Axle assembly options
- Thread starter ChadH
- Start date
Have you pulled the driveshafts one at a time and ran it up to speed to isolate which end is the issue? Just a driveshaft or draftshaft angle issue?
Housings can be checked for straightness pretty easily
Yea I would start by pulling the front shaft and seeing what happens. Seems a lot of people get a vibration after regearing, though you are only running 488s.
Maybe consider removing the yoke on the leaking diff and see if it's even assembled correctly, or if they are using a crappy aftermarket seal, or too much fluid?
deadbeat son
TJ Addict
It may be worth trying a new Spicer yoke and seal as well. I would definitely exercise all of the inexpensive options before buying a complete new axle.
Multiple things going on.
Oil comes out of the end of the axle tubes and there is a small trace of oil at a plug weld near the differential.
The axles barely sit up a bit in the housing, which is likely allowing the oil to get past the seals. I don't know what is causing the axles to load upwards...I can only guess that the housing is bent even though it doesn't look bent. It looks good to go...which is annoying.
The camber is no longer negative using offset balljoints, but the axle shafts will load the Yukon hubs just enough to burn up the brass bushing unless I keep the locking hubs removed. It's pretty odd how normal everything appears considering the symptoms.
You definitely have the heavy duty solution to a bent housing. The bad camber gives it away for sure. Have a big rig shop straighten it ands sell it complete with stock parts for 2k$ ? Definitely a desirable axle
That's the hope. This one stung a bit, but I'm looking forward to having a stronger HP setup.
Not since the re-gear, so I probably should do that just to isolate the source but at this point the transfer case has been rebuilt as well. The only thing in the axle not replaced is the shafts - I suppose those could be bent from overheating? I haven't heard of that happening before though. I do know the shop also has mentioned getting several crappy seals in the recent past due to the covid times so that could be part of the cause of the leak I suppose. I also cleaned everything down very well and will assess again this weekend to make sure it's not in fact just residual but I highly doubt it.
I know you're almost at the frustration level of just spending over 10k$ but some diagnosis might be in order? If you could narrow it down to just one axle or driveshaft that would save quite a bit of money
Yes very true. I do know it is coming from the rear though. But it's probably worth removing them again to verify.
The problem with having a shop straighten it is you have to know where it is bent and it has no obvious signs of bending other than the symptomatic issues of being bent, oil leaks, oil around a plug weld, and a very slight misalignment of the stub shaft into the locking hubs which cause enough bind that they won't lock/unlock correctly. I've straightened a lot of housings and I wouldn't even know where to start on this one.
Best I can come up with is to start with an alignment bar and see if that tells us anything.
Alignment bar is where I would start too. If I couldn't get the tubes where they need to be I would pass it on to a guy who has been doing it for decades.
Once the tubes are straight I'd check camber and then weld c's on if need be.if the tubes weren't cooperating I'd probably sacrifice one of my d30s to get tubes for the frame and axle guy to press in.it really isn't hard work. It just takes time.
Mike can't do it himself and doesn't want to spend the money on labor.this way he gets an upgrade that will allow him to drive it more like he wants without worrying about weak jeep housings.
Well definitely still leaking. Less than 300 miles on the new seal. I'm thinking there is more to this than just a bad batch of seals.
Is that an original yoke?it could be groovedat the seal surface. A new spicer one wouldn't be expensive
Yes it is. Yeah I was thinking the same actually, but I would have expected the shop to mention that.... It's an awful lot of fluid to be leaking though.
What's the normal temp the rear pumpkin should be - around the pinyon bearing? After the gears and break-in it did seem to get awful hot for my liking. I did check, if I recall correctly that area was about 195 after 20 minutes at 70. The shop said that was fine, but it should go over 210. But this is also still in winter. I would have expected it to be more like 175 maybe, but I dont know what it normally would be. Guess I could check my LJ for temps to compare once the salt is off the roads. I'm still feeling like the housing is warped somewhere. Didnt have time to take the driveshaft off to check for the absence of noise though, maybe next weekend.
What's the normal temp the rear pumpkin should be - around the pinyon bearing? After the gears and break-in it did seem to get awful hot for my liking. I did check, if I recall correctly that area was about 195 after 20 minutes at 70. The shop said that was fine, but it should go over 210. But this is also still in winter. I would have expected it to be more like 175 maybe, but I dont know what it normally would be. Guess I could check my LJ for temps to compare once the salt is off the roads. I'm still feeling like the housing is warped somewhere. Didnt have time to take the driveshaft off to check for the absence of noise though, maybe next weekend.
JK Dana 44 front still uses a 8.5" ring gear.The rear JK Dana 44 uses 8.9" ring gear. ECGS stuffs a 8.9" ring gear up front in their ECGS 489 axle.
I’ve never been inside an axle from ECGS so I’ll shut up and move on.
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