So i am in the process of replacing my dana 44 gears and am close to done setting the pinion but i want to know if the crush sleeve is necessary? I only ask this because i have everything set up ( carrier installed, good pinion depth, and backlash is in specs) But when i put the crush sleeve in I am not strong enough to crush it against the bearing races. I read it takes like 300 to 400ft pounds of torque to get it to start to crush. I dont have a strong enough impact gun. Anyway i was just wondering if crush sleeves had to be installed and what exactly they do?

 

The crush sleeve maintains pre-load on the pinion bearing which allows for some wear to occur during it's lifetime so that there is no need to periodically adjust it.

In the old days you set up the pinion bearings with a solid sleeve and spacers, but this was time consuming and too hard for inexperienced line mechanics to do correctly. They introduced crush sleeves to simplify the job by having a spacer that "crushed" a specified amount under torquing.

 

You absolutely need a crush sleeve or a crush sleeve eliminator (a solid spacer with shims).

I prefer a solid spacer and shims, I went with a crush sleeve eliminator when I built my 8.8, it is a little time consuming but I don't need a new one if I go too far like with a crush sleeve and I don't need monstrous torque to start it crushing.

Another way to start crushing the sleeve is with a press. put together the pinion/bearing assembly outside of the diff and just start to crush it, then disassemble it and put it in the housing, now that the crush has been started it'll take less torque to set it.

 

Why not just rent one from a tool rental store? They usually run about $30 a day.

 

a really long breaker bar and some big arms always got mine done.id loan ya my 3/4 impact but you live to far away

 

haha thanks guys looks like i am just going to have to man up and if it comes down to it rent an impact gun. Good tips i will let you know how it turns out

 

ok so crush sleeve is now installed, torqued and taken care of. I have installed the carrier but now i can not get the intermediate shaft to slide into the carrier its like the carrier isnt sitting right in the diff case. Could that be the problem or is there some trick to get that shaft into the carrier that i dont know of. AHHH how annoying!!!

 

Nevermind I figured out that i needed to lift the shaft and guide it in. So i installed the new ring and pinion hopefully successfully we will see how it rides in the morning..