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rebuilding rear end

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saabmp3

saabmp3

Jedi Hopeful
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So I'm going to begin my rear end rebuild this weekend, I'm planning 4 days total for the project (saturday & sunday, buy parts and 5 days for shipping, next saturday & sunday). My plan for this weekend is to pull out the current gear and to take apart the drive shaft U joints for inspection (but I'm about 99% sure that I'm going to replace them anyways).

Now, what should I order in terms of seals and replacement parts? Is there a rear pinion seal per say? Anything that could be replaced in the shafts? While I have the rear drum brakes apart, depending on cost, I might go ahead and replace the pads/have the drums turned.

I have the Haynes and Chilton manual (I think it's the Chilton), but has anybody made a stp by step run down of what you have to do?

The second weekend is obviously going to consist of rebuilding the entire rear end.

Ben
 
Drums, its shoes! I don't have any experience with this, but I want to swap pumpkins, so I'll follow the respounces. My dad was a mechanic(retired) and he has told me that if things aren't damaged, and are true, that turning drums or discs are a waste. What is the answer?
 
If there's no evidence of scoring or gouges, the new shoes/pads will bed in just fine on a street driven car without turning rotors and drums.

Pinion seal and a "crush tube" for the pinion gear setup. The tube is meant to deform to a specific distance at a particular torque load on reassembly. The rest is bearings and shims to set up the side load tolerances. The manuals cover the proceedure fairly well, so the books are "your friend" here. If you pull the shaft there's no good reason NOT to replace the U-joints. Timken or Spicer are usually readily available from a good local bearing house, and cheap.

EDIT: The seals are also nothing "oddball" and can be found at a good local bearing house. The only proprietary bits are the crush tube and the cup washers and shims.

HTH!!
 
You can pullout the half shafts and leave the brakes alone if they are ok. Just take off the drums and the screw for the axle and put them out. If a drum looks damged, it about as cheap to buy a new one than to have it ground on. Are you going to be taking apart the ring and pinion? Does the rearend whine?
 
Well, I have the rear end apart and I plan on ordering parts later today (probably from Moss). So far my list, for the rear end, includes:

2x rear wheel bearing kit
-tab washer
-gasket
-oil seal
-o ring
-bearing
2x u-joints
axel case gasket


How hard is it to install the rear wheel bearings? I figure if I'm replacing the seals, it's only another 20 bucks total to get the "kit" and piece of mind. The pinion seals appear to be a bear to replace, so I'm going to leave them alone if I can.

Oh yeah Jack, I'm going to pick up some dust covers while I'm at it as well :p

Ben
 
This is an easy job, no bigee for the rear end, However I would suggest you have your friendly auto shop do the u joints, really needs a press or large vice.
 
[ QUOTE ]
This is an easy job, no bigee for the rear end, However I would suggest you have your friendly auto shop do the u joints, really needs a press or large vice.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh? Well, I specifically went ou and bought a vice to do the ujoints on my Jeep (which dwarf the ujoints on the A/H). I'll have to reconsider in that case perhaps.

I forgot to add, it looks like somebody recently replaced the rear brakes as both the pads and drums are quite fresh. They just didn't properly adjust the either the parking brake cable or the pads themselves.

Ben
 
Poorly adjusted rear brakes/parking brake seem to be quite common in my experience. Also, it effects the whole system because (if you've ever rebuilt a master cylinder you know) the rear brakes are actuated first and if there is too much brake pedal travel before the rear brakes start to grab, then it effects the way the front brakes work. If everything looks good, go ahead and reuse it but make sure to adjust everything exactly how the manual says to insure good braking.

JACK
 
If you have done the u joints on your jeep no problem with the mg at all.
 
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