Hmm. The squeek might be your u-joint. Now the movement in the pinion means either your pinion nut has backed off a little or your bearings are shot. Easy to replace and you dont have to worry about a crush sleeve.

 

I had the same issue just changed the bearings and the seal when we did the gear swap.

 

With the pinion bearing, I can get at that from the yoke side, same as the seal, or is this a complete teardown and rebuild. I will be the first to admit that the idea of attempting to rebuild a differential scares me, too much stuff to go to $hit if it set up wrong.

 

Now a dana 60 is as easy as they come. Dont be afraid. Thats what were here for. Chalk the front tires and pull your driveshaft. Take the nut off the pinion. Now, take out the 8 bolts for the axles on the rear spindles in the center of the wheel off. Pull the axles out about 6-8 inches or all the way out if you want. jack it up and pull the cover. Now unbolt the two main caps and make sure you put them back on the right sides. Pull the carrier. Now Push the pinion through the diff. There will be some washers that you need to keep for install. These washers set the bearing preload and act as a crush sleeve in a normal diff. you'll have to press off the old bearing on the pinion shaft and press on the new one with the same shims underneith. Now just a$$emble. Should only take about 30 minutes for a pro to do. : you dont have to mess with diff setup or anything.

 

Here's a link that will give you some good pics. Remember all you're doing is changing the pinion gears so no set up is required.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/articles/tech/billavista/Gear_Setup

 

Since it will be taken apart, I could just as well install new lower gears, that way I only have to take it apart once. Will it be okay to drive until I have the funding to buy the master install kit and new gears for the front and rear?
Thanks for the link, it will come in handy.

 

Ya you can change all of them at once. Dont buy the master install kit though. That comes with all the shims for set-up. All you need to buy is new carrier bearings, pinion bearings and a pinion seal. Its about 40-50 bucks in bearings but you'll be changing all of them. As far as driving with bad bearings, I'd say Dont do it for too long. Other damage will occur if you wait too long. I had a bad pinion bearing making noise and kept putting it off. Untill one day BAM!! The damn pinion gear broke in half right where the bearing presses on. What happened is the bearing was bad causing excessive heat which actually un heat treated the pinion gear making it very weak. I was pulling out of a drive through at arbys when mine broke. The rear wheels were locked up so I put it in 4wd and drug the truck to a parking spot till I could find a trailor. :smash:

 

Also I wouldn't do the front unless its making noise too. The front diff doesn't spin unless you put it in 4wd. And how often is that? The front should be fine man :bigthumb:

 

Any suggestions as for as brand of bearing?
Another question-my truck has a 3.55 ratio, do I need a different carrier if I drop down to a 4.10 or 4.56 gear set, or can I just buy new gears and install them on the existing carrier.
Sorry for all the questions, I am not really familiar with fixing or rebuilding rearends.
Thanks

 

If you are changing gear ratios (i.e. changing the RING & PINION) in the rear differential and front differential, I would strongly suggest you DO buy master install kits for both front and rear. I would, also, suggest you, at a minimum, find somebody with some experience, who has set up gears before, to help you, if not pay them some money to set up the gears for you as you watch & help...at a minimum.

If you're, simply, changing the pinion bearings on the rear end, yeah, you don't really need a master install kit...all you need is the bearings and their respective races, but if you're talking about regearing the rig, you will need the shims and other components that come in a master install kit. Every ring & pinion set is just a little bit different, hence why shims are supplied in master install kits.


Simply installing new pinion bearings and a new pinion seal on the rear differential is one thing. Changing rings & pinions on both differentials is a totally different proposition and I would NOT recommend somebody who's unfamiliar with such try to do such on their own.

 

On 2006-10-26 10:21, ZacD wrote:
If you are changing gear ratios (i.e. changing the RING & PINION) in the rear differential and front differential, I would strongly suggest you DO buy master install kits for both front and rear. I would, also, suggest you, at a minimum, find somebody with some experience, who has set up gears before, to help you, if not pay them some money to set up the gears for you as you watch & help...at a minimum.

If you're, simply, changing the pinion bearings on the rear end, yeah, you don't really need a master install kit...all you need is the bearings and their respective races, but if you're talking about regearing the rig, you will need the shims and other components that come in a master install kit. Every ring & pinion set is just a little bit different, hence why shims are supplied in master install kits.


Simply installing new pinion bearings and a new pinion seal on the rear differential is one thing. Changing rings & pinions on both differentials is a totally different proposition and I would NOT recommend somebody who's unfamiliar with such try to do such on their own.

:withstupid: By the sounds of it, you need to look real hard at the housing. That noise could be the bearing race spinning in the housing. It could have chewed it up to the point that a simple bearing change will not work. :baby:

 

How will I know if the race is spinning and what would cause this? If it is spinning, can I see this with out tearing it down completely?

The reason I would like to have it re-geared is that it is kind of a dog with the 3.55's and 35" tires, and the fact that the truck has alittle over 131,000 on it, it is probably due to be rebuilt.

 

On 2006-10-26 10:55, BIG GREEN MACHINE wrote:
How will I know if the race is spinning and what would cause this? If it is spinning, can I see this with out tearing it down completely?

It needs a complete tear down.....period.



:baby:

 

Hell if your gonna have it regeared then f-it. Let them mess with it. You can go up to 4.10 with your stock carrier.

As far as the race spinning in the diff, You have to take it apart to see if thats the case.

 

I just got in from checking things out and the pinion has the side to side play and also found that it has front to back play as well and when it moves front to back, the gear lube runs pretty good, the u-joint is shot, God knows what else is wrong. Time for a rebuild. I parked it until I can have it fixed. Kind of sucks since it is my DD.
Thanks guys for all your help.