8.8 Drive Flange Issue

[97BlackBetty]

Alright, I made a mistake when I had my gears installed, I gave the shop the wrong flange!

Anyways the flange (that the driveshaft connects to) is the 2.5 inch instead of the 3 inch. Can I change those flanges without messing up the alignment of the ring and pinion? And would I have to replace the crushsleeve? This in on an Ex 8.8.

Thankyou

 

[fordxranger]

When I went to a 1 pc. shaft I bought a 3" flange for my 7.5 rear and I just quickly removed my old flange put on my new one and floored my 1/2 drive HD ingersol rand air impact to tighten it down. The guy behind the counter at randy's r&p told me the rear should go 6-8 months without chipping or wearing the gears down to need a replacement if I didn't have my gears re-setup. I've been going on almost 3 years without problems or even having excess shavings in the diff fluid.

 

[projectnitemare]

You can change the flange but if you over tighten the nut you are going to pull the pinion away from the ring gear. Ideally you can get away with it as long as you are careful not to go crazy, it will make more backlash if you do.

Matt

 

[4x4junkie]

Because you're changing the flange, you'll need to pull the diff carrier out so you can measure the preload on the pinion bearings as you tighten it.

Tighten the nut JUST until you reestablish the correct bearing preload and you should be OK (if you don't use a new pinion nut, be sure to use Loctite on it otherwise it will back off on you). If you go too far though, then you'll need a new crush sleeve.