Can I install gears without the tools?

[Hardwareman]

maybe a stupid question, but is your housing bent? or just a axle shaft?

if its just the axle shaft....you can just swap out the shaft...

I don't believe the housing is bent.....at least it does'nt look bent. I took the Ranger in for an alignment and tire balance and the shop told me that the rear axle was bent. Sure enough that's what the main cause of my vibration was. They recommended I replace the entire rearend because the passenger side axle slides in and out slightly, it also moves like the rim is bent but we verified it is not. Could be a major accident if I don't take care of it you know?

The shop was thinking the same thing I was.........there may be an internal probelm with the c-clip or something else going on with the housing. Since I have a good axle I'm just going to do the swap and call it done, plus there are TONS of miles (about 450,000 or so) on my original rear end. Not the gear set however. There may be 150,000 or so on them.




Allen

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Both axles should move in and out slightly on a c clip rear end, that's just the tolerances of the c clips. If its just the shaft that is bent I'd just slide in a new one and call it done. If the gears were done 150,000kms ago the carrier and pinion bearings should be fine, you may have to replace the axle bearings, which is easy enough to do.

 

[rickcdewitt]

to check the housing take out the shafts and carrier and run a straight rod through it. a slight bend can be hard to eyeball

 

[CopyKat]

I've heard of the axle bending near the wheel flanges, causing a wheel to wobble.

I'd try to change out the bad side with one from the newer axle and try that. If it solves the issue then you have another axle to build up and play with.

 

[rickcdewitt]

I've heard of the axle bending near the wheel flanges, causing a wheel to wobble.

.

thats right where my sploder axle bent.it took a redwood tree and 30mph to do it though and i don't trust the housing anymore

 

[Dusty_Ranger]

why not i did i transfered the carrier over and put it in the new housing exactly as i found it in the old housing and it fits better than the old one did it only took about 30 mins

 

[CopyKat]

why not i did i transfered the carrier over and put it in the new housing exactly as i found it in the old housing and it fits better than the old one did it only took about 30 mins

Doing that will give you a good starting point. WAY better than starting right from scratch.

 

[Hardwareman]

Yeah, well I decided to take the day off of work to swap out this axle. I just got her up in the air and started her up so I could see the wheels as they are rotating while the truck's in gear.

It looks like both sides are actually wobbling so I'm going to go ahead and swap out the entire axle at this point. I'd rather be safe then sorry. The only problem is that the brakes are 9" on the new axle and they are the 10" ones on my old axle. Other then that they appear to be identical.

I know, I know, I could swap out the brake assembly from one to the other but I don't really feel like messing with that right now. Especially for a little 7.5 rear end. I'll post up to let you know how she feels after the swap. I know I'm going to be hating the 3.73's though...haha




Allen

 

[MAKG]

Doing that will give you a good starting point. WAY better than starting right from scratch.

With emphasis on the starting point, absolutely.

But the contact pattern should always be checked.

 

[Hardwareman]

All right, well thanks guys but I think I'll be taking it to someone who has experience setting up gears as I can't afford to have it explode on me.

I have the old rear end out now and will start bolting up the new (new to me....haha) rear end here shortly. Man those parking brake cables are a pain!




Allen

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i think you made the smart decision. had you swapped your "new" axles into the old, possibly damaged housing, you could have cost yourself another set of axles/bearings down the road. since you already have the whole assembly, better safe than sorry as you said.

however, i would swap the brakes over if i were you. the 10" brakes have more stopping/cooling power than the little 9" guys. plus its only 4 bolts to remove the backing plate from one axle and slap it on the other (then you dont even need to disconnect your e-brake cables ).

 

[MAKG]

But, you do have to remove the axleshafts. Which means a broken cross-pin bolt (it's probably already broken, but you need to get the pieces out to remove the C-clips and axleshafts).

 

[Hardwareman]

You're right Mike, I do have to remove the axleshafts so I opted to leave well enough alone and just swap the entire deal. It's already done so I'm on my way to see when the guy can swap out the gears for me.

The passenger side axleshaft on the old axle seemed to slide in and out A LOT more then normal compared to the other side of the old axle and BOTH sides of the new one.

Hopefully the guy will swap them out today! Later




Allen

 

[bottledgt]

why is everybody always bitchin about broken crosspin bolts?i do about 3 gearsets a week give or take and probably have done about 500 total, and ive only witnessed 1 or 2 broken bolts.and its usually because the spiders get dry and try to weld themselves to the pin which makes the pin turn and break the bolt

 

[MAKG]

Because your experience differs from others.

My own rear end had an obviously old cross-pin bolt break in it. The cross-pin itself and the spiders were just fine, as was the gearset.

And its bad enough that people sell toolkits just to remove them. It's a pair of drill guides, two types of extractors, and a very long drill bit.