Solid Pinion Spacer??
05-19-2006, 01:56 PM
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Solid Pinion Spacer?? So I see this thing called a solid pinion spacer, its to replace the crush collar. Becides being reuseable, what would the advantage to this be? The typical crush coller which mechanics have been using for almost a century dont ever seem to pose a problem unless installed with the wrong ammount of torque.
As the rear is designed, the inner and outter pinion bearings are tapered which means as you apply torque on the pinion nut it draws both bearings together and crushes the crush collar (or crush sleeve as some call it) it starts crushing before the bearings seat and once the bearings seat to where that should be the crush collar remains ridged enough, although compressed, to keep the proper ammount of preload on both bearings.
Why wouldnt engineers use a solid spacer to begin with? Surely much more economical to produce than a formed crush collar.. When the rear is manufactured both bearing surfaces are machined to accept the races for the inner and outer bearings. Now whats to say that that dimension is held within tolerance to every rearend produced? In other words, the crush collar is designed to collaps to the exact distance between the bearings once torqued down. It allows for inperfections in manufacturing. A pinion spacer is machined at a predefined dimension where it is not allowed to crush. If the rearend race cavities were machined slightly too close together, for arguments sake .010" wouldnt the solid pinion spacer keep the bearings from seating all the way? Or if they were machined too far apart wouldnt the solid pinion spacer float between the bearings not keeping any preload at all? Both would dammage the bearings...
Yes, i am that bored at work on a friday but I have one that came in my kit and I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would wantto use this, unless I am not understanding it properly... is it possible that the solid pinion spacer is made of a metal soft enough which will allow it crush slightly? If so is it still reusabale?
As the rear is designed, the inner and outter pinion bearings are tapered which means as you apply torque on the pinion nut it draws both bearings together and crushes the crush collar (or crush sleeve as some call it) it starts crushing before the bearings seat and once the bearings seat to where that should be the crush collar remains ridged enough, although compressed, to keep the proper ammount of preload on both bearings.
Why wouldnt engineers use a solid spacer to begin with? Surely much more economical to produce than a formed crush collar.. When the rear is manufactured both bearing surfaces are machined to accept the races for the inner and outer bearings. Now whats to say that that dimension is held within tolerance to every rearend produced? In other words, the crush collar is designed to collaps to the exact distance between the bearings once torqued down. It allows for inperfections in manufacturing. A pinion spacer is machined at a predefined dimension where it is not allowed to crush. If the rearend race cavities were machined slightly too close together, for arguments sake .010" wouldnt the solid pinion spacer keep the bearings from seating all the way? Or if they were machined too far apart wouldnt the solid pinion spacer float between the bearings not keeping any preload at all? Both would dammage the bearings...
Yes, i am that bored at work on a friday but I have one that came in my kit and I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would wantto use this, unless I am not understanding it properly... is it possible that the solid pinion spacer is made of a metal soft enough which will allow it crush slightly? If so is it still reusabale?
Last edited by alamantia; 05-19-2006 at 02:57 PM.
05-19-2006, 04:08 PM
#2
It's reuseable. It also comes with shims to make up for the .010 difference in manufacturing specs you speak of.
One advantage I see is being able to put some good torque on the pinion nut and not worry about crushing the crush collar too much, enough torque so it'll never work itself loose.
There are axles like the Dana 30 fronts on 4x4 jeeps that don't have any kind of crush collar or spacer, just a machined step, you put shims between this and the bearing to achieve proper preload. The torque the hell out of the nut and you've got a very rigid pinion/bearing assembly.
One advantage I see is being able to put some good torque on the pinion nut and not worry about crushing the crush collar too much, enough torque so it'll never work itself loose.
There are axles like the Dana 30 fronts on 4x4 jeeps that don't have any kind of crush collar or spacer, just a machined step, you put shims between this and the bearing to achieve proper preload. The torque the hell out of the nut and you've got a very rigid pinion/bearing assembly.
05-19-2006, 06:05 PM
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Ok, cause I didnt see any shims in the kit aside from the pinion and carrier shims, i will look again, how do you set the proper shim spacing, install the bearings and feel if there is any play in the pinion? and then keep trying this untill the play is eliminated?
05-20-2006, 02:54 AM
#4
Originally Posted by alamantia
Ok, cause I didnt see any shims in the kit aside from the pinion and carrier shims, i will look again, how do you set the proper shim spacing, install the bearings and feel if there is any play in the pinion? and then keep trying this untill the play is eliminated?
