Bad afternoon..

[junebug]

Went to rebuild the rear end after my pinion started jerking around alot... After opening it up I found that the half of the rear pinion bearing casing was not even there! What was left of the bearing race was the only thing holding the back side of the pinion gear. The gear teeth were not chipped but the bearing had spun on the pinion shaft wearing it pretty good. I suppose I will be at the junkyards next week.

 

[roundhouse]

Went to rebuild the rear end after my pinion started jerking around alot... After opening it up I found that the half of the rear pinion bearing casing was not even there! What was left of the bearing race was the only thing holding the back side of the pinion gear. The gear teeth were not chipped but the bearing had spun on the pinion shaft wearing it pretty good. I suppose I will be at the junkyards next week.

if you have a 3.50 ratio, you may find one, if you have a 28 spline 4.11 ratio, you will be hunting a long time, they only came in EB's and a few 4wd F-150s.

 

[jrcflash]

I had a similar situation. I bought my Bronco from the PO who had owned it for 25 years. I drove it and the rear end had a terrible howl around 50mph. When I got the pinion support out, I found that the crush washer was missing all-together! I was lucky enough to find a good used 3rd member from a friend (3.50 trac lock) and installed it last week. Should have it off the jacks next weekend to try it out...

It is very interesting to learn (or guess) what a 35 year old Bronco has been through....

Good Luck

 

[broncnaz]

Might want to see if you can clean up the pinion shaft enough to get a new bearing on there.

As was said if you have 3.50 gears then you should be able to find a center section at the junkyard pretty easy. Vans may have 3.50 gears and 28 spline shafts but usually they had 3.25 gears. Also a lot of older pickups pre70's have 28 spline carriers. Worst case you can just get a center out of a pickup and just swap the gears to your old carrier. As most pickups or fullsized broncos had 3.50 gears but 31 spline carriers you could always upgrade to 31 spline axles at the same time.

I just rebuilt a friends that did almost the same thing except he busted the housing where the pinion pilot bearing goes.
If you happen to get a trac loc carrier I would put in new clutches while your at it.

 

[junebug]

Yep, have 4.11's. I think we are just going to find a housing and try to make a new bearing work the the old gears... hopefully!

 

[sprdv1]

Ugggh.. Good luck man

 

[av bronco]

If the gears are chipped, it's going to get worse fast. Ebay has zillons of 4.11 gear sets dirt cheap.
Edit; just read the gears werent chipped, not enough coffee

 

[junebug]

Thanks for the tips guys...Found a 3rd member from a local yard and swapped my gears in. Everything went well except the pinion pilot support cast was to thick and came in contact with the ring gear and carrier. I took an angle grinder and shaved it down a bit to make room for everything. I ran out of gear oil before it was full so tomorrow I give her a test run. And... Bronconaz thanks for the post, as it wasnt until I read your post that I understood what I thought was a pinion bearing was actually a pilot bearing. That part of the cast was exactly what broke.. Thanks!

 

[broncnaz]

No problem I was nt sure what exactly had broken on yours. Usually you dont need to grind the pinion support to get extra clearance more than likely your pinion shim was to thick and allowed the ring gear to move over to much.