Grinding gears to clear cross shaft

Tradarcher

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Creedmoor, NC
I've always wondered how much grinding it would take so when I got an experimental D30 that I wanted to remove a locker from I gave it a shot. This is how much grinding is required to remove the cross shaft from a LP TJ D30 with 3.73 gears. Despite what Randy's Ring and Pinion has to say about grinding them to clear the cross shaft I think this is a little too much. Maybe he was refering to other carriers and not the D30. I don't know of any others that require the ring gear be removed to get the cross shaft out. However this is what it took to get the shaft out. I chose this side because I only had to grind one tooth. The other side would have required grinding two teeth a near equal amount. Lower gear ratios might require more than one tooth. It sure would make trail swaps easier if a lunchbox locker gets trashed and spider gears need to be put back in.

What do you think?

gears1.jpg
 
d44 is the same way.

i too was curious though, thanks for trying it out.
 
8.8, too. Lots of axles, actually.

And on one like the 8.8, you have no choice but to grind the gear, as you need the pin out to pull the c-clips.

Just don't ever EVER grind the center pin. They make special ones with one flat edge, but they're all case-hardened, so don't try to make your own.
 
Is ther any way to remove the ring gear and just let it set on the carrier first? Or do you have to have the diff out of the axle to get the gear off?
 
No you don't HAVE to grind them. The other option is to pull the carrier and then remove the ring gear then do your work and then put the ring gear back on and then put the carrier back in. Easier said than done especially on the trail where you might not have an air wrench, torque wrench, locktight, and a method for getting the carrier out. The last time I pulled mine I used a chain and a bottle jack.

rcp, pulling the ring gear with the carrier still in the case would be difficult because of the pinion gear and would still be a huge headache.
 
gotch kinda forgot about that pinion thing... :rolleyes:
 
I guess what I really don't understand is what are you saving by doing this?

4 Carrier cap bolts and the carrier comes out.

I mean what are we talking about doing here?
A trail install of a lock rite or something?


:confused:

Otherwise I would just pull the carrier and work on it on the bench or in the shade on a nice comportable large rock.
 
I guess it's only really beneficial on the trail where you blow a lunch box locker and have to replace it with the spider gears. If you don't grind then you have to pull the carrier which means jack up the vehicle, pull the tires, pull the calipers, pull the rotors, pull the hub bolts, pull the hubs, pull the axles, pull the carrier, remove the ring gear bolts, remove the ring gear, make the change to the internals and then put it all back nice and clean and torgue it correctly. All this is easier said than done and these things will give you problems. Consider what it's like doing these things in the garage much less on the trail.
1) Hub bolts and hubs are a PITA if they have not been removed in a while and the hub was not re-assembled with anti-seize.
2) The carrier doesn't usually pop out. I normally have to use a chain and a jack to pull my carrier. A winch is helpful and I've heard of a way to jam a rag in the pinion and get the carrier out but that requires disconnecting the rear driveshaft.
3) Ring gear bolts are put in with thread locker and torqued to about 75lbs. It's hard to break them loose without a vise (carry one of those on the trail) to hold the carrier or an impact wrench. Re-torquing them to proper spec without a bench vise is nearly impossible.
4) If the carrier was hard coming out it will be hard going back in.
5) Axle tubes usually have alot of dirt mixed with diff oil in them which gets on the end of the shaft when you try to re-install it. Sometimes boogers up the seal and introduces dirt to the diff.
6) If the calipers close up on you then you need a c clamp to open them up. Anybody usually carry a c-clamp on the trail?
7) Most everything that comes off has a torque spec. I suppose everyone carries a torque wrench with them on the trail?
Elapsed time on all that work is subjective but I'd like to see the best of them do it in under an hour. With the tooth ground I think changing out a locker or spiders would take about 15 minutes.

BTW, if this is too much ground off of one tooth I wonder if a little grinding on the tooth in conjunction with a little grinding on the cross pin would work? Better yet just get a full case locker. ;)
 
Kevin Lawler said:
I guess it's only really beneficial on the trail where you blow a lunch box locker and have to replace it with the spider gears. If you don't grind then you have to pull the carrier which means jack up the vehicle, pull the tires, pull the calipers, pull the rotors, pull the hub bolts, pull the hubs, pull the axles, pull the carrier, remove the ring gear bolts, remove the ring gear, make the change to the internals and then put it all back nice and clean and torgue it correctly. All this is easier said than done and these things will give you problems. Consider what it's like doing these things in the garage much less on the trail.
1) Hub bolts and hubs are a PITA if they have not been removed in a while and the hub was not re-assembled with anti-seize.
2) The carrier doesn't usually pop out. I normally have to use a chain and a jack to pull my carrier. A winch is helpful and I've heard of a way to jam a rag in the pinion and get the carrier out but that requires disconnecting the rear driveshaft.
3) Ring gear bolts are put in with thread locker and torqued to about 75lbs. It's hard to break them loose without a vise (carry one of those on the trail) to hold the carrier or an impact wrench. Re-torquing them to proper spec without a bench vise is nearly impossible.
4) If the carrier was hard coming out it will be hard going back in.
5) Axle tubes usually have alot of dirt mixed with diff oil in them which gets on the end of the shaft when you try to re-install it. Sometimes boogers up the seal and introduces dirt to the diff.
6) If the calipers close up on you then you need a c clamp to open them up. Anybody usually carry a c-clamp on the trail?
7) Most everything that comes off has a torque spec. I suppose everyone carries a torque wrench with them on the trail?
Elapsed time on all that work is subjective but I'd like to see the best of them do it in under an hour. With the tooth ground I think changing out a locker or spiders would take about 15 minutes.

