blown up lockout and ring gear on a Dana 44?

[Lurch1980]

Well, the axle had been sitting for a few years and was dirty inside the house. So I thought it was best to replace all the bearings. That's why the gears were removed and we set them back up.

Yeah, there is no finger pointing going on. I just really want to know what happened so it can get corrected and last. Mistakes are mistakes, nobody got hurt or lost their life so it's okay.

 

[Vanimal]

i was going to suggest cage fight death match, but i guess your additude is better.

 

[NotMatt]

Well, the axle had been sitting for a few years and was dirty inside the house. So I thought it was best to replace all the bearings. That's why the gears were removed and we set them back up.

Yeah, there is no finger pointing going on. I just really want to know what happened so it can get corrected and last. Mistakes are mistakes, nobody got hurt or lost their life so it's okay.

Makes sense.... I'm going to bet either that pinion bearing was damaged physically during the install or too much preload was applied. If the diff is full, there should be no need for the oil slinger. Seen plenty upon plenty of front and rear, high and low pinion diffs ditch the slinger with aftermarket gears and never seen a problem like this.

Life goes on, like you said.

 

[Lurch1980]

i was going to suggest cage fight death match, but i guess your additude is better.

Yeah, it's not worth getting bent out of shape about.

All though your comment made me think about Celebrity Deathmatch... That show was awesome.

 

[Lurch1980]

Makes sense.... I'm going to bet either that pinion bearing was damaged physically during the install or too much preload was applied. If the diff is full, there should be no need for the oil slinger. Seen plenty upon plenty of front and rear, high and low pinion diffs ditch the slinger with aftermarket gears and never seen a problem like this.

Life goes on, like you said.

Fair enough. No missing parts, just something went wrong with the setup.

 

[RWKHausSupply]

I would guess to say he may be a "Master Tech" but not a Diff guy. HUGE DIFFERENCE. And the preload might be done with a Lbs/Ft torque wrench Not the Lbs/In that its measured in. Why do I say that. Cause I dont know of a Lbs/in beam torque wrench that goes to 175lbs/in that you can use to set pinion preload with, since the scale jumps by 50lbs each segment.

Hell I even know Diff shops that do diff's that I get customers coming to me to fix their issues from. Its a bit more involved then turning a wrench, and thats what most ASE or tech this or master that, labeled people are trained to do. They are not trained in gear set-up. Its not rocket science by any means, but it does take a certain skill set and attention to detail, as well as what tools to use and how to use them.

 

[Vanimal]

very true, my dad was an ASE tech and didnt do gears.

 

[xjtrailrider]

I set up gears and I will say it is much art as it is mechanical. You have to have a feel for it and it takes a couple of failures to figure it out!

 

[XJRN]

Ok I am scared now. The guy that set my gears said he had done many sets before but he did not put a lb/in wrench to check the pinion preload. He did it by feel only.

 

[RWKHausSupply]

Thats no big deal if u do diffs all the time. But for a novice that can be bad.

 

[NotMatt]

Maybe his "by feel" is different than what the torque numbers are supposed to be, but how would you know? No way of telling if the failure of that bearing is caused by over tightening, under tightening, damaged bearing, etc... if you never had a proper torque number for the preload. My opinion: he's gotten lucky on his other gear installs, and I'd wonder what else he did "by feel" on those and yours.

I'm not trying to knock the guy or anything, but gear setup is a precise art, and if you take shortcuts... well, you may get away with it short term, sometimes you get away with it mid-term, and usually never get away with it long term.

 

[Vanimal]

i did my pinion preload by feel too, but it's not easy to do.
if it's ##lbs/in, i divide the ##lbs by the number of inches from the center of rotation to where i'm going to push on the wrench, and that's the number of lbs of force you need to use to push on the wrench. i typically hold something of the same weight for a little bit to get a feel for what ##lbs feels like. for something like pinion preload, you can probably push the wrench with one finger. tie a string through your "callibration weight" and hang it from that finger, it'll give you a pretty good idea of the force needed.

 

[RWKHausSupply]

or spend the 45$ for a lbs/in beam style torque wrench

 

[MoparManiac]

I don't get how gear setup is an "art". You don't get creative with it, you just set something up to be within a certain tolerance.

Sure I can "feel" what pinion preload and backlash could be at, but that's no substitute for putting a friggin torque wrench on the thing. A beam style lb/in torque wrench is not expensive, no need to waste hours with a string or some shit.

It's not rocket science and it's not art. It just takes patience.

 

[Vanimal]

or spend the 45$ for a lbs/in beam style torque wrench

i searched everywhere locally for one, couldnt find it. needed to get it going asap. i know, poor excuse...

 

[Vanimal]

...... no need to waste hours with a string or some shit.

if your shits are heavy and firm enough to use on the string as a weight, you may want to eat some prunes.

 

[MoparManiac]

I shit martenistic stainless steel.

 

[NotMatt]

It's not rocket science and it's not art. It just takes patience.

Maybe "art" is not the right word, but anyway... yes, patience is the key... and I'll admit having done some bearing preloads before by feel, and having success. But it's something I'd only do on my own rig, and only if my inch/lb torque wrench was broken. Doing a bearing preload by feel for lack of the right tool to measure it properly is being impatient (or cheap, or lazy, or whatever).

 

[ChiXJeff]

i searched everywhere locally for one, couldnt find it. needed to get it going asap. i know, poor excuse...

Park Tools. Check your local bicycle shop.

 

[RWKHausSupply]

KD also has them, and most local true hardware & tool supplies sell their products.