Rzeppa Woes…

[aus10nator]

Hey everyone. It’s finally time to post about this beautiful creation Ford has blessed us Tremor owners with. First, this is my baby.

The story: I busted my Rzeppa joint on my 22 Tremor while I was off-roading. A couple months ago a group of locals and myself were treading through about 2-3 feet deep of snow up in the mountains near Bakersfield, CA. Being on 35’s, I was put to lead the pack to leave a nice wide path for everyone following behind. At one point the snow got so deep that I dug in up to the frame. Well, somewhere along those lines, the boot for the Rzeppa joint caught something and took a shit.

I was actually completely oblivious to this at first. I had no idea and everything seemed fine until I eventually started hearing a clicking when accelerating from a dig. Took a peek under the truck and was welcomed to this (pic above) beautiful sight. It got incrementally worse. At first, I wanted to take it to Ford to have them warranty it out. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how easily they could deny the warranty work due to the mods I have. So, I didn’t even bother.

After attempting to research the good ‘ole Tremor Rzeppa joint, I came up with some Jeep parts and nothing but dead ends. However, I did get an idea from a buddy of mine and fellow Ranger owner. It worked stupendously.

He said, “Why don’t you just convert back to the standard Ranger pinion flange?” Pure genius. So that’s what I did.

Goodbye old Rzeppa pinion flange!

Hello, standard Ranger flange! It fits perfectly. He upgraded to a Tom Woods 1 piece so he donated his OEM 2 piece to my efforts.

Below are the tools I used. 1/2 inch Impact, 1/2 inch electric ratchet, 9mm socket (to remove the Rzeppa bolts, not pictured), 15 mm socket, 32mm socket, 2 jaw puller, a rubber mallet, and some blue thread locker. Very straight forward and only took about an hour to get it all switched over.

The part number for the flange is KB3Z-4851-A. You’ll also need to get the bolts that attach the drive shaft to the flange, part number W710233-S437. That’s it! Couldn’t be happier. Plus, the door is now open to upgrade to a 1 piece on my Tremor. It’s a win-win for the Tremor guys!

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[Rp930]

Hope you got the pinion bearing preload correct.

 

[Trigganometry]

I did something like that 3 decades ago. A friend Blew up the yolk on a rear end doing hole shots on a brand new car. Dealer won’t do warranty work because they know how it broke. So we got another and popped it on ourselves! Ignorance is bliss as they say. Loaded up the car for a trip to Cape Cod and on the way kapow! The back of the pumpkin blew out and the guts were all over the highway! Yup pinion wasn’t shimmed or torqued right and took about 100 miles before it failed. Better look over the specs again so yours doesn’t meet the same fate!

 

[Rp930]

I did something like that 3 decades ago. A friend Blew up the yolk on a rear end doing hole shots on a brand new car. Dealer won’t do warranty work because they know how it broke. So we got another and popped it on ourselves! Ignorance is bliss as they say. Loaded up the car for a trip to Cape Cod and on the way kapow! The back of the pumpkin blew out and the guts were all over the highway! Yup pinion wasn’t shimmed or torqued right and took about 100 miles before it failed. Better look over the specs again so yours doesn’t meet the same fate!

Exactly what I was talking about. Not a simple bolt on.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

Hope you got the pinion bearing preload correct.

Can you explain what this is referring to? Didn't he just change the adapter plate?

 

[Dr3wDrop]

Exactly what I was talking about. Not a simple bolt on.

I think I found instructions for something similar on a Jeep. Basically, you are saying to make sure the nut is torqued correctly?

 

[Rp930]

No. You must properly set the pinion bearing preload. It is not a “preset” torque on the pinion nut. Google pinion bearing preload.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

No. You must properly set the pinion bearing preload. It is not a “preset” torque on the pinion nut. Google pinion bearing preload.

I like this guys answer.

 

[Rp930]

I like this guys answer.

Yes and you kind of get a feel for the right resistance after doing some. The point I was trying to make is you can’t just tighten it up and call it good.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

Yes and you kind of get a feel for the right resistance after doing some. The point I was trying to make is you can’t just tighten it up and call it good.

The only time I have done something like this was when I was 15 with my Grandpa putting a Ford 8.8 under my Jeep YJ. I remember changing the same part as OP to get the driveshaft to mate up. I do not know if we did anything special then. ?‍

Regardless, its good to know that there seems to be a reasonable option out there to swap the rzeppa to get a 1 piece driveshaft.

 

[Rp930]

The only time I have done something like this was when I was 15 with my Grandpa putting a Ford 8.8 under my Jeep YJ. I remember changing the same part as OP to get the driveshaft to mate up. I do not know if we did anything special then. ?‍

Regardless, its good to know that there seems to be a reasonable option out there to swap the rzeppa to get a 1 piece driveshaft.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss then other times not so much. Too tight or too loose on pinion bearings will cause failure of the bearing.

 

[Fitzmotor]

There is a crush sleeve in most rear ends to set the bearing preload, it's measured in inch pounds resistance while rotating the pinon, done without the ring gear, but that's not a option in your case.

Usually you would mark the nut to the pinon and put it right back there if you were just changing a seal and reusing or replacing the flange. (new flange has to be the same thickness)

How did you tighten the nut, to a torque spec or gunned it down?

If it's too loose you can move the pinon side to side in it's bearing bore, but that's not likley on a used crush sleeve, if it's too tight you will feel resistance when you jiggle the driveshaft back and forth in a rotational way, should have about 1/4 inch of effortless rotation back and forth.(in neutral, brake on)

Good luck!

 

[Jason B]

Let the vibrations begin!

 

[aus10nator]

Regardless, its good to know that there seems to be a reasonable option out there to swap the rzeppa to get a 1 piece driveshaft.

Thanks for recognizing this, as that was my intention for posting this to begin with, since there is zero to little info out there about the Tremor Rzeppa. The armchair mechanics that were the first to say anything about this really reminded me why I don’t go on here.

How did you tighten the nut, to a torque spec or gunned it down?

If it's too loose you can move the pinon side to side in it's bearing bore, but that's not likley on a used crush sleeve, if it's too tight you will feel resistance when you jiggle the driveshaft back and forth in a rotational way, should have about 1/4 inch of effortless rotation back and forth.(in neutral, brake on)

Good luck!

Just to invoke more ignorance is bliss comments, I ugga-dugga’d that pinion nut on there. Needless to say, I did about 500 miles round trip since I did this “upgrade”, including some pretty good off-road fun at the Ocotillo-Wells “Truckhaven” and have had zero issues thus far. I’m not worried about it at all. Will probably check shaft rotation tonight after work.

Thank y’all for tuning in!

 

[87TxAg]

@aus10nator First, nice looking rig. I just wanted to ask what suspension / wheel modifications you did to run 35s on your rig. Do you think that had anything to do with driveline issues? Thanks.

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