Help With Gear Install

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dsharp6855

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I was hoping someone could steer me in the right direction. I'm re-gearing and installing a truetrac in my 98 TJ Dana 30. Everything went well, got pinion depth, backlash and and contact pattern all looking good in multiple locations on ring gear. The problem came up when I started the final assembly...

I put in the crush sleeve, outer bearing, oil slinger, and seal, and started tightening the pinion nut down on the yoke. But I reach the preload before making contact with the crush sleeve. After disassembling and double checking everything was correct I tried again, same issue. I know the bearings aren't squeezing against the crush sleeve because the pinion gets to preload spec before I even feel the crush sleeve. I can even tighten it down to where the pinion won't hardly turn, but never feel resistance from the crush sleeve. I've double and triple checked everything. Inner and outer bearing races are fully seated and everything else looks good as well. The ring and pinion are from Revolution Gear and Axle and are a match to what came out. It's almost as if the crush sleeve is too short. Btw, I ordered 2 crush sleeves from 2 different sources in case I went too far the first time and had to redo it, both of these sleeves are the same and only slightly longer than the original.

Any idea what might be going on? I'm at a loss.

What would happen if the crush sleeve wasn't in contact? Just a decrease in longevity?
 
AndyG said:
Maybe @Rob5589 will post....he knows for sure sir.
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I have actually been PM'ing him. He's not sure either. He correctly suggested the races were not seated which was my first thought, but I have triple checked that and they're good. So I'm just grasping at straws...
 
dsharp6855 said:
I have actually been PM'ing him. He's not sure either. He correctly suggested the races were not seated which was my first thought, but I have triple checked that and they're good. So I'm just grasping at straws...
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Cool. He is awesome. Talking to Chad at Lucky Dog Offroad monday would be my next suggestion....I will pm you or post if I think of who can help sooner.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
I know nothing about regearing anything with a crush sleeve so this is just thinking out loud... but once a crush sleeve is crushed don't things 'relax' once it crushes? There is some elasticity there once it is crushed. It takes a lot of initial torque to get it crushed but how about afterwards?
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That was exactly my thought process. But I start creating preload before I feel any resistance from the crush sleeve. I don't feel hardly any resistance before I establish the correct preload.
 
One thing I'll add is that the shim kit from Revolution Gear deleted the inner oil slinger and moved the shims to behind the inner pinion race instead of between the bearing and pinion teeth. I think my shim stack ended up being .057. Could that be an issue?
 
I know nothing about regearing anything with a crush sleeve so this is just thinking out loud... but once a crush sleeve is crushed don't things 'relax' once it crushes? There is some elasticity there once it is crushed. It takes a lot of initial torque to get it crushed but how about afterwards?
 
dsharp6855 said:
One thing I'll add is that the shim kit from Revolution Gear deleted the inner oil slinger and moved the shims to behind the inner pinion race instead of between the bearing and pinion teeth. I think my shim stack ended up being .057. Could that be an issue?
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That'd be a good Monday morning question for someone at RGA, they were awesome the couple times I had a tech question during my installations.
 
As you crush the sleeve you need to stop about every quarter turn of the breaker bar and spin the pinion. Make sure it keeps spinning freely as you are crushing it down and maybe even backing off the nut ever so slightly each time you stop to spin the yolk. Also I always start with the same amount of shims that I’ve taken out and adjust from there. It usually puts you really close to where you need to be. I think it’s all more dependent on housing casting variations than anything else. I spend more time building up brand new differentials/drive axles than rebuilds every time.
 
Nimbley said:
As you crush the sleeve you need to stop about every quarter turn of the breaker bar and spin the pinion. Make sure it keeps spinning freely as you are crushing it down and maybe even backing off the nut ever so slightly each time you stop to spin the yolk. Also I always start with the same amount of shims that I’ve taken out and adjust from there. It usually puts you really close to where you need to be. I think it’s all more dependent on housing casting variations than anything else. I spend more time building up brand new differentials/drive axles than rebuilds every time.
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The problem is I'm not contacting the crush sleeve.
 
Rob5589 said:
Pretty sure we got it worked out. He's going to try something and report back.
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Well, just finished trying that with the same result. I have checked everything yet again and can't find anything that can be the culprit. This is throwing me for a loop. And I know it's hard on you to try and troubleshoot without seeing it in person. I know it isn't ideal but I am on the verge of putting it back together minus the crush sleeve. I don't know what else to do at this point.
 
dsharp6855 said:
Well, just finished trying that with the same result. I have checked everything yet again and can't find anything that can be the culprit. This is throwing me for a loop. And I know it's hard on you to try and troubleshoot without seeing it in person. I know it isn't ideal but I am on the verge of putting it back together minus the crush sleeve. I don't know what else to do at this point.
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Are you using a new pinion nut?
 
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