loose pinion

hello peoples, I've got a problem with my 93 wrangler with a dana 35 rear axle. situation being.. took it to moab on fins and things attempted a rock pile and busted a bolt on the yoke strap holding the ujoint in place. replaced the strap yoke with a ubolt type..ever since then i have had driveline vibration and the pinion seems loose..as in i can twist it back and forth and it will move in and out of the axle housing. checked the front pinion bearings and they are fine.  as far as can tell the rear pinionm bearings are fine also. replaced the crush sleeve also.. this thing[the pinion] just won't tighten any more, any suggestions  

Pinion bearings are shot. Need to be replaced along with a new crush collar...and if you put a lot of miles on it like that you could have damaged the ring and pinion.

It takes a lot of force to crush a crush collar. You need a huge impact gun or a breaker bar with a 4-foot pipe on it.

It likely became lose in the beginning because the pinion bearings are worn.  
John Cappa
Editor
Four Wheeler
john.cappa@fourwheeler.com
www.facebook.com/fourwheelermag

Thank you for the reply. I don't want to sound like an idiot but is my goal to crush the sleeve or is it a spacer that i tighten up against? and in replacing the rear pinion bearings do i have to pull the carrier and shims etc... out? thank you again,  

Yep, you'll have to pull the shafts and carrier out of the axle housing to access the pinion and bearings. If the gears are still good you can reuse them. If they we not howling then they are likely fine. The inner pinion bearing has to be pulled. You should be able to use all the old shims but it's still a good idea to check the pattern and then set the pinion bearing preload with the crush collar (spacer looking thing on the pinion between the two pinion bearings).  
John Cappa
Editor
Four Wheeler
john.cappa@fourwheeler.com
www.facebook.com/fourwheelermag