Replacing pinion bearings in a rear 10B... 9.25.07 - bearings look good???

[jonrpick]

Boy this is going slow... I'm making a job that should take a couple of hours take weeks, LOL. I just haven't been motivated to get out there till recently.

So anyway, last night I pulled the wheels and brake drums off, and cracked open the diff cover to let it drain into a pan...then went out to a bar.

Today, I've removed the retaining bolt that holds the crosspin in place, the crosspin, and I pushed in the axleshafts and removed the c-clips and then the axles. Finally I removed the spider gears and used a pry-bar to pop the carrier loose. I got the 'hook' of the bar in the carrier, and put a box-end wrench on one of the ring gear bolts. When I started to pry, the wrench was forced up against the housing, and it just leveraged itself about half-way out. I easily pulled it out then. I did contaminate the carrier bearings a bit when it gently landed on the cardboard I'm laying on while under there. I'll need to double and triple-check that they're clean before reassembly.

It does come apart easy. That diff-rebuilding video sure does help, and gave me quite a bit more confidence (I'll give it a thorough review once I'm finished).

Next is to pop the pinion out.

 

[jonrpick]

Something isn't right here...

I was kicking back, thinking about the next move (the pinion yoke is stuck on the pinion shaft, and beating it mercilessly with a plastic-tipped hammer isn't budging it) when I decided to inspect the axle shafts.

Anyway, this may be nothing, but I figured I'd run it past everyone.

Check out the driver's-side axle shaft. It looks like it's been turned on a lathe, but off-centered. The "ledge" should be very noticeable in the pic, moreso on the right-hand side of the shaft:

The passenger side is the same way, but it's more uniform:

Does this all look normal? The bearing and seal surfaces seem to be pretty smooth.

 

[Confedneck79K30]

bearings are pressed into the housing, you'll need to replace them with new, good timkens or gm units then fit the axle shafts back in to ensure that the shafts are ok, they look good to me...

 

[jonrpick]

bearings are pressed into the housing, you'll need to replace them with new, good timkens or gm units then fit the axle shafts back in to ensure that the shafts are ok, they look good to me...

Good news on the shafts, thanks... I'm not going for a full rebuild. The whole axle has probably less than 5k miles on it. Short version of a long story...I had it rebuild when the Gov-bomb went 'boom' and drove it for about a month or so. Did something dumb that grounded the truck for months (again, slow progress, but I was within walking distance to work). Anyway, once I was up and running again, it wasn't long till the pinion ran dry (slow fluid leak, got low on 90W, and went up a long steep hill at 80mph).

Everything in there seems to check out. I'm finding no damage, and the only thing I have to go on is what Pep Boys said--that the pinion bearings got smoked when it was pointed up in the air.

Regardless, I'm hoping this thing lasts just long enough to get a 14BFF in there. I have a free 14B/D60 set coming to me if I can work out the arrangements before it gets scrapped.

Thanks

 

[Confedneck79K30]

whoah, whats the arrangements? it needs to happen for free, whats the hold up?

 

[jonrpick]

whoah, whats the arrangements? it needs to happen for free, whats the hold up?

Well a buddy of mine knows someone who has a gutted CUCV and is about to scrap it. It's just a frame, t-case, and axles with springs. The D60 will need parts replaced for sure, as some were robbed to fix another truck. The front end of the truck is resting on the axle... The rear has 2 bald tires on the 14BFF, so it should be OK... and both should be 4.56 geared with a Detroit out back

The problem is I don't have a way to move it, so said buddy must help. He thinks we can get it on his trailer, but I have doubts. The 2nd issue is, I don't want to be stuck with a CUCV frame since I have no place to put it. It'll be tough enough to find a temporary spot for the axles.

So that means, if we can move it on a weekend when both he and I are free (not often) then I need to be in touch with a scrapyard beforehand so we can haul it here, extract the axles and t-case, and haul the rest over there.

Everytime he asks about it, I'm busy and vice-versa...

 

[Confedneck79K30]

how far is the stuff from your place? get what you want and drop the scrap at the scrapyard gate after hours :X lol

 

[jonrpick]

how far is the stuff from your place? get what you want and drop the scrap at the scrapyard gate after hours :X lol

LOL... About 25 miles +/-

I still haven't found a scrapyard...I'm such a slacker.

 

[jonrpick]

9.25.2007 - bearings look good...???

So, I finally the pinion and outer bearing out of the housing. What a job that was. I had to ghetto-engineer a pulley and chain together to push the pinion loose.

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216819&page=4#post2054778

So...first impression. Something is terribly right here. Yeah, you read that correctly. The bearings look good. The rollers on the bearings are smooth, and the races that the bearings seat against are smooth. There's no pitting, no signs of being run dry...and in my hands the bearings don't feel rough when I turn them. This is very strange, and disheartening at the same time.

