Jeep Dana 35 Wheel Bearing

A few weeks ago I replaced the wheel bearing and seal on Janice’s Jeep Cherokee. Her Jeep has a Dana 35 rear axle with anti lock brakes and the Trac Loc limited slip.

Not long after, the rear was making a roaring noise worse than before. I noticed a lot of heat in the pinion after a short drive so I replaced the pinion bearings.

I also replaced the axle shaft due to some checking in the bearing race area. I used a ZJ shaft as a replacement. This meant that I had to swap the anti lock tone rings as they are different. I used an acetylene torch to heat the ring and allow it to fall off the shaft. To reinstall, I used my electric heat gun to warm the ring and then tapped it into place with a hammer.

The noise continued to grow and there was noticeable sloppiness in the brakes. This was followed a few days later by a leak in the wheel bearing seal.

I pulled the wheel and brake drum to inspect and found that the new bearing was extremely worn. There was noticeable slop in the axle and the brake drum had been dragging causing a lot of heat.

I pulled the cover, removed the C clip and pulled the axle. The axle looked fine. I extracted the bearing and found it very worn. I installed a new bearing and seal.

Upon closer inspection of the bearing, I noticed that the race was cracked. I suspect that I got it twisted while installing it in the axle tube. I had used a punch to install the bearing since I did not have the correct size bearing driver available at the time.

This time I turned down one of the bearing driver I have using my mini lathe to make it fit. The bearing went in with a satisfying thunk. Hopefully this one will last.
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