ongoing saga of the rear axle
11-01-2014, 09:47 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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ongoing saga of the rear axle
So I had this horrible grinding noise when I started out in 1st or reverse. Didnt know what it was. Went for inspection and when they took off the rear drum it was full of gunk and gear oil. So I went to advance and got a new wheel bearing..except the bearing he pulled out didnt look at all like the one I took out. He gave me this story about how this is the new one that replaces OE and is better..yadda yadda. I took it. We had to beat that thing into place a good deal. I"m pretty sure we didnt damage it but I suppose thats possible. we put it in with a large socket held to match up against the bearing and beat on the socket. when it was finally in, we had to beat the axle in as well. This was my first time doing this, so I wasn't sure how hard it should be to replace the axle.
One month later (last sunday) I heard a bad grinding that quickly turned to squealing. I was on a narrow country road at night with nowhere to pull off and 20 miles from home. I drove slow on it and when I got home, the drum was smoking and hot enough that I could probably light a cigarette off it. I thought it was the brakes since the smell of burnt brakes was so strong. I drove it to work the next day (5 miles) and pulled the drum off on my break and found that I could move the axle about 2-3" in any direction and a couple roller bearings were laying in the drum. The inner lip of the drum was neatly cut off, i think from contact with the backing plate, the backing plate was a little bent, and the brake shoes were shot. I went to a pick-and-save today to find a replacement axle because I think this one wil likely be damaged but had no luck. I was told by the junk yard guy that according to his computer a cherokee with some year range in the mid 90's with drum brakes and abs would work fine with my tj. I pulled one and it was tapered in stages and I know mine is not. I called the parts dept at local dealer and they looked up vin numbers and said the cherokee had an International rear end not a dana/spicer. I called with vin's of 4 other cherokees and I kept striking out. So I dont know....I'm pretty sure one of them had the dana 35, or at least the diff cover looked like mine, but the parts dept said there was a difference in diameter. So I left not knowing who is right about compatibility and no axle. I know the one I have in my tj has a small "ring" worn into the axle where I think the old bearing was bad. But I dont know if this is normal or not. It looked like it could have been machined there, but I can't find a picture clear enough to mak comparisons. If anybody has experience in compatible axles I'd love to hear. I dont want to buy a new one and there was only 1 wrangler in the whole yard.
I got a new bearing and it looks just like the old one. I'm pretty sure that the advance guy gave me the wrong bearing and that really sucks but oh well. Hopefully I get it done right this time. Attaching pic of possibly wrong bearing.
One month later (last sunday) I heard a bad grinding that quickly turned to squealing. I was on a narrow country road at night with nowhere to pull off and 20 miles from home. I drove slow on it and when I got home, the drum was smoking and hot enough that I could probably light a cigarette off it. I thought it was the brakes since the smell of burnt brakes was so strong. I drove it to work the next day (5 miles) and pulled the drum off on my break and found that I could move the axle about 2-3" in any direction and a couple roller bearings were laying in the drum. The inner lip of the drum was neatly cut off, i think from contact with the backing plate, the backing plate was a little bent, and the brake shoes were shot. I went to a pick-and-save today to find a replacement axle because I think this one wil likely be damaged but had no luck. I was told by the junk yard guy that according to his computer a cherokee with some year range in the mid 90's with drum brakes and abs would work fine with my tj. I pulled one and it was tapered in stages and I know mine is not. I called the parts dept at local dealer and they looked up vin numbers and said the cherokee had an International rear end not a dana/spicer. I called with vin's of 4 other cherokees and I kept striking out. So I dont know....I'm pretty sure one of them had the dana 35, or at least the diff cover looked like mine, but the parts dept said there was a difference in diameter. So I left not knowing who is right about compatibility and no axle. I know the one I have in my tj has a small "ring" worn into the axle where I think the old bearing was bad. But I dont know if this is normal or not. It looked like it could have been machined there, but I can't find a picture clear enough to mak comparisons. If anybody has experience in compatible axles I'd love to hear. I dont want to buy a new one and there was only 1 wrangler in the whole yard.
I got a new bearing and it looks just like the old one. I'm pretty sure that the advance guy gave me the wrong bearing and that really sucks but oh well. Hopefully I get it done right this time. Attaching pic of possibly wrong bearing.
