ramcharger
Dismember
It's a Mopar so don't give me too much crap, lol. Just thought I would post some info for those of us that own one of these.
I've got a '92 Jeep Cherokee with a stock rear Dana 35 C (C-clip) rear end, 3.55 gears and a trac-loc diff. After rebuilding the engine I realized that the diff was giving out evidenced by the chattering when turning, the grab and release at parking lot speeds and the ridiculous amount of axle shaft play (.240"). That play really became noticable after I got the front suspension where I wanted it. Loosey goosey feeling in the rear, almost as if the leaf spring U-bolts were stupid loose.
I pulled the diff and found that the way the Trac-loc was designed that the clutch plates and wave springs actually provide the pre-load to the C-clip axles and when they start to go, axle shaft end play can reach stupid amounts, almost to the point of loosing a c-clip in the right situation (think off-camber rock crawling under power), especially once the axles start drilling into the cross pin, which mine was just starting to do.
Now on to the resolution. Me being me I couldn't just bring it back to stock specs so I decided to get new Yukon axles.
More to come.. The dogs are driving me nutz and I just lost 3/4 of this post because I waited to long while writing, making and taking phone calls, etc.
I've got a '92 Jeep Cherokee with a stock rear Dana 35 C (C-clip) rear end, 3.55 gears and a trac-loc diff. After rebuilding the engine I realized that the diff was giving out evidenced by the chattering when turning, the grab and release at parking lot speeds and the ridiculous amount of axle shaft play (.240"). That play really became noticable after I got the front suspension where I wanted it. Loosey goosey feeling in the rear, almost as if the leaf spring U-bolts were stupid loose.
I pulled the diff and found that the way the Trac-loc was designed that the clutch plates and wave springs actually provide the pre-load to the C-clip axles and when they start to go, axle shaft end play can reach stupid amounts, almost to the point of loosing a c-clip in the right situation (think off-camber rock crawling under power), especially once the axles start drilling into the cross pin, which mine was just starting to do.
Now on to the resolution. Me being me I couldn't just bring it back to stock specs so I decided to get new Yukon axles.
More to come.. The dogs are driving me nutz and I just lost 3/4 of this post because I waited to long while writing, making and taking phone calls, etc.
At this point it's time to set the bearing preload and ring gear backlash via shims. What ***** this was while the axle housing was still on the jeep. The diff came out 4 times until I reached my perfect preload and gear backlash: .006" backlash and just enough preload that I had to gently whack in the diff with the shim pack with a 2 lb plastic hammer. BTW, the True-trac has to weigh at least 35 lbs, double the original diff and I swear I needed 3 hands to align the diff and hold straight the outer bearing races while tapping in the entire assembly with a plastic hammer. I kept the shim packs in place with grease. Remind to never do this ever again..... 
