Topic: gear install question

[huntingbuck101]

So a guy at work said he would install my 4.88 I was hesitant to have him do it but has done his camero and for $300 compared to $900 at the mechanic shop I thought I would take the chance. However I'm starting to worry, he said the stock pinion hand no shims so when we were trying to crush the crush sleeve it wouldn't crush even with a 600 pound impact. so we took the new pinion back out and then he saw that the shims go under the pinion bearing and the stock one was shimmed.
So now i need to pull the bearing of the pinion. he told me they make a tool for that and you need a press. Is this the only way? will I ruin the bearing taking it off. also a buddy told me I might need a spreader to get the carrier back in will I?

[Bounty Hunter]

Sounds like you need to find somebody else to set up your gears

You will need a press, or a bearing removal tool like this:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/articles/tech/billavista/PR-ARB/articles/Randys_Carrier_Bearing_Puller_Review

[Jeffy]

So, did your friend just watch someone or did he learn from reading it on the Internet?  If you have a FSM or even a Chiltons or Hayes, it would have shown you how the shims are setup.  A manual of some sort is a must.  You will have gear patterns and a shim chart.  Honestly, you should be reusing the stock shims to start off with.  Also, you should have removed the old bearings to use as setup bearings (hone the bearings out a little with a drum sander or grinder.)

I hope he's not charging you...

[huntingbuck101]

that puller tool would relay be nice but it runs $540.
I was just looking at Quadratecs dana 35 schematic and they show the shims going on behind the race on the pinion. not between the pinion end and the bearing. Thats wrong, right?
any one have a good link to a dana 35 gear swap?

[Jeffy]

that puller tool would relay be nice but it runs $540.
I was just looking at Quadratecs dana 35 schematic and they show the shims going on behind the race on the pinion. not between the pinion end and the bearing. Thats wrong, right?
any one have a good link to a dana 35 gear swap?

Go to the FAQ and look up Factory Service Manual.  D/L either YJ manual.  You can't use a catalog blowup diagram for doing a gear change.  IIRC, the shims go on the pinion before the bearing.

[huntingbuck101]

Go to the FAQ and look up Factory Service Manual.  D/L either YJ manual.  You can't use a catalog blowup diagram for doing a gear change.  IIRC, the shims go on the pinion before the bearing.

I know a can't use a catalog blowup to do the install, I was looking to see how much a new bearing would be if i cut and air chiseled the old one off and seen they had it that way. but thanks for the other info.

[Jeffy]

Bearings are around $10 for Timken's.  But if you don't have a bearing puller how are you going to take them off the differential?    Also, do you have an inch-pound torque wrench to set up the pinion bearing preload?  You might also want to have a dial indicator to setup the backlash too...

[aw12345]

The shims that set the pinion depth go behind the large pinion bearing cup inside of the axle housing. look at the numbers on the old pinion if there are no numbers scribed on it it means zero and say for example the new pinion is marked with minus one -1 on its face that means you have to subtracted 0.001 from the original shim pack a positive mark would mean you add shims. the spacer can be a real bear but a good impact will colapse it I have done this many times. A spreader is nice ( I have one and its handy) but you can wrestle it back in without it.
For more questions you can e mail me or Im me look in the profiles for the Im or e mail

Art
 

[huntingbuck101]

So I looked up the FSM and the shims do not go on between the pinion head and the bearing what looked like a shim on my old pinion is a oil slinger the shims go on after the bearing cup. now after reading the FSM I see that is what Art was saying but it didn't click with me until now.

[huntingbuck101]

I now think some one may of did some work before me on my gears and put the shim in the wrong spot. what I thought was a maybe a oil slinger in my last post is to small for that and they do use one on the d35 from what I can find so I think is a shim in the wrong spot. I have talked to many people about were the shims go and almost every one says between the pinion head and the bearing but how can the FSM be wrong? btw it's a 98tj.

[Bounty Hunter]

I think the shims can go either under the inner bearing race or between the pinion head and the bearing, to set pinion depth.  From what I've seen, the most common is shimming between the pinion head and the inner bearing.

I thought one site listed the high speed bearing puller at about $280.  Well worth it if you're going to do several axles.

You don't need a case spreader.  A good indication of proper bearing preload is needing about 8 whacks with a deadblow hammer to get the carrier in the housing.