So far, Chambers. I don't want to speak too soon, but so far, I've measured about 20*F less than I did before with the same driving conditions. On the longer trips, it would be at 160*F (higher speeds) and I'm measuring 140*F now. The trips I was measuring in the 140's, I'm in the 120's. I've only done 3 trips so I'll keep monitoring it and see. I think the combination of new bearings and wider backlash helps with the cooling. Once the bearings wear in a little, I'm hoping that it'll run even a little cooler.

The noise I was hearing from 40-50 is extremely faint now on coast and nonexistent on accel, but still have a noise during cruise at 44-48. That I'll have to live with. Will probably have to replace the ring and pinion to get rid of that noise. Even if that'll work so I'll live with it. When I'm towing, it'll always be under some sort of load so I'll probably never hear it.

It doesn't feel as "tight" as it seems to coast a little easier now. Before it seemed to have a "light" drag when coasting to a stop. I mean very light, but now it's not dragging at all.

I'm not counting my chickens this time ... but so far so good. The best install, yet.

 

Better yet, drive home today, 10 miles @ 45-50 mph used to measure 140 ish measured 115 @ 75 degrees ambient. I hope this last time was the ticket.

 

Decided to bring backlash to 0.006 this weekend since it seems I have less noise with the tighter backlash (before it was at 0.007). It wasn't necessarily louder at 0.010, but was at a wider range. It was like from 40 to 55 just about. Now I'm back to 44 to 48. I don't know if I want to go any tighter than that.

Here's why I decided to go 0.006 ... that "900.0" picture ... or is it "0.006?" lol



Drive pattern


Coast pattern (looks a bit wierd). Maybe that's because I used oil paint instead of that lead stuff and it smears better. That and I put it in N to let it rotate a few rotations while it was up there.

 

The backlash can open up as it wears in, so a little tighter is good.

 

That was my thinking. Last time I had it at 0.007, it seemed to be getting a little less noisier before I did the pinion bearing replacement and set it to 0.010. The drive pattern is almost hard to see since it has a bit of wear on it by now. By the time the weekend rolls around, I keep thinking of things I can do, but I think I got everything right where it needs to be and the noise is probably from the prior bad install. I'll keep you posted. Tighter backlash and still getting the same temps as above so maybe I did have bearing issues.

 

man, my hat is off to you sir. That is one hell of a job and to do it yourself... I'll be honest i'm speechless.

In all my time on jeep and dodge forums this is probably one of the first DIY gear installs I have seen.. I've read threads on people building their own lift kits for old CJ jeeps and installing Dana 60 axles on jeeps of all years...

but a DIY gear install.. sir you deserve multiple colder than ice beers.

 

I appreciate that, Ben. It is definitely a hell of a job. I think my gears have gone through so many different settings now, that the noise I'm getting won't go away. If that's the case, so be it. Some say yes, some say no, but I guess it depends on the kind of noise. I only get noticeable noise under no load conditions or cruising within a certain speed range. I give it gas, noise goes away, I let off the gas and let it coast, noise goes away. I'm just going to see how it goes. I haven't been able to just let it be for a while to let them work in, I'm always tweaking the dang thing - never giving them a chance to work in. That's my take on the whole thing.

I'll keep monitoring temps on it - never really did get a firm answer on what the temps on this thing are supposed to be. I'm measuring with an infrared and get anywhere from 113*F to 141*F, depending on how hard I drive it. I'm going to be towing a 5200 lbs. trailer come mid-April about 250 miles. I hope to God things work in my favor.

 

Well a short drive would get mine up to 100-110 and the last hour drive I did on the highway it got up to 150. I don't think my install was the best though and I haven't gotten any highway drive temps in awhile. I think your temps are in the right range.

 

Mine are about 10*F higher than yours it seems, but then again, the weather down here has been pretty warm, too. 75*F-85*F ambient. I've heard that directly affects rear temps. My short trips usually around 110-115 ... longer trips in the 120's-140's. Highway for about 10 minutes didn't do much different ... i think that's when it measured 141.

 

Things are working well. Had a few highway trips. Noise is still there on coast and cruise. Debating whether I should open it up a tad to .008 which is what motive said their specs are +/- .003. I'm still in spec on the tight side. Just when I had it at .010, my pinion load was too high so any noise there I'm sure was attributed to that somewhat.