ProjectSoloGear
New Member
- Joined
- January 5, 2005
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Southern California
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 98 XLT
My brother has a 98 Explorer XLT 4.0 SOHC RWD and recently developed the whinny noise coming from underneath the car (68k miles). When we brought it to the Ford Dealership they said every bearing in the rear axle and in the differential housing needs to be replaced along with the seals. The quote was around $1600. Since I'm mechanically inclided, have a mech engineering background, and the explorer didn't need to be used right now, I decided to give it a shot myself and made this into a project.
I did a lot of research on this website and signed up as a member a few days ago. Got the Chilton manual from the library and took a look at the rear axle. I jacked up the car, supported it on stands, checked the fill plug and the housing was full (no leakage), checked all the seals and every seal looks undamaged, and opened the differential housing cover. Found no obvious metal debries inside the housing or in the oil. Gears looked unharmed, and as far as I can tell everything looks good inside. Pulled the two axles out of the side, checked the wheel bearing, it rotated fine with no restriction--no debries there also. That leaves me with the differential assembly, ring and pinion, and the remaining hidden bearings.
I got this far and realized the Chilton manual doesn't go further. I think I'm going to ask you guys for assistance from here. I read the articles on the rangerstation.com tech section and realize the pinion backlash setup and the torquing on the nut is a pain in the butt, and without further instruction by the Hanes manual, I'm stepping into danger zone.
I asked a mechanics friend, he was suppose to come visit tonight and check it out but was held up, and over the phone he says it could either be the pinion bearings or the shims being worn too thin. Does anyone have any comment. Should I be checking anything else before I dig into the pinion and ring? Where can I find information for special tools needed, detailed instructions for removal and install? I don't even know how much torque is needed to put the two carrier bearings back on. Most likely I'm going to pull the pinion shaft and have NAPA replace the damaged bearings (if that's the case)...but nightmare awaits me when I return to put everything back in. Any help is appreciated.
Regards,
Dominic
I did a lot of research on this website and signed up as a member a few days ago. Got the Chilton manual from the library and took a look at the rear axle. I jacked up the car, supported it on stands, checked the fill plug and the housing was full (no leakage), checked all the seals and every seal looks undamaged, and opened the differential housing cover. Found no obvious metal debries inside the housing or in the oil. Gears looked unharmed, and as far as I can tell everything looks good inside. Pulled the two axles out of the side, checked the wheel bearing, it rotated fine with no restriction--no debries there also. That leaves me with the differential assembly, ring and pinion, and the remaining hidden bearings.
I got this far and realized the Chilton manual doesn't go further. I think I'm going to ask you guys for assistance from here. I read the articles on the rangerstation.com tech section and realize the pinion backlash setup and the torquing on the nut is a pain in the butt, and without further instruction by the Hanes manual, I'm stepping into danger zone.
I asked a mechanics friend, he was suppose to come visit tonight and check it out but was held up, and over the phone he says it could either be the pinion bearings or the shims being worn too thin. Does anyone have any comment. Should I be checking anything else before I dig into the pinion and ring? Where can I find information for special tools needed, detailed instructions for removal and install? I don't even know how much torque is needed to put the two carrier bearings back on. Most likely I'm going to pull the pinion shaft and have NAPA replace the damaged bearings (if that's the case)...but nightmare awaits me when I return to put everything back in. Any help is appreciated.
Regards,
Dominic