Dana 35 bearing question.

[Bomberjeep]

Alas I have yet another question.  

 

The other night I went to pick up a set of wheels from a buddy for a steal.  While driving there I heard yet another new noise.  While trying to hunt down the noise, I noticed that the rear end had some slop to it.  So I pulled the cover off and while rotating the wheels to spin the carrier I noticed that my carrier is flopping around in the housing.  Basically I need a rebuild kit for the Dana 35.  My question is are the master rebuild kits the same size between the Dana 35 and Dana 35c?  2 nights of googling have turned up zero definitive answers.

 

 

[ghetdjc320]

Yes the rebuild kits are the same. Just where exactly are you seeing the play? If the pinion is held to prevent movement and the wheels are off the ground, there should be some play if you rotate the ring gear in each direction, that’s your backlash and is set by shimming the carrier towards the pinion. Or are you referring to the spider gears inside the carrier? 
 

 

[Bomberjeep]

27 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Yes the rebuild kits are the same. Just where exactly are you seeing the play? If the pinion is held to prevent movement and the wheels are off the ground, there should be some play if you rotate the ring gear in each direction, that’s your backlash and is set by shimming the carrier towards the pinion. Or are you referring to the spider gears inside the carrier? 
 

 

With the wheels off the ground and the cover off the carrier itself is twisting in the housing.  I'm not talking about the normal rotation and backlash that is supposed to be there.  Kind of looks like the passenger side carrier bearing is wallered out a bit and the end is able to move around in that free space.  I should have taken a video, but was trying to wrap things up.  I'm sure my description isnt the best.

[ghetdjc320]

Gotcha, makes sense. Any shims under the passenger side carrier bearing? 

[ghetdjc320]

If you want to do a full rebuilt these are really good kits: https://www.revolutiongear.com/product/dana_35_master_rebuild_kit_revolution_gear

 

But you may be able to just do a carrier bearing swap. On the D35, the shims should be under the bearings which is a bit easier to work with. Anymore, I’ve been going with Koyo bearings. They are made in Japan and the quality have been consistent. Timken and National have been all over the place in terms of quality. Koyo tends to be just a few bucks cheaper but I’d actually put their quality over that of recent batches of Timkens I’ve seen.

[Bomberjeep]

27 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Gotcha, makes sense. Any shims under the passenger side carrier bearing? 

Honestly I’m not sure. I’m sure there are but I haven’t actually pulled the carrier out yet. I wanted to order the bearings first. It’s good to know that those joyous bearings are decent. I am surprised to hear about timken though. 
 

I appreciate the feedback!

[ghetdjc320]

1 hour ago, Bomberjeep said:

Honestly I’m not sure. I’m sure there are but I haven’t actually pulled the carrier out yet. I wanted to order the bearings first. It’s good to know that those joyous bearings are decent. I am surprised to hear about timken though. 
 

I appreciate the feedback!

Timken has been the gold standard for many years, it’s maybe the past 3 that’s it’s been sporadic

[gogmorgo]

You might get away with just changing the carrier bearings, but if there’s enough play in them you’re able to move the carrier around, there’s probably enough metal floating around to cause some damage to every other bearing in there and the ring and pinion will have started wearing in a new and not-so-great pattern.

I would definitely want to pull the whole thing apart, take a good look at everything, and give the housing the best cleaning I could. If you miss any damaged component now, it’ll keep failing and you’ll be doing everything again soon. 
The shims are generally going to be thick cast iron washers between the bearing and housing, unless there’s also shims under the bearings on the carrier. Also on the pinion gear if you pull the bearing off. Keep track of where everything was and put it all back in the same place… and hopefully no one else in there before you screwed anything up.

 

Especially if it’s just an open diff, it might be good to weigh the cost/benefits of rebuilding the axle vs swapping to something sturdier. I’m on the second full rebuild of the D35 in my ZJ after bending an axle shaft not long after the first full rebuild, which took out the wheel bearing and sent shrapnel through the rest of the housing, wiping out the rest of the bearings. I didn’t think I should’ve rebuilt it the second time but the timing didn’t lend itself for a swap. A junkyard axle shaft and I bought all the bearings and seals individually, best quality I could get next day from the local parts store. I won’t be doing it a third time. 

[Bomberjeep]

16 hours ago, gogmorgo said:

You might get away with just changing the carrier bearings, but if there’s enough play in them you’re able to move the carrier around, there’s probably enough metal floating around to cause some damage to every other bearing in there and the ring and pinion will have started wearing in a new and not-so-great pattern.

I would definitely want to pull the whole thing apart, take a good look at everything, and give the housing the best cleaning I could. If you miss any damaged component now, it’ll keep failing and you’ll be doing everything again soon. 
The shims are generally going to be thick cast iron washers between the bearing and housing, unless there’s also shims under the bearings on the carrier. Also on the pinion gear if you pull the bearing off. Keep track of where everything was and put it all back in the same place… and hopefully no one else in there before you screwed anything up.

 

Especially if it’s just an open diff, it might be good to weigh the cost/benefits of rebuilding the axle vs swapping to something sturdier. I’m on the second full rebuild of the D35 in my ZJ after bending an axle shaft not long after the first full rebuild, which took out the wheel bearing and sent shrapnel through the rest of the housing, wiping out the rest of the bearings. I didn’t think I should’ve rebuilt it the second time but the timing didn’t lend itself for a swap. A junkyard axle shaft and I bought all the bearings and seals individually, best quality I could get next day from the local parts store. I won’t be doing it a third time. 

Honestly, as much as I would love to do an axle swap, it just really isnt in the cards.  Between sourcing an axle and getting everything welded up, the cost is outside my pain threshold.  I can fully appreciate the strength improvement that comes with the axle swap.  This little truck just bombs around town.