I'll double-check the carrier bearings, but their races seemed good too, and they seemed to spin smoothly. The axle bearings haven't been properly inspected yet, but again, the axle shafts show no signs of abuse.

I'm really at a loss here guys...

I've been chomping at the bit to get to these pinion bearings, to inspect the carnage...and...well, I'm not seeing anything wrong. It could just be me looking through the n00b-goggles, but these bearings seem fine to me.

 

[user]

No bad bearings?

that is a wonder. maybe just a bad u-joint all the time? you did say yours sort of self-destructed when you pulled the drive shaft loose, right?

well, how's the wear pattern look on the ring and pinion gears? how are the spiders holding up - anything inside the carrier feel out of sorts? outer axle bearings? splines on the axles look ok? c-clips not too worn?

you did say you had some oil leakage, didn't you? kind of a lot of work just to replace a seal, though.

 

[roadnotca]

Without looking through this whole thread jonr, how many miles are on this rig? I ask because my Burb with 180K miles needed axle brgs., and that's where the noise was coming from. Now would be a good time to replace them.

 

[jonrpick]

that is a wonder. maybe just a bad u-joint all the time? you did say yours sort of self-destructed when you pulled the drive shaft loose, right?

well, how's the wear pattern look on the ring and pinion gears? how are the spiders holding up - anything inside the carrier feel out of sorts? outer axle bearings? splines on the axles look ok? c-clips not too worn?

you did say you had some oil leakage, didn't you? kind of a lot of work just to replace a seal, though.

Roger that...The rear u-joint was somewhat stuck in the pinion yoke. I had to get my huge flat-head screwdriver (the persuader) in between the joint and yoke and pry pretty hard to get it out. It came out all at once and one of the caps flew across the garage floor.

Then, although I was told the pinion seal was leaking, I found no evidence of leakage. Before I drove the truck from TN to GA I checked the fluid level in the diff. Pep Boys had filled it up before I left there. Well on the way home, it didn't seem to lose any, and there was no oil around any of the seals (axle, pinion, diff cover).

Let me also say that the tapered construction of those bearings makes it a little difficult to tell by hand whether they're a problem or not. They look good, and seem to turn smoothly by hand.

This has me pretty pissed, and for me, it's one more nail in the coffin in terms of dealing with big corporate chains like that, Mr. Transmission (another good story, same truck), etc...

The only useful info I got was that the transfer case was leaking. Indeed it is. Could be a part in there that's making all the noise. I'm going to address the axle and u-joints, and see where I stand. If the noise is still there, then I'm going to look at the transfer case

Anyway...the axle is apart. I suppose while I'm in there I may as well just do 'em the bearings. I'll need to refresh myself on the procedure for setting pinion depth. I know the trick about using the old inner pinion bearing for a starting point, but what if the new one is a little thicker or thinner?

Luckily, a friend has a guy with a machine shop, and he's a Jeep fiend that does his own work. The shop owner owes my friend a favor or two, so getting the bearings pressed on shouldn't be a problem.

 

[jonrpick]

Without looking through this whole thread jonr, how many miles are on this rig? I ask because my Burb with 180K miles needed axle brgs., and that's where to noise was coming from. Now would be a good time to replace them.

The truck is somewhere over 150K. The rear axle in question is under 5K.

 

[user]

There's horror stories about all those chains, and some of the worst are about dealers. Mechanics are like people in every other occupation: some of 'em are really good, some are really bad, and most are average. But lump on top of that the fact that most people are pretty depressed, emotionally, most of the time and therefore likely to say "oh, fork-it." rather than to do a good job and be able to have some joy in their work. And, on top of that, that the profit margins in such industries are so slim, that most feel they have to lie, cheat, and steal in order to get by.

I had Country Chevrolet, Warrenton Va., put a rebuilt engine in my suburban. They quoted me a price of around $1200 installed, and ended up charging me almost $4000; they billed me for parts, gaskets, and connectors that I supplied myself, ruined the AC compressor and charged me for a new one (and supplied a rebuilt) and swiped an extra pair of cylinder heads (that I'd just paid $600 to have fixed up in a machine shop) out of the back. Then they banged the body up in the parking lot, which I'd just spent a few thousand getting fixed up in a body shop. On top of that, they took almost a year to do it, and apparently used it as a training tool for newly hired idiots who were mechanic-wannabe's. Everytime I look at it and see where there's a bolt missing or a wire not routed correctly, it drives me nuts. What's funny is that it was my wife's idea to have the dealer do the work, 'cause it would be faster, cheaper, and they'd know what they were doing. I even offered to let them borrow the shop manuals and book of electrical diagrams, but they simply weren't interested in doing the job right.

I do all my own work myself. As slow as I am, it's still faster, cheaper, and I know what I'm doing (or at least I know when I don't know and I'm smart enough to ask someone a question or look in a book). It's a lot more work and expense to correct other people's mistakes than to learn to do it yourself.

 

[obijuan]

damn thats a ****ty story