Rear Pinion Seal

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:55 pm

I need to change the pinion seal and I was reading through my Haynes manual to get familiar. It says there is a washer of sorts that is crushed when you torque the nut down and needs to be changed every time the nut is loosened.

Anyone familiar with this and know of a source for this part?

manoa matt · Post by **manoa matt** » Tue May 22, 2007 8:48 pm

I'm also intestered, as my seal is leaking and oil is slung all over the underside of the car. It sucks that you need a masters in engineering to fool with the differential, just to install a $5 oil seal.

Would this work: ???

Use a torque wrench to find out what foot/pound the nut is tightened to, then remove it, remove the yoke, remove the seal, install a new seal, install the yoke, and then tighten the nut to the same torque, but no more.

In theory you wouldn't crush the washer any more with the same torque that it was originally tightened to.

I've also thought about just making an aluminum shield so the oil wouldn't fly all over, just hit the shield and then run off.

By the way, where will you find an inch/pound torque wrench?

Matt

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:18 pm

gotta love Craftsman for the tool selection. Don't buy the needle indicator variety however.

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Thu May 24, 2007 10:40 pm

you can rent most specialty tools at the local auto parts store.

manoa matt · Post by **manoa matt** » Thu May 24, 2007 11:43 pm

I was hoping someone would answer my other question about "would it work"

I think you only need the special inch/pound torque wrench if you went the complete route and changed the chush sleves.

Another way would be to make a mutual mark on the nut and the pinion and count the number of turns to get it off. Reasemble in reverse order, stop tightening when the marks line up. The oil seal shouldn't change any tolerances/clearances. (This is just me thinking out loud, I've never tried this with the differential pinion, It might NOT work)

I wish someone that has tried this (not just once, but several times) or someone who knows a thing or two about differentials would chime in.

Matt

racydave · Post by **racydave** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:42 am

It will work, but tighten it just past the mark.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri May 25, 2007 10:33 am

having some crush on the sleeve is what keeps the nut tight and the proper preload on the bearings, so returning it to the previous spot can result in the nut loosening and improper preload on the pinion bearings
and of course this affects the setup between the ring and pinion gears

Mark_vaughn · Post by **Mark_vaughn** » Sun May 27, 2007 8:14 pm

So Mark, would you just tighten to factory spec and move on without the new crush sleeves, or do you know of a source to the crush sleeves?

racydave · Post by **racydave** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:47 am

If you torque the nut to the proper spec, you will find that you tighten it just slightly tighter than it was, just past the original marking..... Done it many times...

spiderrey · Post by **spiderrey** » Mon May 28, 2007 3:21 pm

jusy curious, if you torque your nuts to 100 ft lbs, dosent it take a little more to bust your nuts loose. so that idea just dosent work.

racydave · Post by **racydave** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:55 pm

Its a crush sleeve, Itll need to be tightened slightly more to obtain the pre-load. Never screwed one up yet. Been a professional tech for 30 plus years...

spiderrey · Post by **spiderrey** » Mon May 28, 2007 11:27 pm

i believe you 100 percent dave. i was replying to manoa matts idea at the begining of this conversation.

manoa matt · Post by **manoa matt** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:22 pm

I guess I don't need to deal with it now, as it stoped leaking.

When I had the car up on stands I drained the diff and added new oil.
And there it sat for a few months slowly leaking.

Once I got it running right and took it for a few drives it stoped leaking. Either the seal just softened up from use, or some addatives in the oil did it. Either way I'm glad I don't have to fool with that for a while, still got the oil seal just in case.

Matt

pertyfly · Post by **pertyfly** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:32 pm

Hmmm....is it possible that it just leaked enough to be below the level of the seal, and you may now be low on fluid? My truck used to do that.

Chris

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 12:31 am

yes, seals usually stop leaking when the level gets too low. Rarely do they fix themselves