Front carrier bearing replacement

[Randy in Maine]

How difficult is this really to do anyway? Mine is making some noise and a vibration driving down the road. My "guy" says to plan on about $350 to fix it ..about $45 for the bearing and the rest in labor to do it.

 

Is this something that I should tackle myself? On a scale of 1-10 (1= checking the tire pressures and 10 = rebuilding the engine) I usually feel pretty good about ~5 or less.

 

I have a lot going on with other non-Jeep projects also.

 

I have done a search here and read through a number of posts. I don't own a press, but the machine shops do.

 

I am a 90 longbed 4.0 with the 3.07 gears in there.

[reson46]

If you are referring to the bearings on each side of the carrier in the axle you can save a lot of money by doing most of the work yourself. Remove the axles and bearing caps and the carrier should come out. You may need to use a pry bar, but it shouldn't take much. Then take the carrier to a drivetrain shop with a press. A couple of years ago it only cost me about $30 for the bearings and to have them pressed on the carrier.

 

Willy

[pingpong]

With the RIGHT equipment I rate this a 3-4. You basically need to know how to change an axle shaft. Tool wise you will need at least a 12 ton press(20 is preferred) a good torque wrench and about 2 hrs.

 

If you decide to do this.. do not lose the shim packs from either side.

[BLHTAZ]

I would rate it an 8-9. You need to know how to set up gears to do this job as the set up will be completely different with the new bearings and the pattern will have to be re-set. It is not as simple as taking out the carrier, pressing off/on new bearings and putting it back in.

[reson46]

I would rate it an 8-9. You need to know how to set up gears to do this job as the set up will be completely different with the new bearings and the pattern will have to be re-set.

 

No, the gears do not need to be reset. Just use the same shims.

 

It is not as simple as taking out the carrier, pressing off/on new bearings and putting it back in.

 

Yes, it is this simple. At least in a D30 it is.

 

Willy

[BLHTAZ]

:dunno: My hands on experience with our YJ says different. I have had it apart 3 times now and every time new bearings were installed. The pattern was never the same...even trying to use the same shims so new/different shims had to be used and a complete new set up process followed. It was the same situation with with two other D30's that I have been personally involved with as well. I have heard of people getting lucky and being able to put the same shims back in, but that is NOT the norm and should not be expected. If you do that, you are much more likely to have a disasterous outcome than a good one. :cheers:

[pingpong]

I have done it the way I described, but I see your point where it could go the other way.

[CWLONGSHOT]

You really should re-setup the gears.

The shims move the carrier left or right to achieve the proper pattern on the teeth. The shims go between the side of the case and the bearings, no two are exactly the same.

 

If you want to take the chance that's up to you, but IF you do at the very least go to the dealer and buy OEM bearings. that way you will at least have a fighting chance the bearings dimensions will be the same or close. Go out and buy a chinese bearing and I guarantee you will find PROBLEMS as the dimensions WILL not be the same.....

 

CW

[Randy in Maine]

Well I think I will 1) go to the dealer and pick up the OEM bearings and 2) let my guy do the install. Might be $350 well spent.

 

I had these bearings replaced about a year ~ 10K ago and I am not sure if there is something else going on in there or what. I know this set up is not the best one out there, but I am not sure why I am having a tough time keeping them from whining. :huh???: He used the OEM bearings last time also but I wonder if they are chinese made for Jeep? Hard to tell anymore. Even Federal Mogul is chinese anymore.

 

This thing has about 168K on it ~about 75K put on by me and I am pretty sure it has never been hit or tweaked or anything like that.

[Pete M]

If you're paying to have gears set up, now's the time to contemplate upgrading your gear ratio. 3.07s suck. And I personally would just go get a junkyard axle from a newer cherokee with better gears than pay to fix an old Dana 30 like that. The last one I bought was $150 and it had 3.55 gears and didn't need a thing.

[Wildman]

If you had these bearing replace a year ago, I would side with Pete on this one, replace the entire D30 axle with a used / JY one, and you'll be way ahead of the game, $$ wise.

 

If your bearing are going that fast, there's a major problem with your D30.

 

I replace bearing in my '89 2 years ago, and 15k added to the clock, and I used a bearing puller, and heated the new bearing to slip right on, and didn't need a press to do this......although it would have been a little easier :roll:

 

Also if you go this route......replace all the axle seals at the same time.

 

This article covers upgrading to the larger U-joints on a D30, but it will give you an idea on what's involved with replacing the seals, and the bearings ;)