I finally got the stupid pinion OUT!!!

[jonrpick]

brass punch. a.k.a brass tube or anything. it will break before the pinion will. snapon is like 60.00 and harbor is like 10.00 but you can go to a metal place a get a scrap piece for cheap.

Blast... I just got back from HF. They close in 5 minutes and it's a 10 minute drive.

 

[Hazy]

brass is a good thing to use. shocks it without breaking it. just bends itself.

 

[Zeus33rd]

10b should come out with enough muscle on the hammer, or press or whatever you use. Might have to be pressed out. Whatever method you use, be careful of mushrooming the threads on the end of the pinion.

 

[jonrpick]

brass is a good thing to use. shocks it without breaking it. just bends itself.

Yeah, I know...I didnt't think while I was there. I was in a hurry since they were using the shock tactic of annoucing that they were closing every couple of minutes over the intercom system. And the combination of inept cashiers and the line of about 6 old men in front of me complicated things.

Edit: Oh and Sears closed 5 minutes ago :-(

Edit #2: Home Depot is open till 8pm...gonna see if they have the punch.

 

[jonrpick]

10b should come out with enough muscle on the hammer, or press or whatever you use. Might have to be pressed out. Whatever method you use, be careful of mushrooming the threads on the end of the pinion.

Well, it's in the truck, with the tires off and supported by jackstands on the 10B, so everything I do is from underneath the truck.

If I had another few hundred to blow (not worth it considering what I'm trying to accomplish) I'd get me a press and an axle dolly.

I may still when I get the 14BFF/D60.

 

[Hazy]

just get a brass bar and cut it to what you need, grind it if you have too. but i guess if they have a punch set go for it

 

[jonrpick]

just get a brass bar and cut it to what you need, grind it if you have too. but i guess if they have a punch set go for it

Well... I couldn't find one, so I bought two sections of some heavy-ass chain and carriage bolts. I wrapped one section around the axle tube, right at the pumpkin, and secured it to itself using a carriage bolt, then did the same on the other side. Then I pulled them tightly toward the front of the truck and got the two jaws of the pull on the two ends of chain. I centered the puller onto the pinion.

After trying it and tweaking it a lot, I got it to where it looked like it was gonna work. But then, the puller kept wanting to pitch either up or down, and would want to slip off. Regardless, I did get quite a bit of force on it, and it didn't budge. Beat it a few more times with the hammer...nada.

I made pics of the process, but I won't post 'em since it didn't work.

I'll look for a punch tomorrow.

 

[jonrpick]

While I'm thinking about it, let me run this by the group...

When this thing started acting up, it was going uphill, and apparently low on oil. So theoretically, the outer pinion bearing should've been the first to suffer.

Is it possible that it got so hot that the outer bearing pseudo-welded itself to the pinion?

Just trying to prepare myself for the idea that I may need to destroy the pinion to get it out and shell out more $$$ for new gears.

 

[Hazy]

would it still spin if it welded itself?

 

[jonrpick]

would it still spin if it welded itself?

I'd think if it bonded to the inner part of the bearing it'd still spin.

It spins now, and by hand you can still feel a good bit of preload on there, even though the nut and yoke are removed.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

All pinions have a little "cup" machined into the end of them that is meant for a punch. I have always just put a punch in the "cup" and hit it with a 5 pound sledge. They come out no problem. Never hit the end of a pinion with a hammer.

The punch that I use is called a drift punch and I got it from Sears (Craftsman). It's probably close to a foot long and clearly says "not for impact use" on it, but it works very well at the mercy of a hammer

That being said, I have worked on one diff that had the pinion bearings seize up on it (TJ dana 44). We had to pull the whole diff and set it in our press. I think it took all 20 tons of force that the press can do, and even then I wouldn't have been surprised if the housing broke before the pinion came out . Believe it or not, that housing was still usable and is still running today.

 

[jonrpick]

All pinions have a little "cup" machined into the end of them that is meant for a punch. I have always just put a punch in the "cup" and hit it with a 5 pound sledge. They come out no problem. Never hit the end of a pinion with a hammer.

The punch that I use is called a drift punch and I got it from Sears (Craftsman). It's probably close to a foot long and clearly says "not for impact use" on it, but it works very well at the mercy of a hammer

That being said, I have worked on one diff that had the pinion bearings seize up on it (TJ dana 44). We had to pull the whole diff and set it in our press. I think it took all 20 tons of force that the press can do, and even then I wouldn't have been surprised if the housing broke before the pinion came out . Believe it or not, that housing was still usable and is still running today.

Well, a little while ago a friend of mine said if I pull the housing, we can take it to a buddy of his, who has a machine shop and a lot of big equipment. Apparently the dude is a serious Jeeper and should know the drill. He's gonna check with the dude tomorrow, and if all's ok, we'll run the entire housing up there in a couple of days and have it punched out.

I'll get a big punch tomorrow. At this point, I'm starting to accept the idea that the pinion is toast anyway.

 

[Zeus33rd]

At this poit, it would prolly be cheaper and easier to go to pic-n-pull on 1/2 price day and get an entire rear axle to just bolt in. Like $50. Or free...people are always givin away 10b's.

 

[JohnDeere]

screw the nut back on the pinion alittle, where you can hit the nut so you dont mess up the threads on the pinion. Then hit it with a bfg.

 

[Blue85]

Drill the Pinion out.







OK, just kidding. Is the housing small enough that you can get a Ball joint press around it? If you had a really long puller, you could put a piece of square stock across the housing and put the hooks behind the teeth of the pinion gear. But that is risky unless you are getting rid of that gearset.

When you were trying to press it out you were pressing on the the pinion itself and not the outer bearing, right? The outer bearing can not be pressed in and can only come out in the direction of the yoke. Just trying to double-check for the obvious.

