I'm going to swap out the leaky pinion seal in my 97's front axle. Now I know its a D30 but is the pinion set by a crush sleeve. I am quite capable of doing the project just concerned about the "line it up to the marks you made earlier" trick for the pinion nut/shaft; don't want to over tq. it.

Thanks for the help!

 

Yes, it has one, IIRC.

 

for sure

 

No crush sleeve, that came in 00 with the LP Dana 30.

 

What Overlander just said.


All XJ fronts until Mid 1999 were the High Pinion variety. To reduce part numbers & inventory ... the factory switched to the TJ style housing (which does use a crush sleeve).



But in the case of the 97 ... the pinion preload is accomplished via shims.



Joe

 

Nice! Thanks for the information. I went by Jeep today to get my factory options list and spoke with a tech, Chip, there in the shop. I asked him about my concerns with over torquing the crush sleeve when he assured me that just "poppin" it with the impact wouldn't come close to the actual torque load required to crush one; some 200ft-lbs. He claims to do most of the driveline work the dealership sees.

Either way, if there isn't a concern for over preloading the pinion bearing, via the crush sleeve, then I'm good to go. I'll grab an 1 1/8" socket from work and get this knocked out tomorrow night.

 

Well ... at least you know what dealer NOT to go to for driveline work.


Once you have "crushed" a crush sleeve ... it's stupid easy to overtighten and burn up the bearings. The "by the book" way is to put a new sleeve in and re-crush --- checking preload all the way. An "accepted alternative" is to mark the pinion nut and shaft and match it when you reinstall.


Oh .. it takes *well* more than 200 ft lbs to get a crush sleeve to begin collapsing.



But as said earlier ... none of this applies to you. You can just "go & gun" for your front axle.



Joe

 

AMEN!!!!!

 

I'm glad to know I was not the only one that felt uncomfortable about those directions. Are there NO honest mechanics in this world anymore?

 

Sweet, I learned something today!! Sorry for the misinformation...

 

Sounds like he was being honest. Way wrong but not dishonest.
Goody for you! Here you go Kyle...

 

You know me likey chocolate chips!!

 

ditto. my bad

 

So let it be known, for anyone who may stumble across this thread

D30's before mid 1999 uses shims to set pinion bearing preload

and

D30's past mid 1999 utilize a crush sleeve to set pinion bearing preload.


Case closed. Thanks guys