Replacing rear bearings on a Dodge pickup?

Well, gear lube is cheap so it shouldn't be a big deal to pull the diff cover and see if everything in there is ok. Same for the brakes since they can sure make that sound if something is wrong, regardless of whether they are drum or disk.

Pete C.

Yes, I will definitely pull the gear cover.

"Pete C." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@snet.net:

'zackly, fairly simple, really, but it is a tedious adventure. (Why can't they all be like a good 'ol Ford 9"?)

check the u-joints on the rear driveshaft, it's 4 small bolts. They almost never get greased and can fail. Replace with a new Spicer u-joint if the needles inside the cups are wiped out.

Thanks.

My plan is as follows:

1. do a thorough check to try to diagnose problems more precisely. Check u-joint, open rear diff, check for end play in rear axle shafts.

1. If the rear diff is exhibiting serious wear (shavings in oil etc), stop repairs and try to find a new rear or hire car mechanics.

2. If a problem can be solved by replacing axle bearings, seals, and u joint, do it.

1. Use only Mopar parts.

I will be posting updates tomorrow.

Ignoramus29761 wrote in news:tz1Rg.76683$ snipped-for-privacy@fe54.usenetserver.com:

Um..why not buy from the maker of the parts and cut out the highest price middleman? Mopar doesn't make the bearings, gears, housing, or anything else in that rear end. Every piece of that thing is outsourced from other companies. Probably has Timken bearings, Dana gears and Axles, National seals. You can buy the exact same parts at your local auto parts store, with the exception that they haven't been repackaged into 'Mopar' boxes.

Repackaged? You haven't worked in manufacturing, have you? If someone orders enough of anything, or spends enough on an annual basis it will be custom packaged at the end of the production line. Who would spend the time and money to rip cartons open and put the contents into a new box, when that step is easily avoided? It also eliminates the waste packaging that would have to go to a landfill, or incinerator.

That's just a term, its not meant for literal translation,, just like a rebadged car doesn't mean they remove the emblems of one company and slap on new ones from another.

The choices for U-joints are Dana-Spicer, TRW, and import. I've found the Spicer's hold up the best on my 84 Dodge ramcharger with the same 9.25" rear. Mopar don't make them. Find a shop in your area that specializes in truck driveline supplies and repair, they will have them. The local auto parts empourium usually has the cheap stuff.

Tony

I love the smell of gear oil in the morning.

In some industries it is literal. Lots of companies sold DEC computer equipment with their labs stuck on top of the OEM DEC labels. They were VAR, who put the software and hardware package together from various sources, then marked it to indicate they built it, including new labels for the shipping cartons.

Bingo! Same thing with motor oil, antifreeze, gear oil, etc. The automakers don't own refineries to make oils and greases, or chemical factories to make ethylene glycol coolant. They have them custom packaged to meet their specs, dozens of companies can do it for them.

Just because the End-Product Manufacturer (GM, Ford, Toyota, MoPar Daimler/Chrysler) puts their name on the package doesn't mean it isn't the exact same product that the refinery sells.

The only wrinkle in that is to read the specifications called for on the original product versus the supplier's specs. There are many different grades of bearings, oil, etc. on the market, and some of the 'value priced' offerings might not meet the same specs, even with the OE brand name attached.

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I loved it when the five slot IBM PC came out. IBM didn't make one part of it, but they screamed bloody murder about "Low quality clone parts" that came from the same OEMs. That Astec 63 watt power supply from IBM was acceptable, but without the IBM part number sticker it was inadequate junk. Tandon floppy drives? If the faceplate didn't say IBM, they were all rejects that would destroy your floppy disks, or at least corrupt all your data.

The only three parts you couldn't buy were the IBM keyboard, the exact same motherboard, and the case which came from an earlier word processor. Did you ever wonder about that little steel cover on the back, held by one screw? It was for the battery in the original word processor. They even used the same monochrome text card, monitor and printer port that all just happened to have been built for an 8085 CPU, with an eight bit buss.

Then when they realized the five slot case with the cassette tape interface wasn't adequate, they changed to the eight slot, and offered to versions of the motherboard, 256 KB and 640 KB. All they did was plug a chip in an empty socket and jumper to adjacent pads on the motherboard to connect the extra address line. All for only $200 more, less the memory.

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net:

Every single day, Tier 1, supplying automotive parts, including service parts.

By repackaged, I mean put in mopar boxes from bulk-quantity dunnage. (It is actually the same dunnage you ship production parts in, just goes to Mopar Parts instead of the plant.) Since shipping is poundage based, it's cheaper to ship it in bulk dunnage and package it at the receiving end.