i have a 2010 jk 4-door with 4-6 inch lift (bought it already lifted).I'm changing the rear drive shaft due to the rear diff U-joint blowing apart and damaging the drive shaft. I removed the rear pinion nut and pulled off the rear yoke. called it a night because i didn't have the correct socket for the transfer case pinion nut. the next day someone tried to move the truck and stopped when they heard a loud clang. in looking at the rear diff I see the pinion shifted back into the differential housing and about 1/2 inch of the splines is showing and the spline shaft is not centered. I jacked the back of truck up but cannot rotate the tires (did not try to force it) is it possible to pull the pinion shaft back into place thru without removing the axles or does the rear-end need to be disassembled?

 

Put the yoke and pinion nut on, and slowly draw it back into place.

 

thanks. I wasn't able to get the yoke on that way. just wasn't enough spline showing. I opened the differential and was able to tap the pinion back in place..in the process i also needed to change the pinion seal. I have everythng back together and torqued the pinion nut to 160 ft/lbs but when truck is in gear, Fwd or Rev, there is a constant squeaking coming from the area of the pinion shaft.

 

Others may have a different opinon, but considering that pinion was completely dislodged, I don't think you can trust the general 160 ft lbs spec that most will use when simply changing yoke or pinion flange. In those cases the pinion hasn't been dislodged back down into the housing. I'd probably be a little more concerned that your preload is not correct now, and the only way to ensure that is pull the carrier back out and use an inch lbs torque wrench to test. Guess there's a chance too that bearings could have been damaged??

@TheDirtman - opinion here?