Picked up a Dana 30 and 35 with 4.10 gearing recently to swap out my axles with 3.07 gearing. Cost was $500 + $120 in fuel to buy them. Opened up the Dana 35 and noticed chips out of 2 teeth on one of the spider gears. Other spider gears look mostly ok with some pitting in 2 other teeth. Ring and pinion gear look ok to an inexperienced eye. There doesn’t seem to be any play in any of the gears.
There is also a fair amount of brass colored particles that came out with the oil. I’ve included a picture that shows this in the oil left in the diff after initial draining. I was thinking that this could be bearings going bad?
I will have to put new brakes on it which will be another $250 in parts. I already spent $100 on new coil spring buckets that I welded on since the old ones were rusted out.
I figure I will have $660 in the rear axle without messing with anything internally. The shop wants $1400/axle to re-gear the axles already in the Jeep (I was trying to save money). That would include new ring and pinion, spider gears, seals, and bearings.
I think I could replace the spider gears myself for $100 to $150 in parts.
What would you do in this situation?
1. Leave everything be and swap the axle into the Jeep?
2. Install new spider gears and hope the brass particles in the oil aren’t indicating an issue?
3. Let the shop regear the back axle only and figure I bought the front one for $500 + fuel (and wasted money on the coil buckets for the rear axle)?
Thanks for any advice.
There is also a fair amount of brass colored particles that came out with the oil. I’ve included a picture that shows this in the oil left in the diff after initial draining. I was thinking that this could be bearings going bad?
I will have to put new brakes on it which will be another $250 in parts. I already spent $100 on new coil spring buckets that I welded on since the old ones were rusted out.
I figure I will have $660 in the rear axle without messing with anything internally. The shop wants $1400/axle to re-gear the axles already in the Jeep (I was trying to save money). That would include new ring and pinion, spider gears, seals, and bearings.
I think I could replace the spider gears myself for $100 to $150 in parts.
What would you do in this situation?
1. Leave everything be and swap the axle into the Jeep?
2. Install new spider gears and hope the brass particles in the oil aren’t indicating an issue?
3. Let the shop regear the back axle only and figure I bought the front one for $500 + fuel (and wasted money on the coil buckets for the rear axle)?
Thanks for any advice.
