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I've been hearing a lot of bad sounds from the rear end and most ominously feeling vibrations and rubbing. I've not done a thing with the drive train since getting the jeep except of course add water and mud to it. It's time to tear it apart, clean out the gunk, replace parts that need replacing and lubricate it.
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Differential
Removed the differential cover. There was probably enough gear oil in there to keep the mud from freezing. I need to install higher axel ventilation tubes to keep the water out. Every time I take the Jeep for a swim I am pouring muddy water into the axels. That's got to be not a good thing... |
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Nothing runs better than a well dirtied machine... |
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Back left Just a few hundred miles ago these breaks were new, shiny and clean. Now they are mud packed and rusty. Gee, next time maybe I will put the covers on the inspection holes in the back of the hub plate... At this point I noticed what seems to be excessive end play in the shaft. I can wiggle it left, right, up and down at least an 1/8" maybe more. I can also move it in and out about the same distance. I can spin the wheel with a little effort. I didn't hear any grinding sounds and the effort to turn it seems uniform all the way around. |
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Removing the hub plate bolts. I don't know if it means anything yet but when I took these bolts out and moved the plate and seal loose it was dry behind it. |
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B.A.P.
I needed a hub puller so I borrowed a puller/slide hammer setup from O'Reilly's. The slide hammer worked well enough but their hub puller just wasn't big enough. I went to dad's to weld up something that would work. While digging around for steel dad came across a big ass puller (BAP) that my late grand-uncle had built that ended up with us. He made it himself decades ago (he was a welder). This puller worked perfectly! The hub didn't slide off, it popped off like a cork from a bottle. |
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The seal retainer was retaining mud more than anything else. |
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The seal seems fairly gummed up with old grease and grime. |
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Removed the back plate then the shims. |
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Used the slide hammer to pull the axel. Three mild slides broke it free. |
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Used brake cleaner and WD40 to it out. |
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The bearings were absolutely dry and dirt covered. |
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I spent about 20 minutes cleaning the bearings with WD40 and they seems to spin freely. |
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Luke, my son, had rolled his Jeep up behind me while I was working and started to work on his. |
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Applied new bearing grease and re-instered the axel. |
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What the hey, I decided to clean up the hub plate and paint it. |
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Back right
I had a very hard time trying to pull the hack left hub off the axel. I had always suspected that I had a problem on the back left. Recall from a long ago log entry that I noted a wobble on the back left. Because of this I pulled the back left first to familiarize myself with the process before tackling the one I suspected would have issues. After several attempts, arrangements and cheater bars the hub never budged but the BAP broke! I guess the axel is bent and the hub is bent with it. Either way, the hub is not coming off. Not worth messing with, I will just got buy a new axel and hub. |
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I went ahead and yanked the axel. Without the hub off there is no way to replace the bearings for this axel. |
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And I think the bearings need replacing... These were not staged for this picture. That's exactly how I found them after pulling the axel. Isn't this lovely? |
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