To attempt installing gears or not?
 

Hey guys! I guess I am needing some re-assurance or something. I have a 99 and its a dog because it has stock gears and 33's. A while back when I had my ZJ, my buddy did my gears for me. Since then, he has been hurt at work, and probably won't be able to help me.

I do believe that I have everything except the dial indicator and the beam torque wrench. I've watched my buddy do it, but not done it myself. I learn more of actually doing it.

I have the bearing race drivers or whatever you call them, 20 ton shop press, impact, torque wrenches...etc.

I changed out the bearings in the rear end by myself and stuff...Just kind of confused about setting the gears up part. I mean how bad is it? Seems like everytime you run across someone asking this question, everyone says its a pain, have someone help you that know what they are doing...etc.

I have been trying to find another jeep that's already been regeared or has an axle swap that I can swap axles out of...But that's quite a bit of work on its own. I would think that it would be easier to change gears out...but IDK.

Does anyone have any tips, thoughts, or suggestions?

It's a super easy job. It just requires patience, accuracy and time.

I've set up a bunch of my own gears. Take your time, pay attention to what you're doing and you'll be fine.

Read this... Read it 6 times... Print a copy of it to keep by your side while you do the job. Read it again. Refer to it. Be one with it....

http://www.billavista.com/Tech/Artic...ble/index.html

(I have a copy of this ring bound with nice covers in my shop.)

Super easy? Well, it isn't impossible. I agree with patience, accuracy and time. The hardest part is reading the pattern, if you don't know what you're looking at, it can be catastrophic. That said, you can do it...just make sure you get good patterns drive and coast sides...I say go for it. You have a buddy that did them before for you. Bend his ear while doing the job, I'm sure he'll get ya going right, LOL...also, post pics here, lots of people with knowledge here...

Any tricks on starting out as far as shims go? Use the ones that came out originally in the same order and work off of that I am assuming?

My small bit of advice would be to post photos of the patterns here for those who know to tell you how they look and what needs to be done to correct any problems.


See how little I know about gear setups :1eye: I had a shop to mine along with the lockers. Good luck and sorry to hear about your friend, would he be able to watch you do the job and tell the things your worried about?

Yeah, he probably can, he is starting back to work. I just kind of hate to ask. He was in a coal mine accident. High pressure hydraulic hose came off and hit him on the back side.

Maybe between the 2 you can get it done or just using the board (with photos) a lot of the guys here have the experience to help you.

The first time I did mine, I didn't know that the Dana 30 has 2 different carriers depending what gear setup you have. So make sure you have the correct parts for your carrier or get a new carrier.

I also recommend trying the same shim setup that you already have, I was lucky and I didn't have to change up the shims on my Dana 30 but I did have to on the Ford 8.8 (like 5 or 6 times till I got it right).

I didn't think it was as hard as everyone makes it out to be but just required lots of patience and being willing to repeat the shim process several times till you get it right. To be fair though, I did have a friend that used to install them professionally come look at the gear pattern for me.

Good luck!

Right, there's absolutely nothing difficult about it. There's just a lot of details that have to be followed to the T.

From my understanding, set-up bearings that have been honed out slightly (thus not needing a press to put on and take off) will go a long ways to making this process much easier. Take your old ones and dremel out the ID a tad and use them. Get your pattern right, then press on the new bearings and hope it's close to the same :)

Maybe your friend will "loan" the tools you don't have, and hang out as moral support.

IMO, a FSM would also be an important "tool"

"The only thing we have to fear, is fear it's self"

To quote Clausewitz:
"Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult"

As with anything technical, make sure you REAR READ READ and understand what you're getting into. If you have any questions or doubts, call your friend or post here on the board. You should be good to go. I'd say once you have all the needed tools and an instal kit, go for it. When it comes time to check the dial indicator and whatnot, I'd say it's similar to cutting lumber. Measure 3 times, then torque everything down.

Avoid set-up bearings like the plague!
They will never match your final bearings and your pattern won't be correct.
A clamshell puller is a must-have tool for installing gears.

Been down this road more than once.

Thanks guys! It looks like my cheapest route is going to be to order from www.rwkhaussupply. 4.88 gears and the master install kit's for both front and rear is $504.56 shipped. I have a bearing puller that I was going to use in my press, but here are the parts I was thinking about purchasing.

don't you need an inch-pound torque wrench to make sure you have enough preload on the gears?