 

[jonrpick]

Drill the Pinion out.







OK, just kidding. Is the housing small enough that you can get a Ball joint press around it? If you had a really long puller, you could put a piece of square stock across the housing and put the hooks behind the teeth of the pinion gear. But that is risky unless you are getting rid of that gearset.

When you were trying to press it out you were pressing on the the pinion itself and not the outer bearing, right? The outer bearing can not be pressed in and can only come out in the direction of the yoke. Just trying to double-check for the obvious.

Yeah, the puller was sitting directly in the little 'divot' on the end of the pinion. I also thought if I had a puller that was big enough, I could get it around the backside of the housing. But I've never seen one that big. I'm sure they exist, but what they're used for I have no clue.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

What are you trying to do here? Is the carrier still in the diff?

If the carrier is still in the housing, hitting the end of the pinion won't do anything. Pull the carrier (keep track of the shims) and then the pinion will tap out and yoke will fall out.

If you are removing the pinion nut, you need to replace the crush sleeve, reset the pinion bearing preload and replace the pinion nut anyway.

 

[jonrpick]

What are you trying to do here?

Remove the pinion gear.

Is the carrier still in the diff?

No...that would make removing the pinion impossible.

If the carrier is still in the housing, hitting the end of the pinion won't do anything.

I know.

Pull the carrier (keep track of the shims) and then the pinion will tap out and yoke will fall out.

Incorrect. Carrier removed. Pinion nut and yoke removed. Pinion stuck like a mofo.

If you are removing the pinion nut, you need to replace the crush sleeve, reset the pinion bearing preload and replace the pinion nut anyway.

See above. Pinion nut is removed. You can't replace a crush sleeve until you can access it. The only way to do so is to remove the pinion.

Hence the problem.

 

[jonrpick]

PINION IS OUT!!! w00t!!!!

I got it...finally. Yesterday I came up with a ghetto-fabulous way of forcing the pinion out, but it failed. I documented it with pics, but didn't post since it didn't work. So today I went to Harbor Freight and got a couple of brass punches. I gave it the old college try, with no success.

I thought about for a moment. Then I combined the two methods. Follow along.

Yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought two 2.5ft lengths of the heaviest chain they had, along with a couple of bolts, 4 washers, and 2 nuts.

Then I wrapped the chain around where the axle tubes are welded to the pumpkin, and used the bolts to keep them together, like so:

Next I took my biggest 2-jaw puller (the one I used to pull the pinion yoke) and reversed the arms on it, like so:

Finally I set the center of the puller on the pinion gear, and connected the jaws to the chain. I had to readjust the chain length by moving the bolts to different lengths on the chain to get it snug. I ended up with this:

This is where I got yesterday. The problem was, when I started tightening up the bolt in the puller, the tension would increase to the point where the puller wanted to either pitch up or down, but not stayed centered.

So I got the punches today, and when I whacked it with a hammer, they'd bounce off the pinion. That meant it was reflecting the energy from the hammer rather than absorbing it and driving the pinion out. I tried for about 45 seconds before I realized hitting it with a punch was getting me nowhere fast.

So after some thought, I put the chain/puller setup back on there. I tightened it down to where it would just hold its position. Then I started hammering on the adjustment bolt for the puller. The first thing I noticed was that the puller wasn't bouncing off the pinion. It was transferring the full power of the hammer right to the pinion.

After about a minute, I could notice a very slight change in the tone of the hammer strikes. Also, the puller wasn't so tight anymore. So I retightened it, and continued. Each time I did this, the tone changed more rapidly, and the puller got looser, quicker.

Finally, after about the 10th readjustment, I could tell I was really making a difference, and then the pinion went "TINK!" and dropped into the axle housing.

BOO YEAH!

Thanks to all of those that helped!

 

[roadnotca]

I got it...finally. Yesterday I came up with a ghetto-fabulous way of forcing the pinion out, but it failed. I documented it with pics, but didn't post since it didn't work. So today I went to Harbor Freight and got a couple of brass punches. I gave it the old college try, with no success.

I thought about for a moment. Then I combined the two methods. Follow along.

Yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought two 2.5ft lengths of the heaviest chain they had, along with a couple of bolts, 4 washers, and 2 nuts.



Then I wrapped the chain around where the axle tubes are welded to the pumpkin, and used the bolts to keep them together, like so:



Next I took my biggest 2-jaw puller (the one I used to pull the pinion yoke) and reversed the arms on it, like so:



Finally I set the center of the puller on the pinion gear, and connected the jaws to the chain. I had to readjust the chain length by moving the bolts to different lengths on the chain to get it snug. I ended up with this:



This is where I got yesterday. The problem was, when I started tightening up the bolt in the puller, the tension would increase to the point where the puller wanted to either pitch up or down, but not stayed centered.

So I got the punches today, and when I whacked it with a hammer, they'd bounce off the pinion. That meant it was reflecting the energy from the hammer rather than absorbing it and driving the pinion out. I tried for about 45 seconds before I realized hitting it with a punch was getting me nowhere fast.

So after some thought, I put the chain/puller setup back on there. I tightened it down to where it would just hold its position. Then I started hammering on the adjustment bolt for the puller. The first thing I noticed was that the puller wasn't bouncing off the pinion. It was transferring the full power of the hammer right to the pinion.

After about a minute, I could notice a very slight change in the tone of the hammer strikes. Also, the puller wasn't so tight anymore. So I retightened it, and continued. Each time I did this, the tone changed more rapidly, and the puller got looser, quicker.

Finally, after about the 10th readjustment, I could tell I was really making a difference, and then the pinion went "TINK!" and dropped into the axle housing.

BOO YEAH!

Thanks to all of those that helped!

You got it jonr