Hi, folks,

After resolving the electric problem with me recently purchase 99 I6 AWD auto cherokee, I sent it to the garage to fix the infamous rear end noise.

The garage said the bearing in the differential is gone and the cost to repair it is around $750. The owner of the garage is against the idea of swapping in a used rear end since he (1) is uncertain of the quality of the used parts (2) the stock rear end on Jeep tends to go wrong.

My question is, (1) is $750 a reasonable charge? (2) Is there any other more economical alternative?

Thanks.

That's alot IMO. I would take that $$ and buy a junkyard axle and swap it in. You could find maybe two axles for that price. Is it only the pinion bearing that's bad? I don't know about "the stock rear end on jeeps tends to go wrong". I owned alot of jeeps and even off roaded with the dreaded dana 35 for 4 years and never had a bad rear end. I have more issues with the front axle than the rear.

Well, they don't know if other parts need replacement until tearing the differential apart. So you think they charge too much for rebuilding the rear differential? Thanks.

Well this is why i think it's too much. My friend took his rear axle in for complete gear swap and overhaul (complete rebuild including new gears and pinion) for about the same price. This was to a professional gear installer too. You were quoted $700 just for the bearing replacement and who knows what else could be bad (probably nothing though). If it's your only option then you may have to do it. It is possible to do it yourself but a little learnin is required on what to do and how to do it properly. It's not just a "pop out old, pop in new, tighten" procedure.

I was quoted around $800 for rebuilding the rear end - meaning new bearings all around.

Forget that, if its just a stock axle then just replace it from the JY for 1/6th of that cost.

my dad just had his pinion brg in the front replaced and it cost him $600 but haven't heard anything about the rear goin bad. what is the deal with the front ones goin out? his GC is never off road, just back and forth to work, 2 miles aday

How difficult to swap in a rear diff ? Could you please provide any write-up? Any recommendation on where to get the parts? I checked rockauto.com and can not find one.

Rear ends aren't hard to swap just need some jack stands and a big jack. Jack up and sit on stands. Pull tires and crawl under there and unhook up brake lines, drive shaft and electrical conections. Take a jack and put pressure on the rear. If you have an impact to use to take the the U-bolts out use it. Drop the u-bolts and ease off on the jack and pull the old rear out and replace with new. Then revese the process to put in.

It helps to have a few people to help with lining up the new rear. I may have left out something but it is real simple if you have basic mech. tools you can do it. It takes us about two days to do a big F250 in a gravel drive way, but you can do a rear in about a day. The hardest part I think is the U-bolts, Getting them off with just a 15" breaker bar and a pipe.

Right, that's pretty much all there is to it. It's not hard at all. jeeps are so easy to work on. You could find a front end wrecked XJ at a yard and take the good rear axle off. Just make sure the gears are the same.

Finney left off the e-brake but that is pretty much it. Use another Cryco 8.25 and check the gearing and you will be good to go.

Usual prices for a rear axle.

$200-250 for labor
$100-125 for master rebuild kit
IF putting in new gears $150-225
Seals if not in the kit $10

Estimate $610 So $750 isn't completely out there.

Junk yard axle $150...Take your time and swap over your brakes to JY axle...if you do the labor yourself...Your our 150 plus fluid $16 and a tube of rtv $5 or $171 total.

Axle swap isn't bad if you have air tools...U-bolts are a bit rough without them.

Good breakdown Bouncy. I had done it in my head but should have typed it out.

I forgot the ebrake because every rear that we have done has had the ebrake broke off!

They garage torn the diff apart today and found out all the bearings are bad. Is it a common problem for Jeep differential? Will it be OK to leave them unfixed? The labor charge for this repair is really high.