Pinion Bearing & Locker Help

FastZach

FastZach

New member
About 2 years ago my Dad had 5.13 put in his 2014 JKUR w/ 37s. 2 weeks ago we had the same shop do a diff service and put a new gasket in. 2 miles down the road the rear axle locks up and wont move. Took it to the shop and they said it is warranty because the locker exploded causing the failure. Took it to the dealer and they said it was the pinion bearing that failed causing the failure. Looked at it personally and it looked like the pinion bearing failed causing the pinion to "fall" into the pumpkin and mess everything up. The carrier was still whole but really chewed up. Dealer won't warranty it because the pinion bearing was aftermarket. I'm pretty lost in this whole thing

Can someone explain to me what the difference is between a carrier case and the factory e-locker? Also, do pinion bearings fail randomly? The tech at the dealer said pinion bearings don't wear out and if the fail it is mostly due to a poor install. I feel like the shop is trying to get out of something that was their fault, what do you guys think?
 
FastZach said:
About 2 years ago my Dad had 5.13 put in his 2014 JKUR w/ 37s. 2 weeks ago we had the same shop do a diff service and put a new gasket in. 2 miles down the road the rear axle locks up and wont move. Took it to the shop and they said it is warranty because the locker exploded causing the failure. Took it to the dealer and they said it was the pinion bearing that failed causing the failure. Looked at it personally and it looked like the pinion bearing failed causing the pinion to "fall" into the pumpkin and mess everything up. The carrier was still whole but really chewed up. Dealer won't warranty it because the pinion bearing was aftermarket. I'm pretty lost in this whole thing

Can someone explain to me what the difference is between a carrier case and the factory e-locker? Also, do pinion bearings fail randomly? The tech at the dealer said pinion bearings don't wear out and if the fail it is mostly due to a poor install. I feel like the shop is trying to get out of something that was their fault, what do you guys think?
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My gut feeling is improper install just from the chain of events that went down. Pinion bearings can fail randomly, but it's unlikely. Do you have any pictures of the damaged/failed parts at this point? Carrier case is what the ring gears attach to and what encases the spider gears and axle gears. A locker is basically a case as well but just has a method of locking the axles together so they both spin at the same time. If the pinion gear fell into the case, the locker didn't do that.
 
WJCO said:
My gut feeling is improper install just from the chain of events that went down. Pinion bearings can fail randomly, but it's unlikely. Do you have any pictures of the damaged/failed parts at this point? Carrier case is what the ring gears attach to and what encases the spider gears and axle gears. A locker is basically a case as well but just has a method of locking the axles together so they both spin at the same time. If the pinion gear fell into the case, the locker didn't do that.
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That's my feeling to. I will get some pictures of the damage and post. Is the locker and carrier case two separate pieces?:idontknow:
 
Improper install? It lasted two years. Pinion bearings fail, it happens. It makes noise when it starts to go and if you don't catch it it will do that. That's what happens when you use your jeep.
 
Pinion Bearing & Locker Help

Well the Jeep tech said pinion bearings should last for much longer than a year or two. It is too much of a coincidence that they serviced the rear diff and two miles down the road it locks up. The Jeep has 15k miles on it and the gear swap only has about 8k miles on it.
 
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OverlanderJK does bring up a good point about the time, but I still feel even a Chinese bearing should last longer than two years IMO. If the gear swap was done 8k and the pinion bearing failed, I think the shop should at least try to help you out with the cost if they installed bearings as well. From the pics, I don't see the locker being the cause. The dealer stating the pinion bearing was aftermarket leads me to believe it was replaced at some point maybe even during the gear swap. As far as the more recent fluid change issue, I see that more as coincidence, unless they forgot to put fluid in at all which doesn't look like that happened.
 
FastZach said:
Well the Jeep tech said pinion bearings should last for much longer than a year or two. It is too much of a coincidence that they serviced the rear diff and two miles down the road it locks up. The Jeep has 15k miles on it and the gear swap only has about 8k miles on it.
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What did they do for a service? A service to me is changing the fluid. What exactly did they service?
 
WJCO said:
OverlanderJK does bring up a good point about the time, but I still feel even a Chinese bearing should last longer than two years IMO. If the gear swap was done 8k and the pinion bearing failed, I think the shop should at least try to help you out with the cost if they installed bearings as well. From the pics, I don't see the locker being the cause. The dealer stating the pinion bearing was aftermarket leads me to believe it was replaced at some point maybe even during the gear swap. As far as the more recent fluid change issue, I see that more as coincidence, unless they forgot to put fluid in at all which doesn't look like that happened.
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Umm yes the pinion was replaced. He went to 5.13's he needs a new ring and pinion.
 
OverlanderJK said:
Umm yes the pinion was replaced. He went to 5.13's he needs a new ring and pinion.
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Bearing. Not pinion gear. Pinion bearing was my post.....

Now if the pinion gear wasn't replaced during your gear set, but the ring gear was................then we may have another problem with that shop. LOL.
 
WJCO said:
Bearing. Not pinion gear. Pinion bearing was my post.....

Now if the pinion gear wasn't replaced during your gear set, but the ring gear was................then we may have another problem with that shop. LOL.
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Ah yeah my bad read that fast. Either way the bearing should have been replaced with the gears.
 
The service was just a diff fluid change. Talked to shop and they said it is not their problem. Now that I have to replace the locker. Factory tru-lock or a different locker? The factory locker is about $1600.
 
FastZach said:
The service was just a diff fluid change. Talked to shop and they said it is not their problem. Now that I have to replace the locker. Factory tru-lock or a different locker? The factory locker is about $1600.
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You can get an arb for about $1300 I believe.
 
Honestly the only thing the shop could have done to screw up a diff fluid change is if they went full potato and pulled shafts and removed the carrier to clean everything out, and then put it all back together wrong (e.g. carrier shims). But if all they did was pull plugs and pop covers.. prolly not their bad.

It still could have been a poor install on the original regearing - pinions are tough because the inner/outer bearing preload depends on that crush sleeve. Even a slightly over-crushed sleeve during the install could have caused those bearings to wear quicker, giving you that abbreviated life.
 
Yeah I've come to the conclusion that we are paying for it because it is going to be impossible to prove that it was their bad.

Northridge 4x4 has the dual ARB locker kit and single compressor for $1900. How would it work if we had the rear setup with an ARB and the front setup with the factory locker.? Would it work just fine?
 
FastZach said:
Yeah I've come to the conclusion that we are paying for it because it is going to be impossible to prove that it was their bad.

Northridge 4x4 has the dual ARB locker kit and single compressor for $1900. How would it work if we had the rear setup with an ARB and the front setup with the factory locker.? Would it work just fine?
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How was it there bad? They changed the diff fluid.
 
FastZach said:
Northridge 4x4 has the dual ARB locker kit and single compressor for $1900. How would it work if we had the rear setup with an ARB and the front setup with the factory locker.? Would it work just fine?
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I mean I guess if yall don't mind having a frankenjeep setup it would technically work. Your rear would just be an air locker while your front is electronic.

For that deal though you're getting a front air locker as well... so if it were me I would install it just so you don't have a mixed setup. Further incentive is that your rear failed. While they're swapping over your ring gear to the new locker and they have it apart anyways, I would have them check your front pinion while they're at it to confirm preload is within spec and check for worn bearings. :thumb:
 
OverlanderJK said:
How was it there bad? They changed the diff fluid.
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Because we drove it 2 miles down the road and the rear diff exploded. Zero noise or issues before they touched it. Did they forget diff fluid? Maybe but I'm not sure. They also were the originally installers of the new gears about 1.5 years ago. I think its weird coincidence.
 
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