Chrysler 8.25 center pin bolt stuck..

I am taking apart my moms rear diff off her 98 xj 2wd. I got the diff cover off and when trying to get the bolt out that holds the center pin in it seems to be stuck. Its so tight that even when I put a 6 point on it, it still seems to be slipping and beginning to round out the bolt. I'm not sure what the problem is, or if anyone has had a similar problem, but any advice would we greatly appreciated!

FYI I'm taking the axle apart to do rear wheel bearings

When converting from standard to metric sockets, the conversion isnt allways 100%, for example on a normally 13mm bolt, if you need a tight fitting socket for it, you use a 1/2" socket, and it fits tighter, it may be possible to find a tighter fitting socket.. But if that ship has sailed...
http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Industrial-394001-Bolt-Grip-Extractor/dp/B0000CCXVZ

While i havent used these on this specifically, i have used them on other rounded out bolt heads with GREAT success... I would also try tapping the center pin around in the carrier with a mallet , to try to get it to jolt the retainer bolt.

Hold on. Center pin in the diff, are you trying to remove the whole carrier? I believe the 8.25 is c clip, you have to pop those out to pull the axle shafts. They should slide out and you can replace the outer bearings. If you want to replace the carrier bearings then you unbolt the 4 bolts that hold the carrier in place. Once the carriers out then you can replace those bearings. I just had my Dana 44 apart. There are only 4 bearings in the entire rear end. The center of the carrier doesn't have bearings it has thrush washers and doesnt need to be taken apart.

And if it's not c-clip then it's just 4 bolts inside the drum, you take the 4 bolts off that hold the backin plate on and give the axle a couple good tugs and maybe a tap with a hammer in the outwards direction and should slide out.

I'm pulling the axle shafts out to do rear wheel bearings. The 8mm bolt is stuck and will not budge! It is a c-clip 8.25

Then you just need to remove the c clip and use like a slide hammer or tie a rope to the axle shaft and a rock and throw the rock in the opposite direction as the axle (im kidding) i used the backing plate as a hammer, but I had no brakes on it and a few moderate taps and the axle shaft should slide out, your wasting your time trying to take apart the diff for an outer axle seal.

The axle is a C-Clip and the problem he is having is that the pinion gear mate shaft must be removed in order for the axle shafts to be pushed in far enough to allow the C-Clips to be removed. You may have to resort to a little heat. I do not recommend it though as there is a very real fire potential... Make sure the 6 point socket fits perfectly and work it both tight, then loose. Sometimes, the only way to get a bolt to loosen is to very slightly tighten it.

Do you know if the axle been taken apart before? If it has, the bolt may have been over torqued in which case you are in a spot of bother. It is a common mistake folks make. The torquw spec for that particular fastener is... 8ftlbs or 11 N-ms. Not much is required or desired as the steel is soft.

I had this happen on a ford bronco. The PO ran the diff out of fluid and got it nice and hot. Tried to take out the center pin bolt and the head just snapped off.

Take your time and if you have to buy a better fitting wrench.

Get one of these bad boys:
http://www.amazon.com/Solder-It-SOLDER-IT-INC-PT-220/dp/B000VSFK9W
Clean the area around the bolt with brake cleaner and wait a couple minutes for it to fully evaporate. Hit it with localized heat.

after two days of screwing with this axle..I ended up going and picking up another axle. 100 bucks and a lot less stress makes me feel 100x better. Im still going to screw with this thing and see if I can get this bolt out!!

I'm trying to educate myself here... but does anyone have any pics of the center pin bolt that seems to give people problems when removing axle shafts on the 8.25" carrier?

Hope the swap went well w/the new/used rear-end on your mom's XJ.

Redsnake said:

I'm trying to educate myself here... but does anyone have any pics of the center pin bolt that seems to give people problems when removing axle shafts on the 8.25" carrier?

Hope the swap went well w/the new/used rear-end on your mom's XJ.

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Thanks. That's what I was thinking, but wasn't 100% sure.

I'm going to be doing a disc brake swap on my '01 XJ 8.25 in the next couple of weeks... so been reading through a BUNCH of write-ups.

There are times when someone has applied threadloc "loctite" to the threads. Applying heat should do it...

Redsnake said:

I'm going to be doing a disc brake swap on my '01 XJ 8.25 in the next couple of weeks....

Click to expand...

What kit or parts are you using for the conversion?
Once you complete the conversion; you will wonder why Jeep didn't offer the XJ with 4 wheel discs.

