front axle fix

[MAvTistic]

91 dodge cummins 3/4 ton 4x4. was under it yesterday changing the reverse light switch and while scooting around uinderneath i grabbed the front drive shaft and there is play in the yoke and leaking, what needs to be changed and how do you go about changing it?
can it be done by removing the nut that holds the yoke on and sliding the yoke out?

if someone would have a parts blow out on whats inside it would be great.

MArk

 

[sle2115]

91 dodge cummins 3/4 ton 4x4. was under it yesterday changing the reverse light switch and while scooting around uinderneath i grabbed the front drive shaft and there is play in the yoke and leaking, what needs to be changed and how do you go about changing it?
can it be done by removing the nut that holds the yoke on and sliding the yoke out?

if someone would have a parts blow out on whats inside it would be great.

MArk

I don't have a Dodge, but when I put the Dana 60 under my Ford, I found the same thing. I found that only the outer pinion bearing was bad. Pulled the yoke and seal and replaced the bearing and race as well as a new seal. All is well now.

 

[Diesel_Junkie]

Yes the yoke will slide off when you remove the pinon nut, That is a good way of swapping the seal, but swapping the bearing is a bigger deal,

I think you can usually get away with swapping the bearing but be careful.

Technically the gears are setup with a specific bearing preload for both the pinion and carrier. Also the carrier is shimmed side to side for pinion engagement and the pinion depth is also shimmed.

If you go by the book, the shimming is compensating for variability in gear cut, the machining of the housing, and the bearing thicknesses. If you change any one of those, you will effect the entire setup.

The reality is that bearing thickness is usually pretty consistent. So you could probably get away with a bearing swap, The only thing is you cant get the inner bearing race out without pulling the carrier and pinion.

Also,
Most gear guys will tell you not to torque your pinion nut with an impact wrench when the carrier is in.

If your yoke is loose you should probably at least pull the cover off and have a look at the ring gear, if the pinion has been walking around, it could chew up the gears. In my experience though, ring and pinion gears are surprisingly forgiving, but very finiky to setup right.

To do it right just drop it off with a ring and pinion specialist. You could find a set of instructions, but you will need to make setup bearings, and you will need a hydraulic press and a bearing splitter. More hassel than its worth.

I own 3 dana 60s and a 70, all modified, and i have been trained in how to setup ring and pinions about 8 years ago, but i still let the Pro's that do it every day do mine.

 

[sle2115]

I agree on letting the pros do it, but again I am not sure what axle you have. I have setup up ring gears and such for quite sometime and usually the shims are under the bearing closest to the gear end of the pinion. With that being the case, most of us used a set of setup bearings that were slightly loose in the press fit department, we would then shim the unit with the setup bearings until things were shimmed correctly. Then replace setup bearings with the real thing. Once that was done, we would check runout, etc. and 99.9% of the time, it would be right on with the setup bearing shims. In the cases it was not right on, I don't ever remember one being out of spec (allowable range). With that said and the fact that you are working one the front end which in most 4X4 is not engaged much, you can probably get by without replacing or bothering the shims. I would recommend or agree with the fact that the cover should come off and look for anything out of the ordinary. And I did replace the race on mine by using a slide hammer and a home made claw if you will. You can reach in beside the pinion, catch the edge of the race and tap it out with the slide hammer.

The choice is up to you. If you want to do it yourself, you can. I would pull back on the yoke (towards the rear of the vehicle) and rotate it (hubs unlocked). If it feels gravely/grindy, you probably need to replace the inner bearing as well and possibly more!
Good luck!

 

[MAvTistic]

thanks for all the info, I am going with the "let the pros do it" I talked to a shophere locally and they basically told me the same, so I am going to get it in and let them do it.

MArk