How To Replace Spider Gears

This axle is a dana 30 out of an XJ. In some cases you won't have to bevel the ring gear tooth to get the cross pin out as it depends entirely on the thickness of the ring gear. Another option is to remove the ring gear and change out your spider gears. If you choose that route, be sure to use NEW ring gear bolts during reassembly as they are a one time use bolt.

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Last updated: May 11, 2023

[morerandomvids]

Finally, thank you for showing the whole process. Every video I've watched was only showing how to take the cross pin out. So glad I found this video.

[jeromewieland]

I just bought a 05 dodge ram that someone had "rebuilt" the reverend. The crush sleeve wasn't crushed to spec, and the smaller spider gears didn't have the thrust washers. I wish people would watch more videos like yours, huge thanks!!!

[GabrielOrtizUAP]

The reassembly part of the spider gears was the exact thing that I needed to see to get mine back together. Thank you.

[JasonDiggs]

Wow, you made this look easy. Thanks for the demonstration!

[piddlespoot]

Thank you for posting this video. You just made this job way less scary for me.

[keving]

Thank you for this video one of the most informative I've seen

[ninsar]

Perfect How-To video. Awesome! But, need advice. '01 Wrangler 4.0, 5-speed. My current issue is with the Dana 44-rear. Recently regeared from 3.73 to 4.88. Replaced the carrier (standard, non-locker). Installed new spider gears. Everything went well. All of my "dial-ins" were set perfectly. However, 8 months later while "chirping" 2nd gear, several teeth on the spider gears blew out. I did use the cheapest of spider gears at the time of regearing, Motive Gear brand. I'm about to replace with a Yukon spider gear set. I've been "chirping" during gear changes for decades, here & there. Never had an issue. Of course, chirping is very hard on all the components, we all know this. But this is the first time I've ever blown out any gears. And my honest opinion is, I think the cheap Motive Gear brand is just a much softer metal and is the reason for the blow out. But I'm hoping for your very well-experienced professional opinion. Would you agree or could there be another reason the spider gears would have blown out (other than the heavy torque from chirping)? Also, is there any advice not given in your How-To video that I would want to keep in mind when replacing the spider gears with the Yukon brand? Thanks Mike! Definitely appreciate all of your videos!

[LumpyFPV]

Great thought, but how do I get the carrier out with the axles still attached to (splined through) the spider gears? In order to get the C clips off the axles to remove the axles been the gears, you've got to push the axles in, and in order to push the axles in the cross pin needs to come out first... Right? I'm no expert, so I'm genuinely asking. Is there something I'm missing? Obviously taking the carrier and gears out all together would be the simplest option, but without being able to get the axles out of the way how can I remove the whole carrier assembly?

[Gordon]

Thank's for the videos. About to do 4.56 in a dana 30 high pinion and it requires a different carrier. Hopefully the spider gears look good or I'll be ordering a new set.

[flatboat]

great video. What is typical side gear shim clearance? Thank you.

[matthewkagarice]

I didn’t see the part of your video where you removed the axles. I guess I will have to find a different video to figure that part out. Other than skipping that step your video was good, thanks .

[jaylanpowell]

Would you recommend drilling a crosspin bolt out if its broken? I seen in the video you daid to knock it out with a punch but I didnt want to damage the threads.

[REsuperGRX]

thanks for the video, was trying to get this all done with carrier still in the pumpkin on the truck, can get the spiders in but spits the thrust washers out. guess ill just try pulling it all out and do it on the bench. thanks for the tips.

[olopolorolo]

Thanks for that video! Much appreciated! I recently replaced the wave discs and the two conical discs underneath those four gears because the gears had a looot of play making a helicopter noise when not under load. Putting the gears back in place was really really hard, because there was so much pretension on those wave discs... The diff sounds fine now, but I am still wondering...

[paulp]

Awesome video. It's given me the confidence to tackle this job myself now.
Question - I have two shredded spider gears. What do you recommend to use as a cleaning solution to clean the internals of the housing, ring gear, pinion and ensure the metal shards are removed?

[bingobandit]

Question. I have 98 Tj dana 44 30 tooth ring gear. I want to get rid of the sloppy lunchbox and install spider gears. What gears would be more highway friendly higher I prefer.

[oswaldoproano]

Really nice video...Thanks!!. Are those spider gears the same for both rear and front DANA 30 differentials??

[JohnHarkins-ujuz]

How do you get that thing out with your screwdriver

[AlexSmith-xmky]

just watched this vid, really informative. im wanting to know 2 things . pre-load, is this not affected as pinion hasnt been removed - so diff in the vid should be good to roll .. ?? 2ndly if the pinion seal needed replacing is there any good or bad time replace during the process shown here.. thanks

[EgorGert]

thank you very much for your work! tell me - is the backlash on the flange when you rotate it back and forth, is it straightened by washers both on the shank and on the satellites? that is, most likely, you need to do a full revision?