Baystate Jeepers

So I noticed that the front pinion was loose at Rausch. Since mitchell built the axle and it is only a year old I went back to them this morning to inspect it. The ring, pinion and pinion bearings are shot, in only ~10k miles. The front DS was out of balance by 20 thousandths and that may have been the cause of the wear. They are now saying it will cost almost $1k to rebuild! Considering a rebuild kit costs ~$350 (http://www.quadratec.com/products/52419_903X_A_PG.htm) they are going to charge me $500+ in labor. Any other options? Can anyone recommend a local (to me) shop to do the work instead? Anyone good enough at setting up gears want to help me? Pretty frustrated that I spent so much money on that axle and I'm already having issues.

Key word(s) is "may have been"

What is the verbiage of their warranty?

Can you explain more to what you mean by shot? How new is the DS?

Since the drive shaft is really more for the ride when not in 4wd, how in the world would that be the issue?

I've got a $100.00 GC for Mitchell, it's yours if you want it. I've heard nothing good about the place and will never go there.

they won't cover anything that's been offroad, so the warranty isn't worth a thing.

the pinion has some play up and down and in and out, at least a few thousandths. the bearings are most likely shot. the ring gear is showing excessive wear in some locations as if it's worn through the hard outer section, so mitchell doesn't think it will last long and therefore it needs a new set of gears.

the DS was shortened and rebuilt by them at the same time as i got the axle. the theory is that the DS being out of balance cause excessive up and down stress/vibration on the pinion bearings, which over time wore them out. even in 2WD the DS is still spinning at speed, so the lack of balance can still cause the problem.

thanks doug! every little bit helps. (and that's more than a little bit!)

so unless the driveshaft is all beat up, how do they know that you have been offroad since they built it?

Little Napoleon wrote:so unless the driveshaft is all beat up, how do they know that you have been offroad since they built it?

Umm... have you ever seen Ryan's jeep. "Honestly, I didn't offroad the axle!" isn't believable

That sucks Ryan. Not that it matters so much, but could you tell if there were any front end vibrations before the Rausch trip? I'm wondering if the new ultra-low torque from the atlas could have twisted things out of spec rather than it being caused by the driveshaft. You did twist RCV shafts after all.

I still have my stock D30 shafts if you want to pull the whole axle and swap back the D30 with just stub shafts. Then you could build it yourself over a couple weekends or drop it off somewhere.

i couldn't tell anything was wrong before rausch. while it's possible that the DS was twisted at rausch, i'd be shocked if the bearings would go that bad in ~500 miles, which is all i've put on it since the trip. the bearings could have been damaged at rausch, but you'd figure a u-joint would pop or the teeth would sheer before the bearings would loosen up. the pinion nut was perfectly tight.

I know a few others who have dealt with Mitchell, have had problems, and got no help from them. I won't go there...

Call Lou or Dom and see what they will quote you... Don't know any place closer.

JW

Baseshakers wrote:they won't cover anything that's been offroad, so the warranty isn't worth a thing.

wow that's a punk way to do business! Sell a product aimed at off-roaders, for off-roading......
but then if you use it for what it's built for, the warranty is void!!!!!

Hey Ryan, sorry about the problems your having with your set up. I sent a line to Dan at Mitchell about their work and backing it up but I don't know how much good that will do. I've purchased two differential set ups there and have had no problems. I use Warn lock out hubs on my rig. No axel or diff spin when not in off road use. Also the front dis-connect hubs act as a torque fuse should something "wants to break". With you using the LJ as a daily driver, maybe this is one more mod you need to do...after the front is repaired. If I can help...call or email me.

Ryan : You wont know whats up till you remove the parts. We have the smarts to rebuild it if you want. The good thing is you have the shim paks to measure for pinion depth , which is the biggest part. Do you know if its shims or crush sleeve ? The rest is preload and thats not hard to do. Lets have at it. Let me know. We will need set up bearings and If mine wont work on your 30, some one has them. 860-214-1965 FjR68

thanks for all the input guys. i'm going to speak with dan on monday and see what he comes back with. at this point i really don't want to give them any more of my hard earned $, but we'll see.

it may be time to learn how to set pinion depth, i've already mastered carrier setup (backlash and pre-load) with all the locker swaps in the past. this axle (high pinion dana 44) uses shims, so it'll be even easier then dealing with a crush sleeve. i can always modify my old carrier bearings for setup bearings, i may just need to order an extra set of pinion bearings.

i think it's time to invest in one of these to set pinion preload properly: any other recommendations?

probably also need one of these to accurately set the pinion nut, mine only goes to 100 ft-lbs:

Here's an article to get you started, very good read.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/articles/tech/ ... Gear_Setup

Don't get the torque wrench, I've got 2. (I bought one, "lost" one, bought another, the found one ) We can work something out for it.

That sucks! Ryan, I have a set of pinion setup bearings that I have used to setup my HP44, XJ44, and Rubi44. Please let me know if you decide to setup the gears yourself.

You are always welcome to borrow my in-lb torque wrench instead of popping the 130