Differential Work questions
 

hope this is in the right place. i have a 98 xj and the spider gears in the front are bad. everything else looks good. i was going to order just the new spider gears and put them in. today online i found an open carrier complete with all the gears out of the same jeep as mine. it has ring and pinion gears as well. same gear ratio as well also. i was talking to a friend of mine who said that eventhough the carrier and all is exactly as mine that it would be harder to install than just the spider gears. he was saying lining it up. backlashing etc. said i was more than likely to have a noise coming from it. any hints or opinions. i have the place to do it. but i do not know which is a better route:cheers:

Moves to OEM tech.

Gears are tough. I've heard people say.that they'd rather rebuild a motor than do gears.

If you do it wrong, you have the potential to ruin quite a bit, costing some good money.

If you have not done them, then I would suggest making sure you know the 100% correct way, and you know 100% what your doing. Or have a plan in case things go south.

x2 on that. do not try to replace the gears if you dont how to align them. it will for sure be a noise result.

on the otherhand, for someone how knows the rutine, it will not take to long, maybee 2 or 3 hours labor, to do a swap with a complett carrier


good luck

Spiders are easy and require no detailed gearing knowledge. I would advise if your R&P are good. Just get the new spiders and put them in yourself. No more dificult than changing the fluid. The Ring and Pinion gears are what is complex to set-up. If you NEED the R&P then have a Pro do the work.

Just do the spiders, much easier than swapping out a carrier and pinion gear. You can't install a ring gear without replacing the pinion gear too, they're a matched set.

thanks guys. my grandfather will be helping me. he has all the tools and the shop to do it at. he thinks he has some spiders that will fit. he is a jeep guy from way back. he has built several military jeeps from ground up. so i am going to be his assistant. he said it shouldn't be much trouble at all

What a stroke of luck! Any chance you can post some pics and do a write up?