Rear end decisions...

[metalminded]

well i am going to replace the bearings and anything else that is suggested, axle seals?

 

[LCAM-01XA]

ok, so there is no way to do this without removing axles and diff? i misunderstood at some point.. i guess this is going to have to wait for more parts and more free time. this is a much bigger project than initially anticipated when i went to fix the leaking seal,and my frustration level/90 degree heat isn't helping.

Correct, you cannot do this without removing differential and axle shafts. Sorry for the confusion, but even if you were simply removing the leaky pinion seal you'd still have to do that, whether you used a crush sleeve or CSEK. But you do not need any extra parts for the job, you already have all you need. Removing the differential and axle shafts is a simple bolt-off affair, nothing gets damaged in the process, and there are no gaskets to tear. You don't even have to remove the wheels, axle shafts will slide right out once you remove their own bolts that hold them to the hubs. I'd say this adds an extra hour to the job, not a whole lot more.

When removing the carrier take notice of which bearing cap goes on which side and also which end of said bearing cap goes up and which goes down. Mark them appropriately before removing them (I scribe L and R and arrows pointing up) and you won't get them wrong. Then once the carrier is out there will be a shim on each side, those shims are around 1/4" thick rings and usually stay oil-glued to the axle housing but sometimes come out with the carrier - either way is no big deal, just remember which shim goes on which side of the carrier (I usually hang them off the respective jack stands handle till it's time for them to go back in).

See the real problem is you hammered the pinion nut in initially, thus crushing the sleeve too much. If you still had the sleeve at its original thickness, I'd say just matching that with spacer and shims would have been pretty darn close to proper pinion preload. But with the crush sleeve destroyed so bad this shortcut won't work...

If you're short on time and need to run the truck go for a shim stack in the low 1/3 of the chart and reinstall the old pinion seal (the one you just removed I mean). My shim stack was actually right off the high end of the chart at .050 thickness, since the sleeve you removed was crushed thinner than the spacer alone I'm thinking a shim stack of around .030 would be a decent starting point...

When you say you have lots of slop, do you mean up-down and side to side at the yoke, or just the mesh between the gears seems kinda loose?

 

[metalminded]

seems like maybe the bearing is bad... its up and down and side to side.

thanks for sticking with me.... i am just mad at myself for rushing it.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

How many shims right now? If stack is way too thick there will be the play that you see... Go on the low end then, use .020 as a starting point and see how that works out, then work your way up or down from there.

As for rushing it, we've all done it, it's no big deal, live and learn right. At least now you'll know more about your axle than you probably ever wanted to

 

[riotwarrior]

Remember this is not a dedicated 10.25" Sterling "CSEK" tho, it's for a 9" that we are repurposing. So who knows why they didn't chamfer it, but it's an easy fix either way.

That's a quarter for using my CSEK I just found it shorter than damn name rotflmao

Yes repurposing a part GOOD


and metalminded,

Take your time ask questions.

My tip to you today,

when you remove that carrier! take a long long piece of wire feed it through the carrier and tie it back onto itself holding the bearings and such on each side respectively! NO CAN make boo boo this way I hope that's clear as mud too

Al

 

[metalminded]

ok well... this is not adding up. I have just the collar on the shaft and its tighter than it was with shims but there is zero preload.... it just spins nice on the bearings. so i cant go any lower with this collar. is it possible that this collar is to thick? Instructions state if its loose to lose shims at a .02 rate until the preload spec is reached, but i have no more shims to lose and its still loose.
help is REALLY appreciated!!!!!!

 

[LCAM-01XA]

OK, that's a new one... I had to use not just the collar but .050 shims on top of it too... Gimme a measurement of the collar height pls, I got a crush sleeve I can measure up (2 actually, 1 used and 1 new) so we can compare numbers.

 

[metalminded]

will do!! i have just been sitting here clicking the dang refresh button... arrgh

brb

 

[LCAM-01XA]

I was out running errands, sorry. Back now, for a bit at least... Gimme that height now!

