Changing gears next week....Q's about trac lok rebuild...

[The Green GT]

Ok, I have a family friend helping me with my gear swap. He has a lift and everything and I know he knows how to do gears. he changed them in my dads old Suburban a while back and there were no problems. Donw to the questions.

Frst off, hes not exactly sure about re-biuilding the trac-lok unit. Isnt that as simple as removing the old shims and clutches and putting the new ones in?

Second. Another guy told me that you need a special tourqe wrench to do the pinion nut? He said something about hes never done gears with a crush collar so he dosent have the tool.

Third. Do I need to put the friction modifier in if I use Royal Purple oil?

Fourth. Will I need to remove the gas tank?

 

[True 5.0]

The gas tank can stay.

Royal Purple has friction modifiers already added to it.

You don't need a special torque wrench. I don't remember the setting for the pinion nut, but my 1/2" drive (250 lb/ft max) torque wrench is all I used. You need the crush collar, too. It sets the preload on the pinion bearings.

The TL rebuild isn't complicated. Compressing the springs is a major pain, but once removed, the friction plates just pop out and the new ones pop back in. I think there is a special tool for the springs, too.

Good luck.

 

[The Green GT]

is the spring tool designed specifically for rear ends, or would one that you use on say drum brakes work for it?

if not would they have it at a parts store?

 

[True 5.0]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/rebuild_tractionlock.htm

Check this site out. It haas a good explanation of the whole process.

 

[Ronman]

I'm not sure of the actuall number but you need a torque wrench with inch pounds setting on it to set the pinion preload. Basically how much inch pounds it takes to turn the pinion after the gears are in and during the crush collar "crushing". You dont want it to loose or easy to turn, or to tight or hard to turn, thats why you need the rec. setting. Should find it in a manual. And the backlash needs set also, your mechanic should know how to do that. Thinking bout rebuilding my t-loc, let me know how well it works after

 

[The Green GT]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/rebuild_tractionlock.htm

Check this site out. It haas a good explanation of the whole process.

Thank. But what do they mean by this? What exaclt would 'lock"?

Presoak the plates in gear oil overnight. If you don't do this, you'll get some SERIOUS locking action for quite a while until the clutch plates absorb the oil.

 

[True 5.0]

"SERIOUS locking action" translates into "acting like a spooled rear end" i.e. tire scuff / squeal in turns and white knuckle driving in the twisties during rain / snow.

 

[The Green GT]

Sounds like fun. lol

So basically both wheels spinning the same speed all the time, so when you turn its real wierd.

 

[True 5.0]

Yep.

 

[The Green GT]

Also they sent me a gasket made from cardboard. And I just dont like the though of cardboard holding my fluid in, regardless of the RTV bead or not. Will the cardboard gasket be fine?

And what all besides the clutche packs should I soak in oil over night? The gears?

And I read somewhere that ill need 3 bottles of oil, not 2.

 

[RIO5.0]

3 qts of oil and you wont use it all....If you throw the clutches in oil before you start taking the dif out you'll be fine...you just dont want any dry spots on them...No need to soak the gears..

Couple things FWTW....This has some good info on the rebuild..
http://www.corral.net/tech/drivetrain/gears.html

You can beef up your set-up by adding a 4th clutch, stock is 3...use your best clutch unless there spent..The stock S spring will still fit...This method just gives it a tad more bite...you can see the 4th one in my pic...(they have the tabs)

Have an axle by your bench...you do the set-up and then drop the dif on the axle and rotate it...this will tell you if you need a "plus or minus" shims to get a good fit. you can tell by the way the spiders rotate into position..If the set-up is off the dif wont rotate into position ..youll see once you try it...your instructions give you info on it.

Dont forget theres small conical shims on the backside if the spider gears, there hard to notice...they may be stuck on due to dif fluid...make sure these are in place at re-assy time...

