Well after ordering these from Northridge (thanks for the deal David!) I thought I'd give it a go today, here's how it went. After reading EVERY thread on EVERY forum about these I set out for the required tools and accessories from my local stores. After getting the jeep in the garage I mentally decided, if these go in easy or almost all the way before any hammering starts i'll go for it (I was alone, and my jeep is my DD) if not, I'll put it all back together and wait for a second set of hands. SO! With that being said I spent the first hour and a half trying to get my rotor and calipers off the drivers side (I figured the short side might be easier) and after WD40 and beating the hell out these bolts with no budge what so ever I realized! I'm turning these the wrong way!!! Yes, I'm an idiot. I laughed it off and said well, at least I know easy this all comes apart when you turn the bolts in the correct direction! So all set to go, sleeves have been in my freezer for 3 days, axle tube is cleaned and WD40'd, lets see how this goes! I slid in the sleeve turning it as I went and it went in pretty easy! For an INCH!!! Then came to a dead halt, I was sooooo tempted to hit it with the brand new sledge hammer I had bought and the bearing race I rented from a local auto store but, I stopped and said " if you hit that once, your committed" remembering my plan I put everything back together keeping my promise to myself and I figure I'll go at it again another day. To all those people that wrote about how theirs went almost all the way in with hand strength! Congrats, you got lucky!

 

That's some good stuff, thx for the laugh and best of luck with the install!

 

I won't lie... I was hoping you hit it with the hammer for the first second between me reading the words... lol... should have hit that shit... who , maybe it was just that little bit holding it up and after that first inch is would have been smooth sailing

 

If you weren't in AZ I would give you a hand. Use a 1" PVC pipe and notch it at one end. Place a 2" x 6" piece of terry cloth in the notch and soak it in lacquer thinner. Place it in the axle tube up to the diff. Turn the PVC until the cloth is snug in the axle tube and twist the PVC as you pull it out. Spray a little liquid graphite in the axle tube and try sliding the sleeve in. This went well on two rigs we tried it on. Freezing the sleeves also made a huge difference. If that doesn't help, your tubes may be slightly bent. In that case, brute force it the answer.

 

I'm hoping its just a tight fit and the tubes aren't bent I don't have any wobble at all and I havent wheeled it to hard yet.

 

Buy some Dykem Blue Layout Fluid from Grainger. It is under $8. This is what machinist put on metal when they need to identify a fit issue. Paint the leading inch of the OD and let dry. Then insert the sleeve by hand until it gets stuck... Do NOT use a hammer yet. Pull the sleeve back out and look at the mark left in the blue ink. If you get a line in the dirrection of the tube the you have debris that you need to clean out. If the leading edge of the sleeve has the ink worn off for say 15 degrees or so then the axle tube is bent.

Sorry if my description sucks. It realy is easy to tell what is going on based on the mark made into the ink.

 

What does the first inch of your tube inside look like? I highly doubt the first inch is bent. I think there is rust/corrosion or weld holding it.

 

It looks smooth and clean, feels smooth, I may take a dremel to it and see if that helps at all.

 

There has to be something holding it. I helped a friend do some a couple weeks ago and they slid all the way in to the knurling. Then we tapped them in with a 32 oz hammer.

 

Well neither sleeve will go into either side more than an inch inch and half, I think the weld monkey that did my axle housing may have been a little excessive with the C's and the other brackets. I can see the lines on the inside of the tubes were the welds are but they feel smooth. I guess I'll get to use that new big ass hammer I bought.