I did the conversion on my C 8.25 13 years ago; the braking difference is quite dramatic.

CharlesS said:

There are times when someone has applied threadloc "loctite" to the threads. Applying heat should do it...



What kit or parts are you using for the conversion?
Once you complete the conversion; you will wonder why Jeep didn't offer the XJ with 4 wheel discs.

I did the conversion on my C 8.25 13 years ago; the braking difference is quite dramatic.

Click to expand...

Heat the Center Pin or Bolt? Seems like heating the Center Pin would be the way to go, but I ask because I've not done it before.

I bought a kit f/a fellow on another forum... it should arrive Friday. Comes from a 97 Grand Cherokee. I can't wait to get the disc brakes on my '01XJ! I can't STAND drum brakes. I agree that 4-wheel disc's should be standard on anything post 1990 production.

MaxxXJ said:

Hold on. Center pin in the diff, are you trying to remove the whole carrier? I believe the 8.25 is c clip, you have to pop those out to pull the axle shafts. They should slide out and you can replace the outer bearings. If you want to replace the carrier bearings then you unbolt the 4 bolts that hold the carrier in place. Once the carriers out then you can replace those bearings. I just had my Dana 44 apart. There are only 4 bearings in the entire rear end. The center of the carrier doesn't have bearings it has thrush washers and doesnt need to be taken apart.

And if it's not c-clip then it's just 4 bolts inside the drum, you take the 4 bolts off that hold the backin plate on and give the axle a couple good tugs and maybe a tap with a hammer in the outwards direction and should slide out.

Click to expand...

This is straight up wrong, bad info.

You have to pull the cross shaft retention bolt to pull the cross shaft, which you have to pull to get the c clips off. And you have to pull the c clips to get the axle shafts out, which you have to pull to get to the carrier bearings. So yeah...


I have had good and bad luck with cross shaft retention bolts, I rounded the first one I tried to remove back in 09 and had to weld another bolt to it, got it out. No problems from then till a few weeks ago, when one snapped off in 90XJay's rear diff we were working on, then when I went to get disc brake conversion parts for that same project at the JY, the same damn bolt broke off on the donor vehicle while I was already covered in gear lube and junkyard mud, 10 minutes before the yard closed. So I went home filthy, pissed, and empty handed.

The best thing you can do is heat the hell out of the carrier right between the head of the cross shaft retention bolt and the end of the cross shaft - basically, that's where the threads on the bolt are, and they typically use some strong loctite from the factory. Don't get the thing glowing, but putting a propane torch on it for a minute or two will make your life way easier.

Oh, and make sure to use a 5/16 6 point socket, not an 8mm or a 12 point. Use an 8mm 12 point if you really hate your life and want the quality of your day to go downhill rather quickly

Some ZJ disc donors use a small external torx head bolt instead of a 5/16, those are fun. Fortunately I bought the full set of e-torx when I had to do an engine swap instead of just the E12, so I already had that on hand.

Redsnake said:

Thanks. That's what I was thinking, but wasn't 100% sure.

I'm going to be doing a disc brake swap on my '01 XJ 8.25 in the next couple of weeks... so been reading through a BUNCH of write-ups.

Click to expand...

The swap goes pretty easy. I did the swap on my '01 last summer, and the only new part I needed were e-brake cables. I would recommend changing axle seals while you have it apart. I did not have to change axle studs for the backing plate.

For cables, you can do one of the following:
1) Keep your stock cables and modify the KJ arms to catch the XJ cable ends with a u-bolt http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1094727&highlight=ebrake
2) Use KJ cables with cleve routing (the route I went and have no rubbing)
3) Find the post naming a company that has made cables specifically for this swap that are the correct length

I'm having trouble finding 'axle seal' part #'s on A-zone's website for my XJ. Any idea of the part #?

Use rockauto.com instead. It's a Timken 8835S (for the 8.25 anyways - 27 or 29 spline does not matter here) and last time I bought them at autozone with that part number, they cost me around $3 each. They're $1.80 or so on rockauto, shipping will negate that but if you start using them for a lot of stuff, it balances out a bit. I've had stuff be 60% cheaper on RA than at AZ - for instance, an external slave AX15 throwout bearing will run you $39 at AZ or approx $75 at NAPA but is $18 on RA.

Thanks.

I use rockauto for a lot of stuff that I don't have to have asap or for large $$ orders.

Cool - for some reason I got the impression you didn't know about them yet :thumbup: