Hey everyone, recently posted about a noise I started acquiring in the rear of my TJ. I think I’ve figured out the issue. See photos below, how hard of a fix is this, can I do this in my driveway? I’m pretty good mechanical wise, but is this past the scope of a Driveway DIYer? Any suggestions? All the gears in the differential are chewed to shit. Or do I bring it to a tranny/differential shop to fix? Luckily I have one down the street, literally down the street about 400 feet away. Any idea how much this might cost?
Damaged spider gears: What should I do?
- Thread starter rookieTJ
- Start date
spider gears are toast. it can be done DIY at home. you need to find a good write up on it. someone with more exp will chime in.
If it were me, I’d take it to a local shop that does this type of work. They have the tools and know how.
Can’t I just remove carrier, and replace spider gears on my work bench and reinstall?
The more important question is... IF the missing pieces have damaged the carrier and pinion bearings since those pieces have been floating around in the gear lube. They may have even stressed the ring and pinion.
Best to take this to the shop down the street and have a thorough inspection done.
How much it will cost will depend upon what is found; $400-800 is not out of the realm of possibility.
Might consider upgrading the carrier to a limited slip traction device such as a TruTrac.
Best to take this to the shop down the street and have a thorough inspection done.
How much it will cost will depend upon what is found; $400-800 is not out of the realm of possibility.
Might consider upgrading the carrier to a limited slip traction device such as a TruTrac.
Yes, there is no setup involved in replacing them.
If the ring and pinion looks ok you an easily change the spider gears without removing the carrier. Just remove the 12 point bolt holding the cross pin, remove the cross pin, rotate the upper/lower spiders out, remove the c clips and remove the side spiders. Reinstall. The new spider kit should come with new shims.
Yeah an upgrade is out of my realm... setup an appointment at tranny shop down the street, will see tomorrow what he says.
I’m curious, should I take this opportunity to regear? I’m running 33s, the little brackets on diff cover said 3.07.
Regearing is a horse of an entirely different color. Regearing is a major job that only an accomplished/experienced gear guy should undertake. Done imperfectly newly installed gears will be toast in short order, they definitely require being set up (shimmed to exacting tolerances and contact areas) properly where that is not required when just installing new spider & side gears.
Though if you're willing to pay to have them regeared, yes this would be an appropriate time to do that.
I’m trying to find a 4x4 shop near me that can handle the job. Here’s a another question, regear or get a TrueTrac/LSD? I can only afford one or the other not both, which would be more beneficial? I’m Boston we see all 4 seasons, I will be doing some off roaring, mainly trials not much rock crawling. Mainly highway/city driving. Thanks for all the help!
not even close in cost i'd imagine your about 600 for a lsd (do they make those for 35's ? there is 1 they don't, my CRS sucks) and then the labor to do it. regear is both axles and likely double that amount. all depends on who you can find and trust to do the work.
The only overlapping labor from a regear to changing the spiders is the time to remove the diff cover, reseal it, and add oil. You would be paying for a regear plus the spiders.
As other members have said.... regearing needs to be done by a QUALIFIED shop/mechanic. There are alot of steps involved to ensure the R&P are not worn/burned up in a few thousand miles.
Not sure what the prices are like in the Boston area, but here in San Diego unless you have an IN with a shop/mechanic; the cost of parts and labor to regear the front and rear differentials along with a TruTrac will probably cost you in the ballpark of $2500-3000.
To upgrade the gearing you will need to get a different carrier so you should consider doing the upgrade while the R&P are being upgraded to save yourself the additional parts and labor of doing the traction device at a later time.
The TruTrac would be a better choice in snow and ice than a locker.
Boston Jeepz 386 Arsenal St in Watertown (617 795-7048) appears to have a good reputation.
Not sure what the prices are like in the Boston area, but here in San Diego unless you have an IN with a shop/mechanic; the cost of parts and labor to regear the front and rear differentials along with a TruTrac will probably cost you in the ballpark of $2500-3000.
To upgrade the gearing you will need to get a different carrier so you should consider doing the upgrade while the R&P are being upgraded to save yourself the additional parts and labor of doing the traction device at a later time.
The TruTrac would be a better choice in snow and ice than a locker.
Boston Jeepz 386 Arsenal St in Watertown (617 795-7048) appears to have a good reputation.
They won’t work on jeeps older than 2003, I tried them when I first got the Jeep. Only 2003 and newer and less than 130k miles. I met the mileage, I only have 88k. Kind of stupid but hey to each their own. I think I am leaning toward TrueTrac. The shop down from me works strictly on trucks and SUVs and specialize in transmissions, drivetrains, and the such. I know they are reputable they rebuilt a transmission in a car for me like 10 years ago, and same guy owns the shop and works on the cars. I’m going to take a walk down tomorrow, if he’s capable I’ll order the TrueTrac and spider gears and have him do it. Was hoping to take the Jeep out this weekend for a range day, but guess that’s out the picture.
I definitely can’t swing the $2500-3000. I can swing the $500 TrueTrac and $150 spider gears. I inspected R&P, look in tact, nothing compared to how the spider gears looked.
Also another question, when I had the wheels off the ground, when I spun the rear drivers wheel, it didn’t spin the ring and pinion, but when I spun the rear passenger wheel it did. The driver side rear wheel only spun the spider gears... any idea what else this might be?
Since you have an OPEN differential carrier one tire spinning and the other not spinning is normal. The TruTrac will assist you a lot with traction while in dirt, ice and snow.
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
Or find some 4.10 axles from a parted out 4 cylinder. The mid west and northeast seems to have cheaper used parts.
Well took no ones advice, shop couldn’t fit me in until 3 Weeks, so I decided I’d tackle the job. Installed new spider gears, cleaned out all metal shavings, and throughly
cleaned out the rest of the housing.
I can safely say, this isn’t a hard job, it was actually easier to leave the carrier inside. Ordered spider gears from extreme terrain, $150 for fluid and gears, total time for install maybe 2 hours? Fresh new fluid, test drove around the block, but will go for a drive once Friday afternoon traffic dies down in Boston. Thanks you again to all for the help!
Some before and after pictures
cleaned out the rest of the housing.
I can safely say, this isn’t a hard job, it was actually easier to leave the carrier inside. Ordered spider gears from extreme terrain, $150 for fluid and gears, total time for install maybe 2 hours? Fresh new fluid, test drove around the block, but will go for a drive once Friday afternoon traffic dies down in Boston. Thanks you again to all for the help!
Some before and after pictures
Since you didn’t disassemble the rear axle completely to flush all the metal floating around make sure to replace the fluid at 500 miles. Capture the fluid into a clean container so you can strain the fluid for visual inspection. Repeat that process until the strainer not longer captures debris.