Crush sleeves, pressing bearings and gear install intro

Jody Treadway

Jody Treadway

Croc wearing fool
Moderator
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Hendersonville, NC
Someone mentioned a lack of tech on here if late. Being a man of my word, here's a little taste to turn that tide.
I'm building a pair of 14 Bolts for @farmboy currently. A typical rear with an ARB and a steering front with a Grizzly. Both getting 4.88 gears and some other cool stuff.
I won't be documenting every step, but I will show a few tricks and procedures I have learned over the years.
Let's start with pressing the inner pinion bearing. You'll need something round and pretty stout to use as a means to press against so you won't damage the bearing. I keep a selection of old bearing inner races. Simply cut the cage off and there ya go.

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There are many uses for these. Axle bearings, wheel bearings, pinion and carrier bearings. Good thing is, you can essentially wreck your old one(s) removing them as long as you keep the inner race intact.
Post one of two. Sit tight.
 
Once I had the inner bearing pressed on the pinion, I installed it in the pinion support. After pulling the outer bearing down with the yoke, I performed a trick regarding crush sleeves. Apply a layer of grease on the washer side of the pinion nut when crushing the sleeve/setting preload. This will allow you to more smoothly turn the pinion nut and attain proper torque. I used high pressure suspension grease, but there's no need to church it up.
Next you'll see how I set preload on a crush sleeve style 14 Bolt. Chuck the pinion support in a vise. Gotta hold it by the yoke and let the support hang. As you tighten the nut you can still check progress by turning the support. Once you feel the slack go away, you're close. I continue tightening until the yoke feels smooth, yet firm (@McCracken) to turn. Then it's time to verify with a rotational torque wrench. In this case, I nailed it at 28 in/lb. Be careful not to overtighten as you'll have to start back all over again.
Crush sleeve eliminators are great on some axles. But on these with OEM tapered nuts and a liberal application of red loctite, the nut ain't moving and preload will remain consistent for years and years.
I'll document the gear set up later on.
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Chris_Keziah said:
Totally borrowing the storage idea for old bearings with the cage cut off.
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X2! It'll be much better than my current way, which is a box I have to move off the press every time and inevitably knock off scattering bearing races everywhere. Causing me to crawl around cussing.
 
Chris_Keziah said:
Totally borrowing the storage idea for old bearings with the cage cut off.
Click to expand...

Tim C said:
X2! It'll be much better than my current way, which is a box I have to move off the press every time and inevitably knock off scattering bearing races everywhere. Causing me to crawl around cussing.
Click to expand...

As I've said before...I'm a damn genius
:D
 
I actually meant to msg you about the bearing race thing a while back. That’s the way I’ve always done it but I’ve seen guys brand new to this pressing them on with the races. And that just puts way too much pressure on the cage in my opinion.
 
iwaxmyjimmy said:
I actually meant to msg you about the bearing race thing a while back. That’s the way I’ve always done it but I’ve seen guys brand new to this pressing them on with the races. And that just puts way too much pressure on the cage in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't put any pressure on the cage when using the race to press it on. The rollers transfer the force into the inner race of the bearings when they bottom out on the lip. Now some bearings the cage protrudes through the race and if you using a press plate you'll crush the nose of the cage.
 
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