Front Axle Woes

Hexus · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 8:02 pm

Alright, so I had to use 4WD a lot this week (Nashville, TN Ice Storm), and I heard a noise, the dreadful noise. So realizing it was something that was squeeling (get it?) for attention, I took the Jeep to a lift to have it diagnosed. Luckily the guys at Tire Discounters are awesome, and let me use their lift for free. (I get all my tires there too, so there's that) Anyways, the rear bearing area of the front axle appears to be completely lubricant-free and has some slop in it.

Anyone have a part # or where to look that's valid? Anyone dealt with this? I'm not sure this is something I can do myself, I'm not really afraid to try. I've done an entire top-end several times, how hard could an axle be? (famous last words, right?)

Anyways, if anyone could weigh in, would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, as always guys.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 8:21 pm

Sounds like a bad pinion bearing.

Im no expert, but if the pinion bearing let go, chances are that there will be other damage inside the differential. Especially if all the oil leaked out.
Also, the front diff case is aluminum and its not uncommon for that to crack open under heavy loads.

I think you are gonna have to drop the entire front axle assembly just so you can replace the pinion bearing. And of course do a thorough check of all the other bearings and gears.
There is no easy way to do it while still in the vehicle.
Unless by some chance you are able to remove the diff cover with everything still in the vehicle.

Hexus · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:24 pm

It's all in the rear part of the drive shaft itself. The part with several small screws that attaches to the transfer case. Everything works fine, the noise is random and intermittent and not very loud at all. I didn't hear it at all today, but couldn't stop thinking about it so I went and checked.

zak21 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:57 pm **Posts:** 17

Its the CV joint in the drive shaft and you can buy a rebuild kit for that joint. Its an easy job, search "liberty front drive shaft repair kit" on google.

Army Ranger · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2015 10:35 am

If your rear CV is bad on the front driveshaft get a replacement from a local parts store with a good warranty. That way when it goes bad after 4 months of daily driving it's easy to get another one. I am on number 3 and it's starting to get loud again. They can be found online much cheaper than at the parts store but the cost of shipping and turn around time to get anew one isn't worth it in my opinion.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:02 pm

See this thread in the CRD TECH ONLY section for front driveshaft CV joint replacement:

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=77641&hilit=+front+cv+joint

thermorex · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:52 pm

It seems Hexus said its the pinion bearing (like flash said also). To replace that bearing it's a lot of work, but doable. You'll need to take out the differential (remember where all the shims came from), remove the pinion and then remove the bearing. I believe you can do this with the diff case still on the jeep, but removing it would be easier to deal with it if you don't have a lift. You may need a special pulley. I've never done this on the Crd, but I believe it's fairly similar to any Dana 30 diff. The pinion bearing though is lubricated by diff oil and usually doesn't go bad unless the diff ran w/o (enough) oil. My advice, if you take everything apart, and if you ran out of oil in the diff, you may want to do a rebuild of the whole diff, at least replace the carrier bearings and the pinion bearing. If the gears seem ok, you may be ok keeping the ring and pinion and the diff. This is also a good time to upgrade the diff with a locker. Also, since the pinion will be removed, you'll need to check again the "seating" of the pinion on the ring (with diff paint), there are plenty manuals and videos on YouTube if you have never done it and it's not hard at all, but it's time consuming as you'll need to keep fiddling with shims, etc. Randy's ring pinion (http://www.ringpinion.com) has plenty good quality parts at decent prices. They also have a bunch of tools, but be ready for some good hundreds of dollars as diff tools are expensive.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2015 3:43 pm

As an old time mechanic let me add a few things to consider when dealing with differentials:
Setting up a ring & pinion while may seem easy to some who have performed the task before, while very intimidating to others who have never done it. The consequences of improper setup can be very expensive.
How do I know; I have had to rebuild and replace the damaged parts when the setup was done improperly by people who thought that they knew what they were doing!

While the process itself is not hard; there is very little room for any error! If you do not get either the depth or the backlash correct along with preloads on both carrier bearings and pinion bearings, your differential is doomed for failure! Get any of these items wrong by as much as a few thousands of an inch and you will have a very noisy whine and / or very early bearing failure, and / or a completely destroyed ring and pinion gear set.
(Ouch=$) :grim:

This is not meant to scare anyone, only to warn of the importance of getting it correct is essential when undertaking this endeavor.
A dial indicator in thousands of an inch and a micrometer along with red or yellow paint paste are essential tools along with a few others when performing these operations. EXPERIENCE helps tremendously!!!
A good experienced ring & pinion person can do this while most are still trying to figure out what all the requirements and terms mean.... :roll:

thermorex · **Posted:** Sun Feb 22, 2015 4:10 pm

WWDiesel wrote:

As an old time mechanic let me add a few things to consider when dealing with differentials:
Setting up a ring & pinion while may seem easy to some who have performed the task before, while very intimidating to others who have never done it. The consequences of improper setup can be very expensive.
How do I know; I have had to rebuild and replace the damaged parts when the setup was done improperly by people who thought that they knew what they were doing!

While the process itself is not hard; there is very little room for any error! If you do not get either the depth or the backlash correct along with preloads on both carrier bearings and pinion bearings, your differential is doomed for failure! Get any of these items wrong by as much as a few thousands of an inch and you will have a very noisy whine and / or very early bearing failure, and / or a completely destroyed ring and pinion gear set.
(Ouch=$) :grim:

This is not meant to scare anyone, only to warn of the importance of getting it correct is essential when undertaking this endeavor.
A dial indicator in thousands of an inch and a micrometer along with red or yellow paint paste are essential tools along with a few others when performing these operations. EXPERIENCE helps tremendously!!!
A good experienced ring & pinion person can do this while most are still trying to figure out what all the requirements and terms mean.... :roll:

Very true. And I mean very true. I am not a mechanic and I was always scared of working on Diffs. Mainly because of the expensive tools. Now, my biggest "not like" is the time it takes. For beginners like me it can still take a day easy. But I know for sure I do it right. For start, a book on how to work with Diffs is a good start. Then, a little practice which is essential on any mechanical work. But I'm sure Hexus can do it if he has the time and patience.

Hexus · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2015 11:49 am

I'll check into it, my differentials are fine, I just changed the oil on them not 8 months ago, and I checked that first and the fluids there are fine. It's actually the bearings inside that C/V joint.

I would probably let a professional do it if it was differential related, especially because of the Select-Track on the Liberty CRD unlimited.

thermorex · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:24 pm

Hexus wrote:

I'll check into it, my differentials are fine, I just changed the oil on them not 8 months ago, and I checked that first and the fluids there are fine. It's actually the bearings inside that C/V joint.

I would probably let a professional do it if it was differential related, especially because of the Select-Track on the Liberty CRD unlimited.

Well, good it's the cv joint, that's easy. But a question: does the front diff comes with select track? I thought it's just the rear. But even with select track, as I know that's in the carrier that you won't normally touch regarding what we were talking about initially.

Front Axle Woes

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