RCJeeper

MY guess is that it will take enough torque to get the crush sleeve in the elastic range, which is prolly beteen 250-350 ft-lbs.

I would remove the tires from the axles and measure the torque with an inch point torque wrench before starting out. Get a feeling for how loose the flange is and how easy it rotates with the carrier and axles in place.

You're looking to add 5 in-lbs or so to that reading. This ensure that the increased torque is coming from the bearings going from running fairly free to be pressed and preloaded down enough to increase the drag on the whole assembly. That'll be when you know you got enough preload on the bearings.

tkob1060

ok I just realized something, you are worrying about crushing the crush sleeve when you are only changing the driveshafts.......the crush sleeves are crushed already, I believe they only get crushed when installing the gears, you just need to get the proper torque and I also saw this in Teraflex's instructions for shafts:
Note: Be very careful to install the correct yoke. Do not mix up the front and rear axle yokes or you will damage the pinion seals and will have an oil leak.

perhaps you put the yokes in wrong spots? but I really dont think you need to recrush sleeves that are crushed already.

good luck

UGOTKERN

Yokes were installed in the correct spot. I'll be swapping out the pinion seals and pinion nuts tonight. Should know tomorrow if all is well tomorrow

will post my results....

PirateKitty

I just wanted to post a quick THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us figure out this "issue." I know the sooner UGOTKERN figures this out, the sooner I will stop asking "Is it done yet? Can I go wheeling yet?"

Thanks again for all the inputs!

RCJeeper

UGOTKERN removed the pinion flange. This has the same effect of removing the preload on the pinion bearings applied by the crush sleeve.

Question? How do you know that at 160 ft-lbs, you have the right amount of bearing preload? Not trying to be a dick here, but I'm wanting to change my own DSs and want to ensure I don't mess up the bearing preload.

The way I inderstand it, is that as you torque the pinion nut, the crush sleeve will exert the correct thrust load on the bearings when you acheive the correct preload measured by an in-lb torque wrench. For the JK D44s, the preload is 10~20 in-lbs (without the carrier and axles in place). Most people who have done gears on the JK state that it takes a whopping 250-400 lbs to crush the sleeve. This has been my experience too.

Once the nut is undone, the thrust force on the bearings is lost. If the pinion is re-torqued an inadequate amount, the thrust force on the bearings might allow the pinion to squirm away from the ring gear as the engine torque turns 90° to the axles, possibly tilting the shaft enough to damage the seal.

Randy's book says basically there is one for sure way to do it, pg 191, remove the axles and carrier install a new crush sleeve, or less precisely, measure the preload first and put it back together and exceed the original torque by 5 in-lbs. I can't really see removing the carrier to replace a driveshaft yoke though.