Different front axle pinion lengths?
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JK Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 346
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From: Houston, TX
Different front axle pinion lengths?
I just got my gears swapped yesterday by Travis (Brute4ce) and he found something interesting.
The front axle on my 12 JKUR had a shorter shaft on the pinion. He discovered it when trying to set torque on the shaft and crush washer but couldn't get it to go (he broke a couple wrenches). When he measured length of the pinion shaft it was 1/8 inch shorter than my new gears so he double checked against a few other sets he had and sure as sh!t, the stock pinion was short and the housing had different tolerances.
Luckily, Travis was able to find machine washers to use as shims, but it blows my mind that from the factory they had to machine different length pinions because of different spec housings.
Oh, and my rear gear oil was roasted with lessees than 20k miles because the backlash was too tight
The front axle on my 12 JKUR had a shorter shaft on the pinion. He discovered it when trying to set torque on the shaft and crush washer but couldn't get it to go (he broke a couple wrenches). When he measured length of the pinion shaft it was 1/8 inch shorter than my new gears so he double checked against a few other sets he had and sure as sh!t, the stock pinion was short and the housing had different tolerances.
Luckily, Travis was able to find machine washers to use as shims, but it blows my mind that from the factory they had to machine different length pinions because of different spec housings.
Oh, and my rear gear oil was roasted with lessees than 20k miles because the backlash was too tight