Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most asked questions about your purchase, order or shipping

Crush Sleeve

This is a collapsible spacer which installs on the pinion and preloads the pinion bearings. Crush sleeves are not reusable and must be replaced if the pinion nut is loosened or removed.

DIFFERENTIAL | SET UP - How much torque is needed to crush a crush sleeve?

On a crush sleeve design differential it usually takes between 300 and 400 ft-lbs of torque to crush the crush sleeve. Over the years we have used huge breaker bars and/or very strong air operated impact wrenches to crush the crush sleeve.

For more indepth information check out our 12 Tips For Differential Assembly And Setup blog article.

DIFFERENTIAL | SET UP - What is a solid spacer?

A solid spacer replaces the crush sleeve in a differential. It is a solid piece of machined steel which is slightly shorter than a crush sleeve and comes with a variety of shims. The shims are stacked with the solid spacer to achieve different levels of preload on a pinion, the same way as a crush sleeve. The advantage of using a solid spacer and shim set up is that you don’t need to worry about over-tightening the pinion nut, as you do with a crush sleeve. Also, once the preload is set, you never need to worry about adjusting it or replacing anything, like if you have to replace a yoke. When setting preload, you add shims to decrease the amount of preload on the pinion bearings, and remove shims to increase the amount of preload on the bearings.

GEARS | SET UP - Can I re-use a crush sleeve?

No. Once the crush sleeve’s tension between the bearings is released it cannot hold the proper tension again. This is also true if a crush sleeve is over-crushed during installation. It must be discarded and replaced with a new one.

GEARS | RING AND PINION - What is pinion bearing preload?

Pinion bearing preload is related to the amount of force the pinion nut exerts on the pinion and its bearings. Axle builders generally measure the pinion’s preload by rotating the pinion gear by its nut with a pound/inch-graduated torque wrench. Crush sleeves or shims are generally used to set pinion preload. The proper torque ratings for new bearings can be found in the front of the installation manual on the Set Up Specifications page or by way of the chart below. Note: Measurements are for the use of new (not used) bearings.