Bad spider gears?

89wrangler

89wrangler

Not a new member
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Location
Bostic,NC
I am working on a 21 Gladiator for a buddy that has a really annoying vibration you can hear/feel when driving. He has had it worked on at various places and can’t get rid of the noise. I have it narrowed down to the spider gears in the front axle. The passenger side has the axle disconnect and everything is smooth when rotating the wheel.
On the driver side when rotating the hub, you can feel/ hear the ratcheting for the lack of better term. I removed caliper and bracket and ruled out wheel bearing. So I removed the diff cover and it appears to be the spider gears. You can rotate them about a 1/3rd of a turn, then they lock up/stick. Takes a lot of pressure to hold the ring gear to get them to go past that point and then they turn free again. There is some pitting, but nothing I see way out of the norm.
@Jody Treadway have you ever run into this? Could there be anything else causing them to not rotate freely. I am going to pull the axle shaft and see if it changes anything.

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks
 
Here is a video.


Axle removed, seems fine.
 
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Is it completely stock, or has someone been in there before? I wonder if it's missing the little washer/bearing things behind the spiders. No clue their official name.

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It is stock. The washer is there. When I put the axle in I can turn it as normal. But when I put the hub on it binds up
 
How's the U-joint Feel?
 
Tube is bent?
 
U-joints are tight. Gears are tight, with hardly any wear. I am thinking bent tube as well.

Is there a way to check it?
 
I'd think a bent tube would be a consistent bind, I'd lean more towards a bent axle shaft. Obvious guess is the inner, but could also be the outer, or some funky alignment or mismachining on a u-joint.
 
89wrangler said:
U-joints are tight. Gears are tight, with hardly any wear. I am thinking bent tube as well.

Is there a way to check it?
Click to expand...
I use a measuring gauge that came with my frame machine to see if the axle tube is bent. You can use a level or a straight edge and cut you 3 or 4 dowels the same lenght about 12 inches long and space them out across the tube and level or straight edge to see if they all touch the same or one or 2 of the don't fit between them. Check the axle at different angles to see if it is bent.
 
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