Fix one break two, the mantra for Jeeps. It starts off with a leaking ARB locker, simple fix right? Two O rings and a half day smelling axle grease.
My locker is a 2000 year series, I guess you'd call it maybe a second gen, has the 6 bolts and the lock tabs. I digress...
The first thing I notice when pulling the cover off is the folks who set up the gears put the pinion wear on the outside of the ring. Well I guess I can live with that I've been wheeling for 3 years on it no issues...
Second are there a little bits of metal in the bottom of the diff, this smells worse than the grease! Out comes the carrier...
I find on the locker one of the shafts that holds the spyder gears looks like some one has chiseled the end of it, like you'd do to remove a broken bolt. Further inspection I find 2 teeth on my pinion chipped. Ok that's what that noise was about 6 months ago when making a lazy left hand turn with no power applied!! Time for a NEW locker and gears... Glad my wife understands the cost of wheeling! Ya I like to tell stories!
So here's what I've learned in my research of ring and pinion replacement and who's better at this time of writing.
First using Dana Spicer as the know it all of diff gears and axle design. ALL of their heavy duty axles(60 and 70s) seem to run a 9 tooth pinion. The TJ's come with an 11 tooth pinion. So the assumption is less teeth on the pinion the stronger. I can special order a 9 tooth from the local guy, but it's pricey. Nitro is the only other set that I could get the specs on and they run a 9 tooth as well.
Second thing I noticed when reviewing Dana's design is they have a smooth taper to the pinion shaft. G2 and Yukon have a "stepped" diameter. What I mean is the place where the bearing rides has a sharp drop to the core of the pinion shaft. In my mind that would be a weakness.
Third is how "cheap" Jeep was when the designed a Rubicon. There is now a "thick" option for ring gears. Rubicon uses this, they use a 3:73 and down carrier in the Rubicon with 4:11 gears. When you buy an ARB locker they ask what gears you're going to run and then you use carrier is designed for the larger or smaller circumference of the ring gear.
I'm struggling with cost. I heading into the job planning on replacing a $10 part and now looking $900 in locker and $250+ in gears depending on who's got what special. I call a couple builders here in CO (as well as a plethora of internet sales folks). Both of my local builders (both are known for building quality rigs) recommend Sierra Gear $180 for the set. Sierra Gears uses a 10 tooth pinion and a tapered shaft like Dana.
I don't want to call out any of the manufactures as they all seem to survive "OKAY" depending on the person setting up the gears (another long story). I will say after calling MANY distributors out there there were only 3 manufacturers that ALL of them mentioned at least one of the manufacturers them as quality: DANA Spicer, Nitro and Sierra.
Off to another weekend to set this diff up!!
My locker is a 2000 year series, I guess you'd call it maybe a second gen, has the 6 bolts and the lock tabs. I digress...
The first thing I notice when pulling the cover off is the folks who set up the gears put the pinion wear on the outside of the ring. Well I guess I can live with that I've been wheeling for 3 years on it no issues...
Second are there a little bits of metal in the bottom of the diff, this smells worse than the grease! Out comes the carrier...
I find on the locker one of the shafts that holds the spyder gears looks like some one has chiseled the end of it, like you'd do to remove a broken bolt. Further inspection I find 2 teeth on my pinion chipped. Ok that's what that noise was about 6 months ago when making a lazy left hand turn with no power applied!! Time for a NEW locker and gears... Glad my wife understands the cost of wheeling! Ya I like to tell stories!
So here's what I've learned in my research of ring and pinion replacement and who's better at this time of writing.
First using Dana Spicer as the know it all of diff gears and axle design. ALL of their heavy duty axles(60 and 70s) seem to run a 9 tooth pinion. The TJ's come with an 11 tooth pinion. So the assumption is less teeth on the pinion the stronger. I can special order a 9 tooth from the local guy, but it's pricey. Nitro is the only other set that I could get the specs on and they run a 9 tooth as well.
Second thing I noticed when reviewing Dana's design is they have a smooth taper to the pinion shaft. G2 and Yukon have a "stepped" diameter. What I mean is the place where the bearing rides has a sharp drop to the core of the pinion shaft. In my mind that would be a weakness.
Third is how "cheap" Jeep was when the designed a Rubicon. There is now a "thick" option for ring gears. Rubicon uses this, they use a 3:73 and down carrier in the Rubicon with 4:11 gears. When you buy an ARB locker they ask what gears you're going to run and then you use carrier is designed for the larger or smaller circumference of the ring gear.
I'm struggling with cost. I heading into the job planning on replacing a $10 part and now looking $900 in locker and $250+ in gears depending on who's got what special. I call a couple builders here in CO (as well as a plethora of internet sales folks). Both of my local builders (both are known for building quality rigs) recommend Sierra Gear $180 for the set. Sierra Gears uses a 10 tooth pinion and a tapered shaft like Dana.
I don't want to call out any of the manufactures as they all seem to survive "OKAY" depending on the person setting up the gears (another long story). I will say after calling MANY distributors out there there were only 3 manufacturers that ALL of them mentioned at least one of the manufacturers them as quality: DANA Spicer, Nitro and Sierra.
Off to another weekend to set this diff up!!