tonybeirut

I was searching for my problem but ddnt find good info.

I noticed a metal friction sound when cornering to the right so I went to the garage and they removed the axles from the diff and inspected them to find this problem.

Both my rear axles end (the end of the axles after the C-clip and not the splines) are worn around 2 inches.

I have 94 xj country. 4.56 gears. Arb lockers. 33x12.5x15 bfg tires.

They told me that the C-clip is fine. Spider gears fine. Cross pin fine. We found pieces of metal in the oil of course.

They filled the worn end with weld and I told them it's not a cure . The weld will fall and debris will kill the gears and the ARB locker.
They filled 80-90 sae oil and closed the diff.

I will buy new OEM axles and install them at another garage. We don't have 1541H or chromoly 27 spline in here.

The questions are . Is it normal for axles to wear that much? What is the cause of this problem? If I buy and ship Yukon 1541H will solve it forever?

Any help is appreciated.

JPXJMOAB

Yes it's normal.. Bearings will eventually wear through the hardened surface.

tonybeirut

You mean the bearings went bad 1st then the axle top end followed?

JPXJMOAB

No it's not due to a bad bearing, it's just wear and tear.. Metal on metal causes wear over time

s346k

makes me wonder if the gear install has something to do with it. untouched stock gear sets and axles will easily last 300k miles.

JPXJMOAB

Yes they will last but look at the axles.. They're worn through the hardened surface.

s346k

I didn't see a picture of his axles.

I looked at mine around the 200k mile mark and they looked damn near perfect.

tonybeirut

Attached is a pic where both axles are worn. It's not my axle just a reference from the net. Worn part circled in red, after the C-clip. I have 250k on my xj.
Yesterday a whining sound came from my diff on both acceleration and deceleration i guess my ring and pinion died coz of this problem. They are usa standard gears I Shipped them from the US and they were good before fixing the axles. . Hope my arb is not affected too.
Will open the diff today and see how much damage I got.

JPXJMOAB

If that's worn then the axles are wearing against the cross pin... Somethings not right.

tonybeirut

Took those pics today.
Axles are touching the cross pin dunno If it's normal.
Pinion is worn and need to be changed.
Oil is 1 day old and it's black, with silver wear color from the pinion.

I'm not a rock crawler or heavy driver I go easy on the jeep I never went over 70 mph and I ddnt even use the locks more than 2 times on snow.

Dunno what happened, the ring and pinion were fine before fixing the axle and the guy at the shop didn't remove them to say it was his fault. He was the one who installed them 7 month ago and they were working great.

tonybeirut

Pics. Sorry it's upside down I was under the jeep taking pics with my left hand.

97grand4.0

So, what is the problem, again? Metal shavings? I cant tell if there are metal specs or just something in the photo. The spiders look good, but something is going on with the cross pin, idk if that is right, the pin seems to be small for the hole in the piece they go through, and that piece has some suspiciously sharp edges, ..Have you had it apart to check the carrier bearings? Something is tearing up, could be pinion, carrier, ...I also never heard of welding the axles up like that or even where they even needed any repair there. If properly assembled there shouldnt be that kind of problem.
ok, now I see the ring gear looks maybe like the pinion gear is riding too deep and wearing it? hard to tell

tonybeirut

Yes the ring gear is worn and diff is whining , the pattern went to the right and backlash is 0.60 instead of 0.006, so it might be that the ring gear moved to the left or the pinion moved to the right.

The cross pin is cut on 1 side (thats the part you see in the pic), this is done to install the axles (other method is to trim a ring tooth to install axles).

That piece who has some suspiciously sharp edges is the spider gears block for the ARB.

I bought and shipped new gear set but i ddnt install them yet, im trying to figure out why the gears are displaced and worn after fixing the axles.

Mechanic said it was a bad carrier bearing and when axles where fixed (his way of welding the edges) they put pressure on the bad bearing which made the gears move.

My point of view is the axles were welded without measuring their length, one or both exceeded the OEM length and increased pressure on the carrier cross pin and made the carrier move and wear.

97grand4.0

The cross pin is cut on 1 side (thats the part you see in the pic), this is done to install the axles (other method is to trim a ring tooth to install axles).

Well, what can I say. No offense to your mechanic, but,....you just don't need to cut the cross pin to install the axles, OR to cut a tooth from the ring gear, and I cannot fathom under what circumstances you would need to tamper with the length of the axle shafts by welding and cutting. It is normal for the shaft to contact the pin, that is what holds in from going in more, and the C clips hold the other way. I have never heard of a shaft wearing but others seem to say it's normal, but the fix would be to replace the axles and pin. .60" is way to much backlash as you note,.. did anyone ever paint the gears to see the pattern? You likely need to replace the cross pin and the axles and maybe ring and pinion gears, pinion bearings are likely shot from being pushed sideways, oil is contaminated, carrier bearings, spider gears and thrust cups, clutch pack ...just about an entire rebuild from where I sit.
Any chance the axles are sllightly difft lengths left and right, and got reversed?

tonybeirut

I am rebuilding all the differential next week. All parts are already shipped to Beirut. I will measure the length of the axles to see if the weld done made them longer than 29.750', that's the OEM size of Chrysler 8.25 27 spline axles.

Regarding the trimming the cross pin or cutting the ring gear to fit the axles it has to be done i have an ARB locker installed at the rear.