 

[metalminded]

i have 0.422-0.423 here on the collar.... old crush collar is 0.410

just re cleaned the crap out of the threads just incase the nut wasnt able to tighten properly ... but they are clean and same out come

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Your collar is fine - I got 0.445 on my used crush sleeve and 0.500 on the new one. With a 0.422 collar and 0.050 shims I'm currently at 0.472 total stack height, quite a bit more than my crushed sleeve but still less than a new sleeve, and considering this is also with different pinion and bearings so it's perfectly acceptable number.

Did you chamfer one of the collar's inner edges like I told you to, so that it sits flush with the face of the step machined on the pinion shaft? How much chamfer did you put on it? IIRC mine ended up at something like 1mm x 1mm (0.04" x 0.04").

Edit: you don't need a lathe to do the chamfer, die grinder or Dremel or even rounded hand file works fine. It just takes a while with the file, so I air-grinded mine and just used the file to make it prettier.

 

[metalminded]

Your collar is fine - I got 0.445 on my used crush sleeve and 0.500 on the new one. With a 0.422 collar and 0.050 shims I'm currently at 0.472 total stack height, quite a bit more than my crushed sleeve but still less than a new sleeve, and considering this is also with different pinion and bearings so it's perfectly acceptable number.

ok, then did i smush my bearings or something?

Did you chamfer one of the collar's inner edges like I told you to, so that it sits flush with the face of the step machined on the pinion shaft? How much chamfer did you put on it? IIRC mine ended up at something like 1mm x 1mm (0.04" x 0.04").

yes i did and the collar sits flush. probably went alittle heavier than u on the chamfer, but nothing crazy.

Edit: you don't need a lathe to do the chamfer, die grinder or Dremel or even rounded hand file works fine. It just takes a while with the file, so I air-grinded mine and just used the file to make it prettier.

i was thinking lathe so i could turn the whole thing down so i could get some preload.....

this is driving me $#%@! crazy and i am on the verge of smashing something, so i am calling it a night. going to wrap everything up in garbage bags i guess

i do appreciate your help!

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Bearings don smush, but they do wear. What does the outer pinion bearing look like, any noticeable grooves in the race that's pressed in the axle housing? What abou he rollers, any pitting? Idk what to tell you, other than to pull the diff and pinion and inspect the inner bearing and race too. Without actually knowing the condition of the bearings and races you are kinda flying blind.

If bearings check out OK, then using a lathe to shorten the height of the collar is definitely an option. But you said you have no lathe, how about a belt sander? Removing 0.02 off the collar should bring it down to 0.400 and give you plenty of space to work with the shims... But again better make sure your bearings are all good before you do that, as removing material from the collar is easy but adding is not

Again whether you keep messing with the CSEK, or just gave up on it and went with another crush sleeve, the diff has to come out - even more so with a new crush sleeve as once the sleeve starts crushing the torque on the nut remains fairly constant and you won't feel it tightening up like with the CSEK, and without being able to turn the pinion freely you simply won't have any indication of when to stop tightening it so you may very well overshoot again.

 

[franklin2]

Does anyone know the theory of the crush sleeve and how it works? It looks like to me if you overcrushed the sleeve, it would not damage anything since the deformation of the sleeve is taking the brunt of the force, and not really taking the bearing pre-load to the stratosphere like you would think. I am thinking that's why they started using it, for assembly line speed instead of paying some line worker to fiddle with shims all day. Just crank it down and go.

 

[metalminded]

I thought it was said before that the diff had to be out so i pulled everything apart, this whole time i have been working with just the pinion shaft in place. i looked over everything a few times, i dont remember any damage jumping out at me. but when i get back to this in a few days i will look it all over again. i am tempted to just buy new bearings regardless, becuase if i have to open this back up in the next 5 years i am going to light this truck on fire.