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Driving without front axles and differential

9K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  yjsaabman 
#1 ·
My front pinion is making a lot of noise and the driveshaft needs work. Its past winter so I was thinking about bulling it all apart before the bearing goes all together, I also want to re-gear to 3.73 (It's 3.55 now) and I believe I need a new carrier anyway (can anyone confirm that?). Also I have read the crush bearing for the pinion is quite a time consumer. But, my time and money is limited so I was wondering if I take out the differential, pinion, drive shaft, and the axles if I would be fine for a few months and just seal the openings for now. When I replaced the axles late last year I noticed they slide in, and the axle its self does not hold anything in, the bearing housing does so I cannot imagine why it should not be a issue but can anyone confirm that? My TC is 242 so running in 2WD or 4WD Part would be fine. Thanks!
 
#2 ·
You just need to pull the inner axle shafts and the driveshaft. Then the diff guts won't turn and it'll be fine.

You only pull the inner shafts, not the stubs, stub shaft is necessary to keep the preload on the wheel bearing, otherwise the wheel will try to fall off.
 
#3 ·
Thanks, I understand that. My axles are CV and I don't want to break them apart, but I do have standby u-joint ones I could use. I would just have to figure out how to get the hub nuts off as I broke a break bar trying to loosen them and eventually gave up and just replaced the bearings along with the new axles, so the u-joint axles have the bearings still attached. I assume I cannot leave the axles and remove the carrier because I assume the carrier has the bearings for the axles, at least I know the rear ones do because I have had that apart before.
 
#4 ·
Wonder if you could just remove the two spider gears so the ring and pinion dont spin? The c-clips keep the side gears in place and thats what the axles ride in.

Ive never heard of anyone doing this so dont try this without someone that knows more about it.
 
#5 ·
No c clip in a front d30.

If you removed the spiders the shaft splines would be able to bounce around in the carrier bore, as they would only be centered by the seal IIRC, wouldn't be a good plan.

U-joint stubs and no inners is the way to go. For extra credit, do something to seal where the inner shaft enters the pumpkin, but honestly, I see an hp30 build in your future.
 
#6 ·
Yeap, you either need stub shafts, or another option is to pull the ring gear if you have CV shafts.

I've done it both ways, and both work just fine.
 
#8 ·
^^^This.

When I bought my first 98 the ring and pinion had been damaged by a locked up VC. I slid the axles out, pulled the differential carrier and removed the ring gear. I reassembled it and took off the front driveshaft.

It worked fine for the two weeks it took to locate and buy a complete front axle and install it.

GW
 
#14 ·
What about just the pinon gear? My gold and pinion gear are just wobbling around. How bad would it be if I just took the pinon gear out itself? No front drive shaft no 4wd.
If you must leave the inner shafts in, removing the ring gear is the better option because that way you can still seal the diff up and fill with gear oil for your carrier bearings. If you pull the pinion you'll just have a big ol' hole in the pumpkin and no way to keep the fluid in.
 
#13 ·
It’s traditional to pull the ring gear as it doesn’t have any sealing surfaces.

If you pull the pinion you have rather a large hole to fill compared to any of the suggestions in this thread.

Pulling the pinion also seems like way more work than just pulling shafts or the ring gear. You have to pull the shafts and the carrier anyway just to get to the pinion.
 
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