loose ring and pinion

[Penguinizi]

ok well... about 5 months ago i was in the phase where i beat the living pi$$out of my jeep. from this i blew my transfer case, the driveshaft out the rear(into the car behind me), and basically messed my jeep up... it hasn't been the same since.

i brought my jeep to the local dealership and they gave me a paragraph of stuff that was wrong w/ my car(some not related to beating). one of the items is a loose ring and pinion...can you fix this without tearing apart the whole axel? and would this be the reason that i get some wheelhop on the start? I also get a little driveline vibration when i am in 4th gear and i am cruising at about 55-60(guesstimate, i havent adapted speedometer for gears yet)... (BTW: im running a 4.0 6Cylinder,5 speed, w/ slip yoke elim kit and cv driveshaft, 4.11 gears front and rear...dana 35 rear, 30 front...33x12.50R15 BFGoodrich Mud Terrain tires, 3 inch body lift, 1 1/4 inch shackle lift[i got sidetracked on the real suspension part of the lift i wanted :\ ] )

also i was seriously considering swapping out my axels for a set of dana 44's w/ 4.88 gears. will this help my problem w/ breaking u joints?(i go through u-joints like its my job. when i swap them out i am going to do a SOA conversion and replace my 3 inch body lift with a 1 inch polyurithane body lift.

Any other suggestions to help my wheelhop and vibration, cause its driving me nuts

[deadpedal]

Well, considering you like to "beat the hell" out of your jeep, I would think that you need to upgrade to at least Dana 44's. At any rate, whether you're busy tearing apart your axle (or paying someone through the nose to do it for you) you should probably see if there's something else in the axle and diff housings that went wrong too. I would just take the time to learn from what happened and see how to prevent it next time, or even learn how to fix it if you break it again.

At any rate, try not taking your "phase" with you while you drive, that could've been me behind you.

[Penguinizi]

I am out of that phase already... i learned my lesson. little by little i am getting my jeeps old self back, but its gonna take some time... and money.

[Joker®]

D60 axles and an anger management class :D

[Penguinizi]

i hadn't really seen a set of d60's until about 3 weeks ago, but i thought about them, but they dont really seem reasonable...they are hard to find parts for, in my area there are not many stores that carry stuff for axels. at least dana 44's i can get out of magazines.

[Joker®]

I was just yankin' ya about the D60s :D Good axles if you can find them, most of the good ones have been got. If your looking to beef up your rear end, the Ford 8.8 is a good choice. Plenty of Exploders in the bone yards and starting in '94, they came with disc brakes. Ford 9" are good also, but you'll loose some ground clearance.

[Penguinizi]

if the 8.8 come w/ disc brakes i have to redo the brake lines dont i? and wouldn't i have to get a bigger master cycinder?

[Big Buro]

A loose ring or pinion won't cause wheel hop. It will cause a clanging noise when you engage the clutch. It will break teeth on the gears, possibly damage your axles if the RPM's are up when the clutch is engaged.
If you're getting a vibration, check the wheel balance, if that's o.k., check the drive shaft angle. It should be no more than 15 degrees. If that's O.K. you may have to get traction bars. The problem may in fact be that you're running 33's with stock springs but I don't know what you've done there.
I do know that, with a shackle lift, body lift, and 33's, you have a good combination for "axle wrap" unless you have tightened up your spring rate. "Axle wrap" is that slight vibration you may feel when you take off from a stop. Feel like wheel hop but not as rough. Real bad on the drive train but it's a slow death. You won't notice it until it's too late.
Hope this helps.

[Penguinizi]

that is alot of help...

once i get the money (within next couple of weeks) i am going to invest in the skyjacker 5link traction bar... and i do hear that clank sometimes when i engage clutch... i am still looking for dana 44's, i dont really want to upgrade my d35 if i am just going to upgrade w/in a couple of months or so, id rather put gears into the d44.

[Big Buro]

You really may not need new gears in the D35 that you have now. You may only need shims to tighten it up. There should be a pre-load on the ring that, once installed, keeps everything nice and tight, For about 50 bucks, you can get an install kit and re-work it yourself. It's tricky but if you take your time, you can save a whole hell of a lot of money.

I replaced the ring and pinion, front and back, of my 66 for just under $500, complete! That included a case change which was $150 of it. the lowest quote that I received for having the work done was $1400 per axle. So you can see, doing it yourself saves quite a bit.

[Joker®]

Lots of different axle swap info here

http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/axle

Also, many other good tech articles to be found there :shock:

[rob-ace@msn]

dam what an informative sight. thank you so much. it's in favs now. i'm having my 89 4 banger dropped off tomorrow to get arb's and 4.88 installed, and that site totally confirmed my decision. can't wait to snap my first u-joint hehe