WCR1972

Hi, My Cherokee went in for a MOT (UK) about 3 months ago, and i was told that one of the bearings was not too good. About a month ago i was driving along and it went clunk and makes a grinding sound now. Yesterday i took the diff cover off to find that the carrier bearing had collapsed.. Is it an easy job to do this?? I need the jeep back on the road ASAP and can't really afford to pay for a garage to do it. I am mechanically minded and have access to ramps/press etc....

Regards



Steve

dieseldude

It is not hard at all with the proper tools.
There are 4 bolts that hold the carrier in, make sure before you remove them that you mark the caps so you can reassemble with the caps in the correct side and orientation.
Sometimes the carrier can be a booger to get out without a spreader, but you should be able to pry it out. There will be shims on each side of the carrier, note where they go, you will want to put back as they came out.
You will need to pull the inner race and rollers off the carrier ( I use a bearing spreader and puller).
The best way to put them back on is with heat, do not use a torch or anything, put them in the oven if you do not have any other way ( I have heard of folks using a deep fryer but have never done it that way). While the bearings are heating make sure there are no burrs on the bearing fits and apply a thin coat of never seize. After the bearings are hot you will need to put them on quickly before they cool so be prepared to move quickly. Bearing temp should be 300F, I have heard numerous arguments on this and bearing people will tell you 260F-270F, I have found that at the lower temps they are easy to stick, I have heated and installed a bunch of bearings at 300F and have yet to have a problem.
Make sure you use new outer races, they should come with the bearings but I have seen people try to sue the old ones (do not do this).
By the time you do this you will know how to put it back together.

WCR1972

Thanks for the response. Is their anything that i could do wrong? What does preload mean? Do you need to preload?

Steve

offroadnut36

You don't have to check for pre-load if you put the shims in the exact same way you took them out.

Preload- I don't have a good definition for it....

Not much you can do wrong if you do exactly what dieseldude said.

WCR1972

Thanks guys


Steve

tiwvr1

go to junkyard and pull whole rear, prob. alot easier.

00jeepXJ

Pre load is the amount of effort that your engine has to use to start to spin the object in question. For this it's your diff. You don't need to worry about it on this because if you but the bearing on wrong your gonna know. Plus it's not dealing with any gears.