OP
Measure Once, Cut Twice: A Story of Excitement and Impatience
- Thread starter taylormade73
- Start date
I kept looking at the pictures and asking myself, why does this look different. Then I saw this!
Rant notwithstanding, now is the perfect time to throw the angle finder on it. Since you have it dialed in, record your angles and keep them for future use. That way the next time you have to do any control arm work, you can throw it back together and set it the way it is now, and give yourself a good starting point without repeating all the trial and error.
Great work getting it dialed in. I bet it feels great.
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OP
Thank you. It does feel good and it validates all my hard work. I was getting a little discouraged there for a while end of last year beginning of this year after all the work I've put into it over the last year and a half. My rig's always fun to drive because, it's my Jeep; however, it makes it that much better when it rides and handles nice.
You given me new inspiration to revisit mine and keep tweaking.
OP
Every time I face a challenge I think about what Blaine told me on the phone one time when I asked him how many times I needed to install different size shims in my upper control arm Johnny joints when I was battling death wobble: "as many times as it takes, that is what we do."
His persistence and commitment to completing a job properly is inspiring to me. Trust me, there's been a few times along my build that I thought about just throwing in the towel and saying it's good enough. I'm glad that I have not yet done so.
OP
Prepped my tub area for the Savvy slider install. Wire wheeled and applied self etching primer. I did find a dent in my torque box on the passenger side when doing that prep work. The PO must have come down pretty hard on the side with just those s***** ass fake rocks guards that Rubicons come with. Look at the last photo.
OP
Went Wheeling today at windrock Tennessee. The rig performed extremely well. I went everywhere on my 35s that JK's on 37th went, even performed better than they did.
However, developed a vibration on the way home. Pulled over to a truck stop, removed my rear shaft, and have lateral movement in my yoke. Apparently my pinion bearing is smoked. I believe this is what has been killing my pinion seals. I'm driving home in four wheel drive with the front shaft in and the rear shaft out. Still have 250 miles to go.
Wish me luck.
However, developed a vibration on the way home. Pulled over to a truck stop, removed my rear shaft, and have lateral movement in my yoke. Apparently my pinion bearing is smoked. I believe this is what has been killing my pinion seals. I'm driving home in four wheel drive with the front shaft in and the rear shaft out. Still have 250 miles to go.
Wish me luck.
You weren’t riding with the Wheat off-road folks by chance were you? I know them and some members from the old club I rode with were down there this weekend. Windrocks an awesome area
sorry to hear about the pinion bearing. Those long drive homes after a wheeling trip are the worst.
OP
No but I saw them. I was with Muddy Buddys. Especially at 1:30 in the morning
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Hope you made it home. I know that feeling when stuff breaks or fails on you as you're headed home. Wish you the best of luck.
Any idea why that pinion bearing failed?
Any idea why that pinion bearing failed?
OP
Still have 1.5hrs drive left. No. If you recall, I've replaced the pinion seal twice. The original one failed after 5k miles. Might not have been set up correctly. Plus, my retorquing the pinion nut to the same place it was when removed is less than exact. A combination of both I suppose.
Sounds like you need to pull it down and start over. Get the pinion set in properly with the correct amount of preload. Then set the ring gear and setup the backlash & pattern.
But THAT sucks since you shouldn't be having these issues.
OP
Will be breaking it down this weekend. It was set up by G2 for what it's worth. Glad I caught it before it fucked up my pinion and ring gears.
It will be interesting to see what is wrong once you get all of it torn down.
OP
As a consolation, my rig was an absolute beast today. All the JKs on 37's took several attempts while mine walked right up every obstacle all day long. Glad I went back to my 35's instead of half-assing those 37's I bought last week. I've got it dialed in pretty good (except the pinion lol).
That is great to hear. Getting it dialed in to where it works is a HUGE deal. That must have felt really good.
OP
Definitely. It is confirmation of all the hard work and thought that has went into the build. Love my rear AR!
OP
So, Currie tells me there is a national shortage on Timken bearings and it would take 3 weeks for their rebuild kit. I called 4wp and they have 3 Dana 60 rebuild kits and a Currie pinion seal. So I ordered that and should be here by Wednesday. Since Currie uses same size inner and outer pinion bearing, I ordered a Timken HM803146 from Motion Industries right down the street from me and should be here tomorrow (4WP didn't have single bearings in stock).
Pulling axle out tonight and will pop the cover to check the carnage. Hopefully, gears are fine and I can just replace bearings and seals and then reset pinion preload. Wish me luck. Flipping countdown to Moab has me in edge now with a broken rig. At least it happened close and not in Moab. Gotta love shakedown runs.
Pulling axle out tonight and will pop the cover to check the carnage. Hopefully, gears are fine and I can just replace bearings and seals and then reset pinion preload. Wish me luck. Flipping countdown to Moab has me in edge now with a broken rig. At least it happened close and not in Moab. Gotta love shakedown runs.