• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Acceptable free play in front drive shaft before engages ring/pinion?

L

lordoeuf

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Vancouver Island
I was under the Jeep today and with the vehicle in neutral, I noticed that I can turn the front drive shaft about an 1/8 turn before I can feel front ring/pinion gears engaging. I have 4.10 gears with a PowerTrax No-Slip front locker. Is this normal, and if not, what could be causing so much free play? Pinion come loose after my last 4x4 trip, messing up the backlash? I don't hear any abnormal noise while driving.
 
I removed the front shaft. I can turn the pinion yoke about 1/8 of a turn before my hand can't turn it anymore. It is like there is this range of free spool. The 1/8 turn is not a ring/pinion backlash issue - I can hear that early on, just a soft thud when the pinion/ring gear engage, but then the pinion yoke keeps on going, 1/8 of a turn. Where is all this play coming from? Broken teeth on axle shafts? Broken teeth on the locker? Thanks!
 
SlowXj said:
That ratchet style lockers add play, but that seems excessive....
Click to expand...


That was the feeling I had as well. Anyone else with one of these lunchbox lockers who can comment on how much play there is in their front shaft while in 2WD? I don't want to pull it all apart only to find that there is nothing wrong.
 
I disagree.

Your 1/8th turn may not be my 1/8th turn, and until you open up the diff and actually measure and compare the ring and pinion backlash, all anybody can do is speculate about it. If there are no unusual noises and no sparkles of metal in the gear oil I would presume that it is fine as is.

I have a Lock Right D30 locker and No-Slip Chry 8.25 locker and as the miles on the XJ add up, the perceived back lash has increased slightly as well. I have never bothered to actually measure the backlash.

My daily driver XJ has in excess of 284,000 miles and I have never bothered to check the pinion yoke backlash from the outside by feel.
 
Looking head on to the pinion yoke, rotate the yoke fully clockwise until it stops. Now rotate the yoke fully counter-clockwise until it stops. That range of motion is half of a 90 degree turn, so 45 degrees out of 360 degrees total is how much free play there is.


I remember the carrier is in there really tight and I'm waiting on a differential housing spreader before I pull it open. Shipping in Canada is slow and it is looking like July, so...



Anyone else with a PowerTrax No-Slip lunchbox locker in the front of a Dana 30 who would be willing to measure how much free-play there is in the front drive shaft/pinion yoke?
 
Now your just over thinking this. All you need to do is pull the cover and check the back-lash. If you find something else unusual you definitely do not need a case spreader on a D30 if you should need to pull the carrier and re-install it..
 
It is not the ring/pinion backlash. I noted earlier that I can feel the ring/pinion backlash, which if I were to put it in terms of a 360 deg. rotation would be much less than 1/360 of a turn. axel spreader - I'm not pulling the cover to find an issue, just to put the cover back on and add more oil and wait for tools. Daily driver car. Backup car leaking coolant and waiting for water pump parts.
VAhasnoWAVES said:
Assuming it’s not backlash like you mentioned. That’s the cross shaft rotating inside the lockbox locker. It’s normal.
Click to expand...
1/8 turn rotation is normal? Or is it one gear tooth slippage in the locker before it engages plus some cross shaft rotation?
 
VAhasnoWAVES said:
Assuming it’s not backlash like you mentioned. That’s the cross shaft rotating inside the lockbox locker. It’s normal.
Click to expand...

This. I just went out and checked my d30 front with an aussie locker and it’s about an 1/8 turn for the locker to cross pin slop.

Fyi you can remove the front carrier without a case spreader. A case spreader is the easy way, but using a pry bar against the housing and a ring gear bolt to create leverage is a tried and true method. Hope that helps.
 
lordoeuf said:
It is not the ring/pinion backlash. I noted earlier that I can feel the ring/pinion backlash, which if I were to put it in terms of a 360 deg. rotation would be much less than 1/360 of a turn. axel spreader - I'm not pulling the cover to find an issue, just to put the cover back on and add more oil and wait for tools. Daily driver car. Backup car leaking coolant and waiting for water pump parts.
1/8 turn rotation is normal? Or is it one gear tooth slippage in the locker before it engages plus some cross shaft rotation?
Click to expand...

Yes… with the cover off you can easily see what’s going on.
 
stockerwithalocker said:
This. I just went out and checked my d30 front with an aussie locker and it’s about an 1/8 turn for the locker to cross pin slop.

Fyi you can remove the front carrier without a case spreader. A case spreader is the easy way, but using a pry bar against the housing and a ring gear bolt to create leverage is a tried and true method. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
THANK YOU!!! Saved me time and hassle.


Back when I went to install the locker last summer, the carrier was so jammed in there that no amount of prying would get it out. I tried some elaborate setups but they all failed. Well something outside the box worked, but I am too embarrassed to tell you how I eventually got it out without the axle spreader (think cannon ball). It was this incident which made me want to buy the axle spreader, whether I needed it now or not.
 
Just KISS it

I dont think id take the cover off unless I had a grizzly or detroit to replace the carrier then you myswell have a set of bearings and gears then make the rear match what you do in the front.


KISS RIGHT, or no

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I had written to PowerTrax about this a few days ago and finally received a reply.
An 1/8” of rotation would be normal with this locker. You are feeling the locker unit indexing one direction and then the other before the unit loads against the cross pin. As long as the go/no-go gage measured out correctly the free play is normal.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
RHD front drive shaft
Replies
1
Views
816
Unclewolverine
U
bridgerx
dana 30 ring gear fail
Replies
8
Views
1K
89Mock
89Mock
N
Pinion shaft not clearing ring gear.
2
Replies
20
Views
4K
Down under
D
W
Front Drive shaft repair - Vibes 30-40MPH
Replies
2
Views
3K
WB9YZU
W
4
Pinion Squeal, I need the well versed on this one.
2
Replies
34
Views
4K
chris420
chris420
Back
Top