RCJeeper

Black Northern,
Hey, man that sounds like a tough ole nut to crack. Did you order it (the tool)? I'm guessing the tool you made grabs two holes and not all four, is that right? So the tool you're gonna buy from Chrysler grabs all four?

tkob1060

WOW Black Northern you definitely are doing a great job, its awesome you are doing it yourself. That crush sleeve is as you know very important, mine was never crushed by the first shop that did my gears which caused them to chip apart at 1800 mi. They claimed to know what they were doing too

here is pic of new and old crush sleeve, notice they are same size lol, should actually see a little difference.


pic of my pinion gear chipping away

Keep up the good work, hope that new tool helps get it all set up

yellow07x

I used a big pipewrench.........

BlackNorthernJK

new updates. Pinion is in, crush sleeve crushed finally, pinion bearing preload achieved. Then I had to go to work...hopefully tomorrow I will drive the Jeep to work again

robbehymer

What brand of gears did you use (and their part number please).

BlackNorthernJK

They're stock take out's from another forum member...so they are essentially Dana Brand, I don't have part numbers, but if your looking for some 4.10's cruise the for sale section, lots to be had.

BlackNorthernJK

rear diff complete....soon to come, front diff. For now, front driveshaft pulled...

RCJeeper

Bad assss blacknorthern. Congrats on your first successful gear swap. Hope to join the club later this month. Just need a few little odds and ends before I take the plunge.

If you were to do this again, how long would a gear swap take?

How long did it take the frist time?

Most important nugget of wisdom?


PS - I started work on the pinion flange holder tool. I'll post up when it's done and you can let me know if you think it's beefy enough.

BlackNorthernJK

Thanks man...definately not as long as the first time, it's tough to say really, maybe 8 hours now

I really only had the chance to work on it a few hours at a time, maybe about 14 hours total this first go 'round...to do it again now that I have the flange wrench, certainly less time, I was lucky with the setup as it only took me about 4 times to get the shims just right...it's honestly the stupid crush sleeve that's damned near impossible to actually crush

A few...really need the right tool to hold that stupid pinion flange (bolt and strap style) the problem is that it isn't a flat face, the bolt holes are recessed back a bit so if trying to bolt a holding device on it leaves about a quarter of an inch of bolt exposed so they aren't as stong and just bend or snap when you put the torque to the pinion nut...for initial tear down and setup a bolt on device works fine, but not for final install
...the flange wrench (working on pic) is made from really sturdy steel with heavy gauge pins that slip into the two 'non-threaded' holes in the flange and can take the punishment of the required torque...well almost, mine still bent the pins on the wrench
Ways to avoid this? Maybe it was just the crush sleeve that came with my install kit could have been made just too difficult to compress....maybe picking one up from the dealer would have been easier? Or...replace that stupid strap and bolt style flange with a cv style ubolt type...but that means a new driveshaft and the cost of that as well...
I had even tried pre-crushing it slightly before putting it all together, didn't really help at all...I had heard that it can help get it started, but not really.
Another good point to note as well, I didn't use a housing spreader and had read a post by someone that probably really knows what they are talking about suggesting it's almost a necessity with our JK 44's to use a housing spreader to get the proper carrier preload...well, I just tried to add as many extra shims as possible with the hammer-it-in method, during final setup and install I destroyed some of the thinner shims...luckily there was a shop in town that had a whole mess of extra shims that I could just have, so maybe track down some extra shims in the event you destroy some of your thinner ones.

Haven't yet tackled the front 30 yet, still deciding on a lsd or locker to replace the carrier with...soon

BlackNorthernJK

yeah...this is by far the hardest part of install in my opinion, I find it hard to believe a pro shop actually threw the pinion in and didn't crush the sleeve, yet there is the proof...crazy 'cuz if you don't start crushing the sleeve you can just feel the slop in the pinion bearings, I don't know how anyone could have put it together that way and expected it to be ok I would have been homicidal man