mattwilljeep

I need to put in a new ring inside the front differential of my 1999 jeep cherokee classic. Was just curious if any of you have done this. And what parts I would need other than the ring itself i.e. bearing sets sims oil seals etc. Also how hard is it to get the old ring off and the new one on the case? Thanks for the help!!!

builtnotbought89'

Mounting the ring on the carrier is about the easiest part! Parts/tool list; gear oil, RTV sealent, master rebuild kit, gear marking compound, ft lbs & in lbs torque wrench, dial indicator, new ring gear bolts, bearing puller, bearing press, thread locker... I'm sure I'm missing something also! before you jump into this, you better do your homework! Setting gears isnt in the same class as changing oil or even installing a lift. Not trying to put you down, cause I don't know your automotive skill. It's just not something to jump into lightly without doing your homework!!! Search gear install here & check out the pirate link.

Good luck

OverlandZJ

Built pretty much covered this.. but to be short and sweet, you cant just swap the ring gear. It needs to be changed in a matched set.. ring and pinion.

Then it's an intricate job of setting pinion depth, preload, backlash, all requiring special tools and skills. Not saying a backyard wrench cant do it.. but you'll spend as much in tools and parts to do it yourself as it would cost a pro to do it.

Bustedback

You can't just replace the ring gear, you have to do a ring and pinion set because they are matched to one another. You really should have a shop do it for you, a gear set is not cheap and you can really screw them up fast if you don't know what you are doing. It does take some special tools in order to set the proper pinion depth, you need a press for the bearings, you need a few dial indicators to set up everything properly. It is more than just bolting everything together, I know Extreme 4X4 makes it look easy and it only takes a few minutes to do a complete rebuild, that is just not the case.

builtnotbought89'

Ha ha I should have noted the ring & pinion need to be replaced as a set. Even if your just replacing the ring gear to the same ratio as the pinion, they are not interchangeable! It's like identical twins you might find someone that looks similar, but only there twin will be its perfect match!!!

mattwilljeep

Hey thanks Ryan and all other replies. You guys pretty much told me what I needed to hear. And the jeep goes to the shop in a couple of days. The total cost should be around $800. I could have saved about $100 on parts but every thing I bought was genuine dana built in the U.S. This was recommended by my mechanic because he doesn't trust chinese made gears. So I really hope this is the last time I have to make this fix. Bought the 99 jeep for $400 and have been working through a mountain of problems ever since. I think by now I have put about 2k into it just in random parts, cant wait until I can move from these kind of things to the lift and tires. Today its a new water pump, and maybe an idler pulley. Thanks again for the help guys!

freegdr

best place to get thius done is a speed shop they install a lot more ring and pinions than your local garage just m2cw