I bought a mega kit to rebuild my 10 bolt. I got it from Jegs, and it comes with all of the bearings, seals, bolts and gaskets for a rearend overhaul. The problem I have is that the original crush sleeve I have is about 2.5 to 3 inches long, and makes contact with both the front and rear bearings. The new crush sleeve they sent me with the kit is only about 3/4 of an inch long. Has anybody successfully used this crush sleeve as a replacement, or did they send me the wrong one?

I know that newer 10 bolts have a machined edge on the pinion behind the front bearing for the crush to seat against, but the older pinion just has a small little lip machined on it that looks like if I tried to compress the sleeve, it would slip over the machined lip before it actually started to compress. All of the bearings and seals are correct. The sleeve they sent me looks more like the one I used on my '83 blazer front end 10 bolt when I rebuilt it.

Any ideas? Thanks.

the ones I've done, in 60's era 10 and 12 bolts, were longish, like you describe, 3" or so.I think you got thewrong kit.

I know that in the 8.5" 10 bolts the crush sleeve is definitely short like the 3/4" one you are talking about... I have never seen an 8.5" 10 bolt with a long sleeve like the 12 bolt uses.

I have never worked on an 8.2" so I can't tell you which one they normally take. I would e-mail big gear head and ask him as he should be able to point you in the right direction.

You should be able to get a new sleeve from the dealer. Use the longer one.

I thought that was going to be a problem when I did mine (Got everything from BGH AKA: Freddie). But on the new gears it was machined different. If your using the GM gears I think you'll need the long one.

Thanks for the info everyone! I'll see if I can't find a new longer sleeve then. The reason I bought the kit was so that it had everything in it, and I wouldn't have to run around, otherwise I could have just picked up all the bearings at the local parts house. Oh well, it figgers!

The same long sleeve is available in the HELP section at most parts if you cant find one from a GM dealer. I have even seen some people try to straighten the hump back out and reuse but if its a last resort. All they do is hold preload on bearings. go to Gm first.

You will have to shim the used crush spacer that you have now. There are no new ones available for the OEM 8.2 gears. The after market 8.2 gears are machined to use the 8.5 spacer, which is what is included in all installation kits now. Take one of the pinion shims that came in your kit and trim it so that it fits the inner race of the inner bearing. Use it to shim the spacer. Be sure that you trim it so that oil can flow through the bearing.

Big Gear Head,

Thanks for the info, I didn't realize they quit making parts for the 8.2". Are 8.5" parts interchangeable? I've got plenty of pinion shims so I'll use one of those.

I just saw your link and that you are an AMSOil dealer also? Good stuff, eh? Been using it since I learned to drive.

Anyway, thanks again.

There are a few bearings and shims that will work between the 8.2 and 8.5, but that is about all. The gears and differential will not swap.