I have the rear wheel and differential cover off on my '89, since I had a noisy wheel bearing, but now what do I do? It looks like there are some 2 bolt caps where the axle enters the differential, and about 6 bolts around the ring gear. There are also 4 bolts behind the hub flange that look like they bolt onto the rearend housing flange, so how do I go about getting the axle out so I can replace the howling wheel bearing?

 

DON'T touch the ring gear or the bearing caps!!! Do take off the 4 bolts behind the hub flange. Axle should come right out. Keep a soft face hammer or deadblow handy to coax it if necessary.

 

is this a c-clip axle?
what year cherokee? what rear axle is in it?

 

if this is a c-clip axle you are going to take the bolt out by the spider gears and remove the pin that keeps the spider gears together. Then you are going to push the axles in on each side and their will be two c-clips that drop and know you should be able to just slide the axles out. i beleave the bolt that holds the pin is a 12 point bolt

 

x2 on that. idk what that pin bolt is, on the D35 but its a pita. pretty sure the D35 that year is c-clip.

 

I removed the four nuts near the hub


and attempted to *gently* pry and pull it out, but it didn't really show signs of movement, so now I'm looking in the differential cover


and I'm not sure where I should be looking for a pin, and I can't see any circlips around the inside of the axle shaft, where should I be looking/what should I be doing?

 

The lock pin has it's head pointing towards the right side, you may have to spin the pig to locate it for removal. Once you do that, look inside at the 2 spider gears that slip on the axles, and the c-clips should be holding those spiders to the axles. A tap or two on the axle towards the diff should make them stick out from the gears a bit. Once you get them, just take them off then pull the axle out. Then just repeat on the other side.

 

I tried to pound out the pin near the top of the picture (after I rotated it for a square blow) that looks like it holds the 4 bevel gears in place, but it wasn't that motivated to move. I tried to push the axle in to reveal a circlip, but it would only push in about 1/8", which isn't enough to see anything. It looks like there's some sort of small clip underneath the axle gear, but I'm not sure if that's anything, and/or how to remove it.

 

Ok, the lock pin is located in that little recess on the top of the carrier, right by the top, right side bearing cap.

 

Then, drive that pin out, and pull those spiders out of the carrier.

 

Then Drive the axle towards the centerline of the Jeep, and the c-clip will be here.

 

I've gotten a look at the detent pin on the side


but I was expecting to see an allen type set screw, it looks like just a drift pin, but it doesn't look like could drive it out, as it looks like it backs up to the ring gear, what am I missing? Also, how do I tell if I have the 35 or 44 rearend? The parts place said they each have different wheel bearings.

 

from this angle it looks like an allen head type of thing

 

Was the rear axle assy. ever swapped? In not, I doubt you have a 44 rear in it, more than likely it will be either a 35.

 

AFAIK it's totally smooth, strangely enough, anyone know where I could find out what I'm up against?
no, this was a chic jeep, there might've been snow on the road up to go skiing, that's as close as it got to dirt....and then I got it (evil grin), it'd always been babied and very stock