rompnXJ

my '94 has been having this vibration in the front end at highway speeds that has eventually gotten bad enough that it required me to investigate lol..

the vibration would go away if i popped it into 4Hi and stayed on the throttle, so my first thought was the u-joint on the front d/s going out. HA, as if i'd be that lucky.

i went under there and shook the d/s real good, the ujoint is solid. but i can turn the shaft about *90 in either direction and its got in/out and side/side play. not good.

took the shaft off, and the diff cover. basically whatever seal/bearing holds the pinion in place is worn the hell out and allowing my pinion gear to wobble around, which in turn is allowing the front driveshaft to wobble around.

WHAT all is involved in fixing this? its starting to look like the axles & diff need to come out.. has anyone had this happen?
i dont have much experience with solid axles, is resetting pinion depth difficult?

i inspected the ring gear, pinion gear, and spider gears all the way around and didnt see any damaged/chipped teeth so ive got my fingers crossed that i caught the problem in time.

brutalxj

My guess is the pinon barring is shot. Never messed with that yet. Have fun!!

rompnXJ

ya, thats what im thinking..
im hoping someone can give me some info on how to replace it, tried searching but havent found that info yet.

FL Denmark

try look at this video


but as far as i know, you have to know what you are doing in order to get a good result.
good luck

builtnotbought89'

What gears are you running? Stock?

LongArmXJ

pinion bearing, never done one on a d30 but i have on others. you will cause further damadge to other parts if you continue driving obviously. but to replace should be like so... pull axle shafts pull out ring and carrier assembly, take yoke off and pull pinion out. press the bearing off the pinion and punch out the bearing races in the diff housing and re instal a new one. then reverse disassembly

rompnXJ

yeah stock gears

ahhh ok.. i think i understand how to go about it now.
i remember rebuilding the T5 in my mustang, i had to press the clustergear shaft and mainshaft bearings off & on.. that wasnt too bad. i still have access to a shop press so im good there.. it's dissasembled and parked for now, i didnt wanna risk chipping the ring gear or pinion gear.

now as far as putting it back together, the only thing im worried about is the pinion depth. will it be changed when i replace the bearing? or is pinion depth not adjustable, just install the stuff & be done with it? is there a crush sleeve on it?

builtnotbought89'

The pinion bearing should be the same, so just press off the old bearing (DONT MANGLE THE SHIM(S)). Replace the bearing, & double/triple check your pattern. You should be good!

builtnotbought89'

Any further questions, come back with pics of the pattern. FYI white lithium grease & chalk line powder makes a great pattern compound!