Help with odd wear on Dana 44 rear axle shaft retaining ring

alpineovernappa

alpineovernappa

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Joined
Jul 30, 2019
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Location
Fairfax, Va
I pulled my axle shafts today to examine them and found one side had very odd wear on the axle bearing retaining ring. Also found small pieces of broken metal in the axle tube itself. No damage at the differential side of the axle shaft. Bearings appear fine and axles had no noise or leaks prior to pulling the axle shaft. What would have caused this? From the looks of it, the axle shafts have never been removed before today. Thanks!

LJ sport Dana 44 rear (LH) factory axle shaft and diff internals (3.73 w/trac-lok)


IMG_4581.jpg
 
There's just the one bearing and race per side. If you look at the bearing, it's badly pitted and should be replaced. You can see how the central part of the roller bearings is a grayish color and not smooth and shiny like the outer edges.
Not sure what the bearing retaining ring looked like when it was installed but it definitely doesn't look like the smooth steel that you normally see.
 
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flyinfish said:
There's just the one bearing and race per side. If you look at the bearing, it's badly pitted and should be replaced.
Not sure what the bearing retaining ring looked like when it was installed but it definitely doesn't look like the smooth steel that you normally see.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, thanks! The bearing looks worse in the photo than it does in person. There's no notable pitting or wear to the rollers-
I think that's just the way the light hits residual oil in the picture. The retaining ring on the other side looked perfectly machined with no surface abrasions or wear whatsoever.
 
It could just be the picture, but is the axle shaft flange bent or broken? Looks like it's leaning to the left...🤷
 
hosejockey61 said:
It could just be the picture, but is the axle shaft flange bent or broken? Looks like it's leaning to the left
Click to expand...

Axle shaft retainer cockeyed in pic.

Also Alpine, be sure and order the axle shaft retainer for disc brakes, not drum. If you replace with bearing, seal etc.
 
alpineovernappa said:
Ah ok, thanks! The bearing looks worse in the photo than it does in person. There's no notable pitting or wear to the rollers-
I think that's just the way the light hits residual oil in the picture. The retaining ring on the other side looked perfectly machined with no surface abrasions or wear whatsoever.
Click to expand...

You can wipe all the oil off the bearing and it will still look the same IMHO. You're sharing what appears to be compromised oil with the ring and pinion and the other components in the differential.
If it were mine I'd pull the diff cover and inspect the ring gear and spider gears for chips and pitting on gear teeth. Look for material settled in the inside bottom of diff.
If gears look good I'd pull the axle shafts and replace the bearing assy, bearing retainer and seal on driver side at minimum. The axle seal has been leaking on that side for a while.
Flush all the crap out before reassembly, to do a thorough job you'll probably have to pull the carrier.

hosejockey61 has a good video on Axle Bearing & Seal Replacement here:
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/rear-dana-44-axle-shaft-seal-and-bearing-replacement.39448/
 
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Thanks for the input, everybody! The backing plate is crooked in the photo, which makes it look bent (it’s not). The spiders are indeed damaged and the traclok clutch plates are broken. I’m assuming contaminated oil worked its way down the axle shaft and damaged the retaining ring. In normal operation does the retaining ring on the axle shaft make contact with anything in the axle housing or does it spin freely inside of the axle tube?
 
alpineovernappa said:
Thanks for the input, everybody! The backing plate is crooked in the photo, which makes it look bent (it’s not). The spiders are indeed damaged and the traclok clutch plates are broken. I’m assuming contaminated oil worked its way down the axle shaft and damaged the retaining ring. In normal operation does the retaining ring on the axle shaft make contact with anything in the axle housing or does it spin freely inside of the axle tube?
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The axle bearing retainer ring doesn't contact anything externally and spins freely.
Now the question will be to what effect has it had on the carrier and pinion bearings and what do they look like.
 
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flyinfish said:
The axle bearing retainer ring doesn't contact anything externally and spins freely.
Now the question will be to what effect has it had on the carrier and pinion bearings and what do they look like.
Click to expand...

Thank you for all the help! I didn’t go as far as pulling the carrier out to look at the bearings, but I’d say it’s safe to assume that the damaged spiders have likely compromised them all. No whining or leaks, but a strong metallic presence in the gear oil. Rebuilding the internals of the diff and doing the setup is beyond my comfort level, so it looks like a pricey trip to the shops in order.
 
alpineovernappa said:
Thank you for all the help! I didn’t go as far as pulling the carrier out to look at the bearings, but I’d say it’s safe to assume that the damaged spiders have likely compromised them all. No whining or leaks, but a strong metallic presence in the gear oil. Rebuilding the internals of the diff and doing the setup is beyond my comfort level, so it looks like a pricey trip to the shops in order.
Click to expand...

If you were ever planning on a regear for bigger tires, it may be worth thinking about.
 
hosejockey61 said:
I mentioned in the welding thread that I just got some 2.00 cheaters for my hood. Huge game changer for me. My welds will still be shitty but at least I can see them now😂
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Its funny you said that. I have bifocals and I always find it hard to see my welds as I have to tip my head and move the helmet in the right direction to see what the hell I'm doing. Last night, I got frustrated and decided I need straight cheaters when I weld. I'll have to spend money on a non-Jeep related thing just to keep my Jeep fix. 🤯
 
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