...nothing hard about it but just a pain. More trial and error of taking the tires off letting the weight down and measuring everything, pinion angle, axle position etc. and then adjusting. Pretty happy with how it turned out.
Front End - On to the front end and really found some goblins up there, keep in mind that all these parts and pieces were acquired by someone else and were in pieces when we got it. Using the BOM number on the axle we were able to determine that it was acquired from a 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer with 3.7 gear ratio, which is much higher than the 4.10 in the rear. Plan was to replace all the bearing, seals, u-joints, and gears to match it up with the ones in the back. Was able to acquire all the diff parts and the axle seals from differentials.com and the ball joints and u-joints came from RockAuto. So once everything was cleaned and prepped we started putting the diff back together and set the backlash, pinion preload, etc., made sure we had a set of setup bearing this go around since we were starting from scratch with the new gears and there is no crush washer for the front diff only shims. We got our guestimate for the pinion by measuring the distance from the center of the diff bearing down to the pinion gear to determine what the shims for the pinion depth should be...just a starting point but if your measurements are precise it should get you pretty close. Dropped everything in and snugged it up and turns out we have about 1/4 inch backlash...which is stupid bad. Tried switching out the shims and slam the carrier as far to one side as it can go and maybe shaved a 1/16 off the measurement. Called the guy from west coast diffs (differentials.com) and told him what was up...he asked me what the old ratio was vs the new ratio and said there's your problem. I was unaware that the carrier is only good for a range of ratios. The old carrier that came in the jeep had a range of like 3.3-3.9 and we wanted to go to 4.10. He has now shipped us a new one in which we swapped out the internals and will move forward...should be straight forward from here.
Moved out to the ball joints and u-joints while we were waiting for the new carrier to come and discovered another upgrade that the previous owner had made. He had replaced the stock knuckle/hub with an aftermarket one made by Reid Racing, which apparently is a pretty known name brand in the rock crawler industry. Turns out that the ball joints for those are different than the stock ones...more beefy and deeper in depth. So we are sending parts back to RockAuto and will get the correct ones from Reid.
All the parts came in for the LS 5.3 motor from TexasSpeed. We are going to be reusing the iron block and aluminum heads. Everything else in the motor will pretty much be new. If I have time, would like to take a stab at porting and polishing the heads, but we will see on that one. Goals is to have it running on a stand alone engine mount prior to installing into the jeep.
Also needed a day off to chase them Red Tails...all work and no play.
From what I learned, if you measure the drag before you tear down, you can reuse the crush sleeve, just restore the drag to the same torque
nkgilbert
Registered Member
Right on the money...fixing to update the post. It was an 88 Wagoneer. Thanks for the lead it came in handy.
nkgilbert
Registered Member
That's good to know...what if you over tight the crush sleeve by a hair. Can you back it off to get the right pinion preload. We are talking a minuet amount...like a 1/16 or 1/32 of a turn past where it needs to be. I was at about 2-3 in lbs and over shot it to like 20...so I just backed it off and to like 10 and went with it. This is on a rear axle.
Yes, that works
nkgilbert
Registered Member
Been a long process on building the steering and suspension for the front end. The control arms that came with the kit that the previous owner purchased were too long so we had to roll our own. After we got the axle put back together we started mounting it and setting up the suspension for the front. I got some concerns with the stock shock towers and how they line up when the springs are fully compressed...they are at a really steep forward angle do to the stock springs only having about 3-4 inches of travel. I would like to cut them out and go with a set of coil overs but for now we are going to go with the springs that came with the truck. Got some concerns over the alignment of the pitman arm and the track bar. Also, we did away with the stabilizer shock that would come on a modern vehicle...is this really going to affect the drivability of the truck on the highway...we'll see. Below are some pictures of the suspension being cycled up and down from a few different angles. If anyone out there sees any issues that might arise, please let me know. Pretty happy with how the front end turned out as a whole. Waiting on a few parts for the braking system and the fuel lines. Get those tightened up next and then on to the heart of the beast. Already went through the heads and swapped out all new springs, cleaned and lapped the valves, and ported and polished the inside of the cylinder heads....bought a new Dremel with the wand attachment....makes me want to go back to school and get my dental license.
nkgilbert
Registered Member
Moving along slow and steady. We've ran into some real issues with getting performance parts for the motor and getting parts in general. Since the suspension and brakes are done we are moving on to the motor. We have an engine stand but came up with another variation of one that allows the engine to be raised and lowered as well as spun 180 degrees. Also made a simple run stand out of some 1" square tubing. We plan to mount the gauges and transmission on the stand and break the motor in there. We went with the Holley Terminator X ECU after looking comparing it to both the FiTech and Edelbrock systems. We went through Texas Speed for most of the internals, kept the stock cathedral heads w/ upgraded internals. We got the cam, crank, and pistons put in today. Everything seemed to be in spec. We gapped the rings and checked the crank movement from front to back. The machine shop bored the .030 over, balanced the crank and pistons / rods, line honed the caps after we replaced the bolts with studs, replaced the cam bearings, and assemble the wrist pins. Hopefully have it running by the end of the month on the stand.
Great progress, I need to get over there and check that out