BTW, if this is too much ground off of one tooth I wonder if a little grinding on the tooth in conjunction with a little grinding on the cross pin would work? Better yet just get a full case locker. ;)
Click to expand...


I think I'd rather drive our in 2wd, winch, get a strap or whatever when needed..... then fix it at teh shop and not grind my gears making the unit as a whole weaker anyway...... but that's just me.....
 
mbalbritton said:
I think I'd rather drive our in 2wd, winch, get a strap or whatever when needed..... then fix it at teh shop and not grind my gears making the unit as a whole weaker anyway...... but that's just me.....
Click to expand...

I heard that! A little grinding won't hurt it though. I think this instance is on the verge of being too much.
 
I agree with you - all that disassembly is a pain and time-consuming, especially on the trail, and most everything else you said -
BUT..
Not trying to beat a dead horse, but you still have to pull the shafts (and all the related hub and brake parts you mentioned) to replace the spiders or lunch box parts or...

So I guess my point was that once you get all that apart anyway, you are only saving the work of pulling the carrier yes and ring gear.

Here is a tip for the calipers. I haven't used a C-Clamp on calipers in years. Before you unbolt them, you can pry the piston back with a big screwdriver.

And as far as what tools we carry on the trail. No I don't have a vise, but I don't carry a 4" grinder and 120v invertor either. ;)
 
The diff in the pic is a TJ D30. It had a Powertrax No-Slip in it. I ground this tooth to remove the cross shaft so that I could get the No-Slip out. Not only did I take the locker out I also replaced the spider gears without removing the axle shafts/hubs. In retrospect I should have ground half as much on the gears and the other half on the cross shaft. Then the gears might have been salvageable. They are near worthless anyway (3.73).
 
Aren't pre-notched (for lack of a better term) cross-shafts available? I heard somewhere that grinding the stock cross-shafts weakens them, but the aftermarket ones go through some sort of hardening or strengthening process. By all means correct me if I'm wrong here, but wouldn't that be easier and somewhat more worry-free?
 
Well we all hear a lot of stuff on forums.. but who has actually ground a cross shaft and then broke it.. I bet NO ONE..

MOre then likely it is being told by a company that make the notched cross shaft..

I say until someone does it and it fails try it and see what happens..

This is just a reminder that 95% of hobbiest really do not understand metal and its strenght we just read whatis posted and live by it.

:)
 
BRUISER said:
Well we all hear a lot of stuff on forums.. but who has actually ground a cross shaft and then broke it.. I bet NO ONE..
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Um.... guess again.

Cross shafts are case-hardened, and not very deeply at that.

According to my bud at ARB, it is the #1 cause of broken lockers. And they don't warranty for it.
 
I've read of at least one (first hand) instance of a broken cross shaft on an 8.8 that was ground by the owner. I think if I was going to run an 8.8 I'd go with the modified vendor cross shaft from a vendor.
 
Most everything in the carrier, including the carrier is a week point on the 8.8 this problem is easy to remedy...put in a full locker...
 
saf-t scissors said:
Um.... guess again.

Cross shafts are case-hardened, and not very deeply at that.

According to my bud at ARB, it is the #1 cause of broken lockers. And they don't warranty for it.
Click to expand...

ok so you heard it from another person that works at a company...

All I am saying is when someone says hey ya I tried it and it failed then I listen.. call me stubbern but most ideas come from some trying something and it working or not working....

ask Kevin about using a XJ from driveshaft as a rear :)
 
Dude... just think about it. Do you know what case-hardening means?
 
YES... I know what it means and what it does to metal...

all I am saying is that in regards to this or other issues people always take the advice of internet people that usually have no I idea what they are talking about or tried it in past...

Case in point: I have been told that my rear axle carrier or gears will never hold up with out a hardened center shaft in carrier and a mini spool...but yet I have had no problems with it at all.. and until I do it will stay and I will run it..
 
For the record, I wasn't trying to give advice, just trying to clear something up and learn something in the process. :)
 
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