Upgrading!!

[jwill22]

after blowing out my front Dana 30 a while back, i have gotten somethings to make an upgrade to 4.10s and replace my AMC20 with a Dana 44 from a 76 scout II. Also found a carrier when i bought the ring and pinion for pretty cheap All i need is spider gears for the front Dana 30 which i might think this other guy with a jeep might have for me. I wanted to ask, is it really hard to install ring and pinion alone, which ive never done?? I heard its pretty tedious.
here are some pics of my parts

 

[BajaEdition]

I am pretty mechanically minded, Have never backed down from a project I wanted to do, and can say every thing I choose to do I get through. I say that because I am about to say I do not do Diff gear setup, I do not have some of the tools nor have I ever seen it done. Yes I have read all about it, and have sen a lot of photos of what you want and all, But it is to important to get it correct and you need a lot of small shims and spacers that a diff shop has but I do not. Not getting it correct means blowing a set of gears.
I have bought frames and ended up with vehicles, both trucks, cars and motorcycles, buying parts and assembling to get what I want, and always ending up with a nice vehicle, but never a diff.
Now a lot of guys may find it easy, but I will advise you to take it somewhere they can teach you the first time, it is really important to get it right.

 

[Kane]

I have rebuilt a few Dana 30s and two model 20s. You need to have a good understanding on how to use a dial indicator and you need a good hydraulic press. With these two thing they are not too hard to do if you are talneted but they can be time consuming especially if you are going to a different gear ratio from before. You basically need to guess at what your shim stack should be, install them, look at your tooth contact pattern and then your backlash with a dial indicator and then adjust accordingly. It is not for the beginner mechanic and if you have doubt just remember that if done wrong you can cause some serious damage to your differentials. This is a omre advianced job, even more so than rebuilding a manual Transmission .

 

[Old Dog]

I agree, if you don't own the right tools and know how to use them
take it to a rearend guy. It can be a pain in the job best left to a pro.

 

[CJ]

Are they hard to rebuild - Nope - easy as hell... There are very specific procedures you need to follow though. Can they be frustrating? Hell Yes.

I have rebuilt a hundred or so Danas and can usually get one done in about four hours or so, BUT! I have all the specialized tools.
I have the correct bearing spreaders (for the press).
I have all setup bearings (see -->> Diff Bearing Set-Up Tip. - Jeep-CJ Tech. Articles) so I don't have to press the bearings on and off (which can easily screw up the cage and the shims).
I have custom shims, the damn shims usually supplied with the kits have too small ID's and the hit on the internal radius instead of the flat part of the bearing race. When the bearings are pressed on the distort the inner part of the shim, making them hard to reuse. Plus they don't have a 1:1 ratio when shimming, example, you need to shim the pinion .005 and you add a .005 shim, yet it moves .007 because of the shim / bearing contact area.
I have case spreaders, not really needed but sure as heck helps when getting the carrier in and out.
Oh Yea, don't forget the dial indicator and the inch pound torque wrench.

I could go on and on...

I have also been so frustrated when I couldn't get the accel side of the gear and the decel side of the gear to look good with the marking compound. (Drive side of the teeth and the coast side) I have spent a day deciding what was OK for the gear.

NOW! Would I recommend rebuilding a diff? Hell yea I would, as long as your willing to invest the time and the tooling to do so. Even if you don't want to buy all the fancy tools, you need to invest the time. Figure on a weekend if everything goes right, figure on double that if it doesn't... Once you learn the tricks and the secrets of building a diff, you'll be the envy of your friends, your popularity will increase and all the girls will want you...

 

[Cheepjeep85]

Once you learn the tricks and the secrets of building a diff, you'll be the envy of your friends, your popularity will increase and all the girls will want you...

huh no wonder i wasn't popular in highschool, i can't rebuild a differential