dana 30 pinion bearing problems

[madmechanic]

i was just curious if anyone has been having problems with the pinion bearings wearing out to quickly? had it originally built at a local jeep dealer and about 4 months later the pinion bearings were growling lowder than my 33" swampers. had them changed and now about 1 1/2 years later they are starting to make noise again. also before they started making noise the pinion seal started leaking because the yoke has to much play up and down. i'd appreciate your oppinions or similar experiences. 92 hp dana 30 open carrier ,and 33" bfg mt's and 6"of lift. pinion angle is on the money and the truck is not wheeled hard or that frequently.

 

[Goatman]

i was just curious if anyone has been having problems with the pinion bearings wearing out to quickly? had it originally built at a local jeep dealer and about 4 months later the pinion bearings were growling lowder than my 33" swampers. had them changed and now about 1 1/2 years later they are starting to make noise again. also before they started making noise the pinion seal started leaking because the yoke has to much play up and down. i'd appreciate your oppinions or similar experiences. 92 hp dana 30 open carrier ,and 33" bfg mt's and 6"of lift. pinion angle is on the money and the truck is not wheeled hard or that frequently.

I know you said the pinion angle is on the money, but that type of wear is typically from a vibration, either from angles that are slightly off or a bent or unbalanced driveshaft. It's worth checking.

 

[FUNKYTEE5]

i was just curious if anyone has been having problems with the pinion bearings wearing out to quickly? had it originally built at a local jeep dealer and about 4 months later the pinion bearings were growling lowder than my 33" swampers. had them changed and now about 1 1/2 years later they are starting to make noise again. also before they started making noise the pinion seal started leaking because the yoke has to much play up and down. i'd appreciate your oppinions or similar experiences. 92 hp dana 30 open carrier ,and 33" bfg mt's and 6"of lift. pinion angle is on the money and the truck is not wheeled hard or that frequently.

If your driveshaft is balanced and pinion angles are right then it may have been setup with the wrong pinion bearing preload? Which bearing is wearing out? Outer or inner? Did they use loctite on the pinion yoke nut?

FUNKYTEE5

 

[explorer]

If there is play in the pinion yoke, either the brgs. are wasted or the pinion nut has come loose. At this point you could try tightening the nut. HP 30's use shims to set the preload on the pinion brgs, so you can't really overtighten them IF they are shimmed correctly. If there is a lot of free play, its probably to late anyway and it will need to be overhauled again. Although it is past any warranty that most places would give, I would take it back to the dealer. Some will honor their work outside warranty if you are a regular cust. Other than outright breakage, axles are pretty much a lifetime assy. if they are set up correctly. I worked at a dealer for many years, set up hundreds of diffs, and saw alot of other boobs try to. 1 1/2 yrs. or say 20k miles is not the expected life.

Brian