dana 35 help please

[DirtyDC05]

I was given a jeep xj that I Have been trying to get on the road for my son. Its gonna be his first vehicle. It came with a bent dana 35 housing and a bent axle shaft. I purchased a used complete dana 35 .I installed the ring and pinion from the axle that came with the jeep since its geared 4.10. I put new pinion bearings . I first tried to install everything using all the old shims but the ring and pinion would not turn . So I set the pinion depth and ran a pattern . Looks like it is the correct depth. I then set the preload by feel . I then shimmed for backlash . I could only get .005 or .011 so I went with the .005 .


I put everything back together and filled with fluid. I jacked up the rear end and put it gear . under acceleration I don't notice any abnormal noise but when I let it coast it kinda grinds . To me it sounds like the gears. Im going to drop the cover and run another pattern but what should I look for and what could cause this grinding?

Any help is appreciated since my son is bummed that Dad didn't get his jeep going .

Aaron

 

[szfofa]

I would try posting this question to NAXJA or Jeep Forum in the general driveline thread, since it's slightly more specialized on those forums. You could also call the Jeep Talk Show and maybe they'll cover it on their Thursday night episode. Good luck!

 

[Flhtruss]

Dirtydc05
Check the u joints, if you don't have a slip yoke on the output ride it around with out the drive shaft listen to what you hear.
Russ

 

[Outside somewhere]

Could be any number of things. At what speed do you get the noise? Are you sure the new used D35 is straight? That's the problem with the 35. A lot of jeeps that had them had guys that would beat on them until they could swap them so it could be tweaked. What about the shafts and the drive shaft? Did you change the ujoint's? Could also be the gear set. If you are sure the above things are ok I would start with the cheapest option first, new ujoint's and see what that does. If you still have the noise get a new set of 4.10's for the rear, flush everything and start from scratch.

 

[DirtyDC05]

Thanks for the replys guys, I watched a video on YouTube that explains how the pinion depth affects the pattern . Looks like I have the pinion to shallow causing the pinion to contact the root of the ring gear when coasting. I'm going to take it all apart and re shim the pinion.

 

[jscusmcvet]

Nice work Dad. FWIW, I had a 2001 Cherokee with the D35 rear. I added chromo shafts, a Spartan lunchbox locker, ruff stuff skid and ran either 31's and skinny 33's no problem. I think it is a decent axle, but as mentioned above people beat on it knowing they are likely to swap it out.

 

[Mitch502]

Check the front wheel bearings as well. I spent awhile thinking my rear end was going to go out any day...it was my wheel bearings in the front growling...just a thought. XJ and ZJ front hub bearings are the same...