A small Brass driver works good for seating the S spring..use a radiator clamp to squish it down some...wedge it into place then use your Brass driver to drive it into position, going side to side..get it half way in, cut the clamps and drive it home..I had a 1/4" thick one it it worked the balls as it can fit inside the spring..

Check that your pin will go back thru your S spring BEFORE you re-install the dif...its easy on the bench and a pisser when your install it and find it would go back thru everything...you can see in the pic the how your pin goes thru the slot in the spring..

It takes a few tries to understand whats going on but o/all it fairly tit...

 

[The Green GT]

Yea, I planned on adding a 4th clutch.

And I think I have a pretty good idea of whats going on in it. Ive read about 10 different writeups so I kinda know what to expect.

For future reference I found this VERY helpful: http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/5ohcpa/cpa5ohtech001.htm

 

[RIO5.0]

Yea, I planned on adding a 4th clutch.

And I think I have a pretty good idea of whats going on in it. Ive read about 10 different writeups so I kinda know what to expect.

For future reference I found this VERY helpful: http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/5ohcpa/cpa5ohtech001.htm

Good deal...Get tready to get your fingers jammed some...wrangling all the shims in place and holding the spiders can be a mofo while your getting the fit...I had to re-set mine 6 times over til I liked the fit...

 

[The Green GT]

Good deal...Get tready to get your fingers jammed some...wrangling all the shims in place and holding the spiders can be a mofo while your getting the fit...I had to re-set mine 6 times over til I liked the fit...

Luckily Ill have someone helping me. I was talking to him and he knows someone that works for a performance tranny shop so he does them all the time. Hes gonna see if he can get him to pass when we get it out and do it in like 10 minutes.

 

[GRGT1994]

Sounds like you are pretty well set there. You were smart to read several writeups, even though you have help from a good mechanic. Each walk through focuses on slightly different things, and glosses over others. Plus this way, you should get a ton more out of the process than if you were just relying on your friend.

Couple of things I remember from when I did mine. Replace all your bearings while you are in there (too easy). I used a highly technical special use tool to compress my trac loc springs (vice grip plyers). Backlash does requires a dial indicator - measure several times, and make sure you have it right. RTV alone (no gasket) seals up well. Friction modifier may still be needed with the Royal Purple (dont remember for sure). But you won't hurt anything by leaving it out. If you hear an annoying amount of chatter turning around corners, then add some. Crushing the crush collar takes some good force - get your breaker bar out. And you do need an inch pound torque wrench to measure the pinion preload (turn resistance). If I remember right, the spec is around 15 inch poinds, so you need a very light inch pound wrench.

Oh ya, and friction modifier stinks.

 

[Bosko5.0]

Are you missing a steel plate out of the trac-loc rebuild kit?

the trac loc rebuild is the easiest thing to do

things youll need:

in. pound torque wrench. (bar style, no clicker)
breaker bar with 3-5ft pipe on the end
dial indicator and stand
hammer
punch
fingers
hands
drinks
food
tv

when you compress the crush sleeve do it in small increments and check the pinion preload after every increment.

Heres something about the pinion preload that i wasnt told about til i had it all back together, since your using new bearings and racesesesesss Make sure you tap the pinion on both ends when you have the desire preload the check and also rotate the pinion both ways a couple turns, do both these things until you get the pinion preload to stay where you want it, or else your backlash will change and mess every thing up

if the guy your friend knows happens to have a pinion depth tool tell him to bring it just incase things dont add up. you m ight not need it though

also i was talking to a couple guys that work at driveline shop they do every thing there racing rock crawling custom axle custom AL DS i mean every thing and they said that the back lash should be between .008-.010 because when you break the gears in they wear some and in the end you should have around .009-.012.

if you want you can leave the sway bar on and use it to help hold the gears up while you try to put it in.


what I did was soak the clutches in friction modifier for like 2 hour put em in and all i heard were 2 pops then no more of coarse it will always make the popping noise for a little while for the first turn. but then it stops.


sorry for the long post but I took the rear end apart more times then iam old and thats 20 so i now know 20 ways not to do the gears.