Rear axle rebuild?

[agjohn02]

not sure if i need one or not. everything feels ok except there seems to be more backlash than i would expect. i dont have a dial indicator to check it yet, but ill get one soon. its not much but it always popped when i put it in gear like it had a bad u-joint in it but they were good. carrier bearings seem tight laterally. axle bearings seem tight laterally. nothing leaks so seals are good. any tips on determining if i need to rebuild or not? if i have to rebuild i aint gonna have money for a locker. i really dont wanna run a miller locker on my DD.

[uglyota]

have you done anything to mess with the gear setup?
If it's not leaking, wait until you get lockah

[agjohn02]

nah, havent messed with the set-up. i think im gonna just put in a locker and forgo the rebuild. ill put inner axle seals in it just because they'll be right there, but ill wait on the rest of it tiil something starts leaking. i have no qualms about swapping in a locker by myself.

[uglyota]

lunchbox?

[agjohn02]

full detroit

[uglyota]

installing that is the same as setting up gears
do you feel confident enough to set up gears on your dd?

[BigRedFord04]

installing a detroit is basically rebuilding the whole axle anyway...save outer bearings and seals....kill two birds w/ one slug.

[agjohn02]

i can swap the carrier, use the same shims and same gears and not have to mess with the pinion, hopefully. just bolt up my ring gear to the new carrier and put the same shims behind the new bearings on the carrier. then check the backlash and spray some purdy yellow stuff on the ring and look at the pattern. while ive got it apart ill put new inner axle seals in there. i dont have any easy way to get the outer axle bearings off the axle and they feel good so im not gonna mess with them now. they're easy enough to change later when i put new brakes on the rear. my budget is talking very loudly with the addition of a locker so im trying to skimp where i can and put some things off till later.

[BigRedFord04]

installing a locker you're changing carriers....the gears need to be re-setup. just b.c. you're using the same shims and bearings doesnt necessarily mean you're going to get the same pattern. you're gonna have to be very talented to get the bearings off the old carrier w/o fukkin' 'em up.

[agjohn02]

just bolt up my ring gear to the new carrier and put the same shims behind the new bearings on the carrier.

new bearings, new carrier, old shims, old gears, not messin with the pinion. we'll see how it turns out. thats what im gonna try and i wont run it until its set up right. if i gotta screw with the pinion, then i will, but im gonna try it w/o touching it first. tolerances on the carriers should allow me to acheive the same results. same as removing the open carrier, welding it, and re-installing it.

[BigRedFord04]

ahh....i misread....Precision Gear recommends adding .002" extra shims as preload on the bearings...FYI. what kinda rearend is this btw? i dont feel like searching.

[agjohn02]

dana 44. im not trying to sound like i know what im doing here. ive never touched a ring and pinion before. just saying what i think should be doable. if you got any more advice, bring it on.

[BigRedFord04]

thats about all i know. i've setup my frontend twice...neither time especially caring how it turned out, afterall, it is just a frontend...just got it to as little backlash as possible. helped with a couple other installs (my 8.8 and the 1st time on my 44, and nix's 44). setup my rearend, wrong, once...but that wasnt necessarily my fault...no one told me when ordering gears that i needed a diff carrier. hopefully you'll check the backlash w/ a dial indicator, needs to be .006"-.010" as a good rule of thumb.

http://www.drivetrain.com/ringpinioninstal.html

good starting point. they recommend .005"-.008" for a D44.

[fbronco86]

get some gear marking paint crap so you can check the gears out.