Project "Thanos" Build

Survey says... pulling the wheels off I can already feel that the passenger side was a lil loosey goosey

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Ya buddy; that's that new "tapered" shaft design...
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Now I just gotta figure out how to get the rest of it out lol
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looks like it broke just behind the splines, just pulled the other shaft so I can start loosening the carrier to see if I can get the broken end pressed out
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Couldn't you just pull the cross pin and pull the spider gears out? Wouldn't that be easier than removing the carrier bolts?

Good thought; I had considered it but that shaft end is pressed up tight against the cross pin (I tried prying it away and it won't budge) and by my eye it doesn't seem like the cross pin can clear the ring gear - can it?
 
Good thought; I had considered it but that shaft end is pressed up tight against the cross pin (I tried prying it away and it won't budge) and by my eye it doesn't seem like the cross pin can clear the ring gear - can it?

It should clear the ring gear. But regardless, if that axle stub is stuck, pulling the cross pin probably won't speed up any of your time.
 
It should clear the ring gear. But regardless, if that axle stub is stuck, pulling the cross pin probably won't speed up any of your time.

Good to know. Looking down the axle tube I am 99% sure the remaining piece doesn't extend past the carrier bearing, so the whole unit should come out. Prob is it's bound up pretty good with preload. Got the caps removed and I'm throwing 2-3x the leverage it usually takes to pop one out and it's laughin at me. Hit pause for now to get some lunch and I'll be back at it later with a case spreader.
 
Project "Thanos" Build

Back at it- case spreader did the trick and let me get the carrier out:
ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1447107371.940729.jpg

Yukon R&P are fine (well done sirs) but the shaft break ate up the inner bearing wall on the carrier:
ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1447107456.035346.jpg

Plan is to pull the ring off, migrate to a new carrier, and clean the $h out of the pinion, tubes and housing.

Here's a profile shot of the ring with the crosspin behind it. Only 1/2" gap between em to try to slide out a 5" inch pin, ain't no way that's goin down without removing the ring :)

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Back at it- case spreader did the trick and let me get the carrier out:
View attachment 173018

Yukon R&P are fine (well done sirs) but the shaft break ate up the inner bearing wall on the carrier:
View attachment 173019

Plan is to pull the ring off, migrate to a new carrier, and clean the $h out of the pinion, tubes and housing.

Here's a profile shot of the ring with the crosspin behind it. Only 1/2" gap between em to try to slide out a 5" inch pin, ain't no way that's goin down without removing the ring :)

View attachment 173020

Sure looks that way. Are you going to upgrade the shafts and put a locker in?
 
Sure looks that way. Are you going to upgrade the shafts and put a locker in?

Shafts are cheap enough that I probably will (and should have) upgrade. Negative on the locker; within the next 4-5 mo I'll have enough for the prorock which is what I was holding out for :)

For grins I decided to see what it would take to get the stubs out without disturbing the ring gear- turns out a flathead slides just past the center pin enough to tap it down, but it will start to bind before you can drive it all the way out, so I just dropped in a couple flat nuts that fit through the gap and used them as spacers until it popped through :)

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Thats crazy!...glad you were able to get it out rather easy.....how many miles have you put on your jeep with the mud grapplers? i am thinking of going this route as well. I know there are many other variables that came to play in the breakage.
 
Project "Thanos" Build

Thats crazy!...glad you were able to get it out rather easy.....how many miles have you put on your jeep with the mud grapplers? i am thinking of going this route as well. I know there are many other variables that came to play in the breakage.

The grapplers have been on since April... mileage I'm not 100% on, maybe 3-4k tops but I have a short commute daily. More to the point I've wheeled on them ~ 7 times since then which usually means 3-4 sessions per weekend running 2-3 hours per session. My style is more crawlin than haulin, so I think one of the primary factors this weekend was having to use way more skinny pedal than I typically need to because the trails were sloppy wet. By the time it broke I had already been out 3 times before and had to bump a few tough obstacles including the same obstacle on the same trail that I ran the night before.

Also, prior to the grapplers those same axle shafts were turning 35" Kelley TSRs for well over a year and I can't put a number on how many offroad miles that was... this was before I had a membership to Hidden Falls and I have a stack of 15+ entry passes just from that park.

Update on last night:
The loaner shaft my buddy brought in was a bare shaft (no retainer/seal/bearing/tone ring) so it was a trip to O'Reilly's for a replacement bearing, and chopping the old hardware off the busted axle to steal its retainer and tone rings to migrate them over. Additionally, the replacement carrier that the ring moved to was close on backlash but a little too tight, so we'll be pulling it back out to re-shim before it all goes back together with the new shafts. Still, the work on the loaner was enough to get Thanos off the rack and on 4 wheels for the night.

The new shafts should be in today, so I'll take some pics during that assembly process... and I should be back on the road and stronger than ever by this evening :)
 
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The grapplers have been on since April... mileage I'm not 100% on, maybe 3-4k tops but I have a short commute daily. More to the point I've wheeled on them ~ 7 times since then which usually means 3-4 sessions per weekend running 2-3 hours per session. My style is more crawlin than haulin, so I think one of the primary factors this weekend was having to use way more skinny pedal than I typically need to because the trails were sloppy wet. By the time it broke I had already been out 3 times before and had to bump a few tough obstacles including the same obstacle on the same trail that I ran the night before.

Also, prior to the grapplers those same axle shafts were turning 35" Kelley TSRs for well over a year and I can't put a number on how many offroad miles that was... this was before I had a membership to Hidden Falls and I have a stack of 15+ entry passes just from that park.

Update on last night:
The loaner shaft my buddy brought in was a bare shaft (no retainer/seal/bearing/toner) so it was a trip to O'Reilly's for a replacement bearing, and chopping the old hardware off the busted axle to steal its retainer and toner rings to migrate them over. Additionally, the replacement carrier that the ring moved to was close on backlash but a little too tight, so we'll be pulling it back out to re-shim before it all goes back together with the new shafts. Still, the work on the loaner was enough to get Thanos off the rack and on 4 wheels for the night.

The new shafts should be in today, so I'll take some pics during that assembly process... and I should be back on the road and stronger than ever by this evening :)

:thumb: bet its nice to see it sitting on the ground again! What shafts are you planning on running long term? I am assuming you aren't going to stay with factory rears? Glad to see things are working out for Thanos and yourself.
 
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