I picked up a Ford Motosport 456 gearset this weekend for the mustang. Last night I replace the 373's with the 456 and just wanted to comment on crush sleeves.
Crush sleeves are not used in Toyota's or off road 4x4's They have a tendency to back off under hard use. I experienced this before in the vet and my son's jeep.
Beside crush sleeves are a pain to properly torque down to get the proper drag on the bearings. Part of a turn too much and the sleeve is ruined and holding the pinion while torqueing to hundreds of foot pounds has always been a problem.
When replacing gears I measure the old crush sleeve then take a piece of pipe and quickly machine the ID to slide over the pinion and make the OD so it doesn't hit the bearing rollers but keep it fairly large. I make the solid spacer about .005 longer then the old crush sleeve.
I then install the pinion in the housing using this solid spacer and take the impact and tighten the pinion nut. I then set up a dial indicator on the pinion and push it back and forth to get a reading of end play.
I then take it apart and remove this end play from the spacer until it is zero.
For a check I reinstall the pinion using the spacer, use the impact on the pinion nut and tighten. You usually feel a slight drag on the pinion. This is for pinion preload.
For the final assembly I use a new pinion seal and red loctite on the pinion nut and just use the impact, nothing else to tighten the pinion nut.
Very simple to install a gearset this way and the pinion bearing preload will not back off or change with use.
Changing a gearset , if you know what you are doing should take no more then an evening. With luck on the pinion shim it should take only an hour to set up a vet rearend once the housing is on the bench.

 

For those of us wondering what a crush sleeve is... I'll be the first to ask! Whats a crush sleeve? :confused:

:cheers:

 

For those of us wondering what a crush sleeve is... I'll be the first to ask! Whats a crush sleeve?


When ever you change rear end gears a crush sleeve is a spacer that can only be used once. If it is overtightened by even 1/4 turn of the pinion nut it must be removed and a new one installed, It is a collapsing spacer used between the two pinion bearings. To properly collapse it you need to hold the pinion while using a very large bar/pipe on the pinion nut. You tighten a little , check the pinion bearing preload, retighten more, recheck, on and on until the spacer has collapsed to add the proper preload to the bearings. The slightest overtighten and you start over. I remember lots of times using a large pipe on the bar pulling my guts out slowly and evenly trying to get the bearing preload right.
Once I switched over to solid spacers I just use the impact and it take all the guess work out of doing the preload. All the guesswork, the impact does the work.
It is a better way for those who can quickly make a spacer.

 

Norval, did you do the switch with the diff in the car?

 

I agree 100%. To bad most of us don't have a lathe to machine a proper spacer. The crush sleeves are a pain in the #$%. I have ruined a couple by over crushing them. Norval I need to move next door to you! :jester

 

Or you could buy this for $40

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/ratech/sopibespwish15.html

 

Hi Norval,
I'm getting ready to install new gears in one of my buddies vette diff. He bought the spacer and shim set made by Ratech for this. You're correct in it's nothing more then a reduced sleeve just like the rear bearings use only its larger. They give you a bunch of shims also like the rear bearings use.
Last month I rebuilt the 72's differential and used the crush sleeve, only this time I measured the original and the new one and started crushing it on the press first. This made a big difference after about .020" crush, I was able to install it and use my 1/2" impact gun to crush it to the correct drag.

I have a digital camera now so I'll have to email you a shot of my shop!

Take care,
Gary


[Modified by gtr1999, 10:28 AM 3/23/2004]

 

Norval, did you do the switch with the diff in the car?

Yes, with the mustang you just pull the axles a few inches out and remove the back cover plate and slip the carrier out. Some claim they gears can be changed in 35 minutes but I tend to work alot slower but 2 hours is certainly way more then enough time. When people pay hundreds to have a set of gears setup I think what a rip off. It is really very easy if you know what you are doing.

 

. Norval I need to move next door to you! :thumbs:

When a house comes available I will post it on the forum :cheers:

 

Or you could buy this for $40

That's it Fevre but with a lathe in the shop and lots of heavy wall chrome moly tubing in stock I can whip up a spacer. For someone doing lots of changes like in a drag car that spacer with shims would work great.

 

I have a digital camera now so I'll have to email you a shot of my shop

Gary I would love to see shots of your shop. I know you do good work from the details of your posts.

 

Think a lathe would run me a little more than $40. :)

Was directing that toward Gordom, that kit would cost less then moving next to you, although it would prolly not be as interesting. :cheers:

 

An old mechanic friend of mine for years now....used some 1/4 inch plate and made a box/sleeve abut the size of a single electrical switch/outlet box, welded it to a stick of 3/4 inch steel rod about 6' long....and slipped it over any yoke he needed to, and just cranked away on any pinion /drive nut he needed to....also used it on FWD cars in between the lug studs, for axel nuts....

another simple idea.....

GENE

 

Norval: Having a machine shop makes things so much easier, doesn't it? :lol:

I'm moving from a one bedroom apt with single car garage to my first house that has an oversized 3-car garage next month. Can't wait!

 

Think a lathe would run me a little more than $40.

Guys I am a little older then most of you and have had years to accumulate stuff. My shop is very important to me and slowly outfitting it with equipment has always been my goal. I love working on my car, even as much as driving it so equipment is important. A good lathe can be picked up for under $4000. It is really that much? It will last a lifetime and you can do all sorts of things with it. Everyone needs some little income on the side, some place to pick up a little extra money. I have had this side income all my life and can't imagine not having it. Money the wife never sees, I can do anything with it and it never affects our house/family income. You can do side jobs with a lathe if you choose. I choose not and shoe horses on the side but the lathe and mill can always be put to use for custom work if I choose.

 

Gene that is fine but it is a crude way of setting preload. Torquing the poopie out of the pinion nut to get the crush sleeve to start collapsing and then stop at the exact time when the preload is right. It is just a crude/muscle way of doing things. I use a dial indicator, no muscle other then holding the impact and I get the correct drag.
I know it takes a lathe or access to one but any fabricating takes some tools. My lathe is just another tool.

 

I'm moving from a one bedroom apt with single car garage to my first house that has an oversized 3-car garage next month. Can't wait!

Zwede that is great. Congratulations on your move upward. That 3 car garage will really come in handy. Someday you will look back at a single car garage and wonder how you ever made do???
I started with the same single car garage, crowded with race car parts and the car but you know. Those were happy times too, I was alot younger, the wife more exciting, not that she isn't today, actually just as affectionate but in those days I was young and so was she. I was just horny them, now I am comfortable. Two different feelings, one harder on the nerves then the other. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Have a nice day Zwede.

 

Norval, you're a hoot! :lol: :lol:

I wonder how I get by with a one car now! It's an undersized 10x19. I've taken the engine down to the shortblock in it, replaced multiple trannies and ripped the entire interior out of the car. I soon learned that the space UNDERNEATH the car is very valuable. Amazing how many parts can be put under the car while you're working.

Currently planning my new garage. I'll have the floor epoxied, build a sturdy workbench, install a sink... tons of lighting... electrical outlets on all walls.... I'll start with the basic shop equipment: Bench drill, hyd press, bench grinder, MIG, compressed air. Will see how much I'll have to add to that.

 

Just a side note. If anyone takes their differential to a shop to have it rebuilt or have new gears put in and the shop guy tells you to reuse the old crush sleeve but turn it around, you need to turn around and go to another shop.

 

I can fit all three of my vehicles in my garage and still have a row of equip along the back wall, tight but it all fits. Can't wait to move and build a bigger one. :jester