Topic: Whine coming from the new gears; opinions?

[Jeffy]

It certainly does if you have eliminated the vac disconnect like he has.

Ah, missed that part... 

Then it will turn...  Having the shaft turn all the time sometimes causes the pinion seal to weep if it's old.  BUT if you had gears done then it shouldn't weep.

Axle seals can get damaged if they're not careful when pulling or installing the shafts.  ALSO, are these TJ shaft or an actual conversion kit?  If they're just TJ shafts then you'll need to replace the outer seals anyway as the TJ shaft is thinner where teh seal is on the YJ so the seal doesn't work.  Swapping the seals isn't a big deal although everything has to come out.

[aw12345]

a rear main seal leak generaly does not make the clutch slip however the front seal of the trans leaking does is this stuff black? if need be put some card board under the engine and try to figure out if its brake fluid, motor oil or gear oil. For your gear whine if the gears where set correctly they should not whine from day one period.
As for the oil out of the axle tube either it came out when they pulled the axle shaft out or the seal leaks, I had my axle shafts out twice in front and the seals still do not leak. So there is a pretty good change they damaged one of the seals

[jfrabat]

The front driveshaft does not turn if you don't have a locker ON or 4WD engaged.

It certainly does if you have eliminated the vac disconnect like he has.

Like OldJeep said, I eliminated the vacuum servo that disconnects the axle and installed a solid axle for the passanger side...  So mine spins all the time now...  (well, right now the front DS is off, so it is not getting to the TC).

They probably messed up your axle seals during the insatallation or did not install the seal for the passenger side correctly.  When my gears were put in they messed up the passenger side and it all had to come apart again to install a new one.  Did both just to avoid similar work soon after.

That is what I am thinking; the good thing is that they are being cool about the whole thing, and will take the whole thing apart to inspect, and said that if any part needs to be replaced, they will take care of that as well...

Based on what I have read having the front shaft turning all the time usually does not cause any problems.

I certainly hope so!  Because there is no avoiding it...

Number three does sound like you have a rear main seal leak, especially if the clutch is slipping.  Usually it is best to make sure it isn't just oil dripping from the back of the valve cover.

Funny you mentioned this; I had noticed some oil in the pulleys some time back, and I have not gotten around to fixing it, so it is possible it is coming from the valve cover...  I'll takle that first before dropping trannys and such!

[jfrabat]

UPDATE: I finally had time to take the Jeep back to the shop, and it seems that the bearing in the kit (I bought a complete axle kit that included the seals, alloy shafts, ARB lockers, ring and pinion, and basically everything else inside the axle) was bad, and it got damaged, allowing some play in the pinion.  This caused not only the whine, but also the vibration at high-speed (65+ mph).  The bearing looked burned off for some reason.

The good news is that the shop honored the warranty, and put in a new bearing, as well as new ring and pinion (because of the play, the old ones were done for).  Now the Jeep has no noise (well, none that it did not have before anyway!). 

As for the front axle, they also replaced the front seals, and now there is no leak.  So all is good now.  Finally got stronger axles (yeah, I know, I still got a D35, but I should be OK even when the 33's go in, as I will not see that many rocks; mostly it will be mud) and lockers working properly.  I only need to get around to changing the U-Joints and reinstalling the front axle (will probably do so this weekend) and I am done with the drive trail!

Felipe

[jfrabat]

OK, so there was no sound or vibrations coming from the drivetrain until I put in the front DS.  Now I got a slight vibration at high-speed.  My first thought was that the fron t DS was not balanced, but I did see a weight on it (although it may still be out of balance).  My original idea was to get it balanced, but since I saw the weight, I figured I'd try it first.  Now my second issue is that the only driveline shop I have found has really bad hours, so it will be a pain to get the Jeep (or the front DS) to them without taking a day of vacation, but I'll try taht as well.  Now, my questions are as follow:

1. Do you think part of the problem could be coming from the angles being out of whack on the front DS between the pinion and TC?
2. Is it possible for the vibration to be coming from the front output of the TC?  Maybe a bad bearing or something?  In the original setup, the YJ's fron DS does not spin until in 4WD, but with the new axle, the front DS spins all the time regardless of the TC position...
3. I changed the U-Joints to new U-Joints just to be sure they are good (since they will be rotating all the time now).  I also got greasable U-Joints, and I was wondering if these (since they have the needle fitting on one side) could be what is causing the DS to be out of balance?
4. Could this be the same issue I had on the rear pinion bearing?

Anyway, I wait for your opinons and comments...

[Jeffy]

The front driveshafts on a YJ aren't balanced.  There may be a wight on there to help a little but really the front driveshaft only turns when in 4WD and they say to keep teh speeds down to 55MPH and only when traction is less them optimal.

[FourbangerYJ]

I had a rythmic vib at higher speeds. Like from 55-70MPH. The faster I went the faster the vib rythem would be. It stopped when I change the front D-shaft for one that have CV joint on it, plus it was balanced. If I could have keep the old front shaft I would have ,but I needed to swap if because of my front pinion angle.
I would say get the front D-shaft balanced and see what happens.

[jfrabat]

Yeah, I guess i'll have to get it balanced.  Maybe tomorrow I'll take a couple of hours off and do it.

[jfrabat]

Well, I got a chance today to take the shaft to the driveline shop, and it was not balance; the shaft was bent.  They did not have the right size tube to make one, so I decided to order a Woody shaft for the front (nothing special, just their basic shaft).  I should be good to go after this!  Unfortunately, it arrives the week after thanksgiving, so I am not sure I will be able to put it in this year (I still got a couple of business trips to make, so I will not be home all that often).  At least it is good to know what the problem is!