For automotive differential gear sleeve, in order to solve the problems existing in the current manufacturing process, such as multiple processes, slow production speed, material waste and poor tooth strength of produced gear sleeves, a new cold forging process suitable for the production of gear sleeve was studied. Firstly, based on the gear sleeve structure, the five-station forming process design that conformed to the forming theory was completed, and the forming test was carried out by software Deform-3D. The result shows that there are two stages where the material flow is abnormal causing folding defects. Then, based on the defect reasons, the process was optimized, the forming process of each stage  for the improved process was simulated and inspected again. And the results show that the requirements and expectations are met. Finally, the two processes before and after optimization were tested respectively, among them, the gear sleeve obtained by the process before optimization had folding defects, and the generating position and stage were completely consistent with the simulation results, while the gear sleeve obtained by the optimization process was fully formed without folding defects, and the forming quality and dimensional accuracy met the requirements, which could be used as a new process for producing the gear sleeve.