87 Ranger Rear Pinon Nut Size??

[High Desert Ranger]

I have an 87 Ranger 4x4 and although I tried to avoid the big plastic bag on the freeway I ran it over and it found it's way to the rear of the driveshaft and warpped it's way around the yoke and managed to find it's way to the pinon seal. Now it's leaking.

I don't have access to the tools I used to, but what size isocket do I need fot the Pinon Nut on the rear?

 

[High Desert Ranger]

Bump

 

[High Desert Ranger]

Nobody has pulled their pinon nut off?

 

[MAKG]

The problem with pulling that nut off is getting it back on correctly. There is a crush washer under there; it doesn't have a standard torque spec like most other nuts. You are supposed to replace the crush washer (which involves removing the diff carrier and pinion) and torque it down until the pinion bearings preload correctly. Getting this sufficiently wrong will cost you your gearset.

To answer your last question, yes, I've disassembled (and assembled) rear ends, but I don't generally record nut sizes I remove (sometimes I remember them more or less accidentally, but not this one). Rather than wait 11 days for a response you probably won't get, why not go out there with a caliper or a bunch of sockets and measure it? The driveshaft comes off with four 12mm 12pt bolts.

 

[tanbuddy]

I think its 1 1/8th inch. But a big adjustable will work too.

 

[Evan]

The torque of the locknut does NOT determine the bearing preload. The preload is determined by the amount the crush sleeve is crushed. This is set by HOW FAR you crank the locknut down, the torque applied to do this is near-constant and around 350-400 ft. lbs. but is irrelevant.

Once you have the crush sleeve and preload set up, you are free to remove the locknut and reinstall is as many times as you want. The torque spec for reinstalling a nut (with an existing crush sleeve) is about 200 ft. lbs., according to my Chilton manual. I have removed and reinstalled locknuts and internals on countless diffs, using the existing sleeve without any problems.

Obviously if you re-torqued the bolt to 400 ft. lbs. you'd risk crushing the sleeve more and increasing your preload. Or if you torque it under the Chilton spec of 200 ft. lbs. it may loosen and the preload will be under spec.

There is no torque spec on the locknut when setting up a NEW crush sleeve.

 

[Evan]

I think its 1 1/8th inch. But a big adjustable will work too.

An adjustable wrench is unlikely to work, and to reinstall the nut you will need a torque wrench with the correct socket.

 

[bottledgt]

its 1 1/16th and no you cant keep taking the pinion nut off and on. i dont care what chiltons says. you can get lucky yes, but i wish you did rearends around here so i could make money fixing them all

 

[bottledgt]

also curious as to why chiltons advises you to take the nut off without really fixing anything or taking anything apart

 

[Evan]

also curious as to why chiltons advises you to take the nut off without really fixing anything or taking anything apart

It doesn't. It just lists the torque spec for the pinion locknut.

You take the nut off if you need to remove the input flange or pinion gear in order to examine or repair something. For example, if you need to change the pinion input seal.

You don't get lucky when it comes to working with diffs. If you don't have everything just right, something will fail. I have worked on a lot of diffs that see hard trail riding and have had thousands of miles put on them, and I have a perfect track record as far as their reliability goes. You can't do that with luck. I'm afraid you wouldn't make squat from any diff I've worked on if I lived near you.

 

[aipaul]

I just changed my pinion seal a few weeks ago. You should use a very sensitive inch-pound torque wrench to put the pinion nut back on. One that measures beween 0 and 80 in-lbs would be great but I could only find a cheap 0-800 in-lb one. The specs said something like 30 in-lbs for used bearings. I just tried my best to keep the torque less than 50 in-lbs when putting it back on with the cheap wrench. It has been a few weeks and it still hasn't leaked or suffered any ill effects. You should also use a new pinion nut. Mine was crimped on the top end I guess to make it harder to twist off, sort of what lock-tite would do. I didn't have a new nut so I used a dremel and grind stone to grind the crimped part off. Without doing this or using a new nut, you won't be able to torque it. You should be able to finger tighten the nut all the way before using the torque wrench.

 

[bottledgt]

wow... this site never ceases to amaze me,does that mean you would grind the crimp off a new nut too? and while there is a torque number that would let you do this decent enough to work, the problem lies in that all crush sleeves dont exactly have the exact same crush rating. some crush easier than other, so theres no way you could really put a number on it. and even more hard to do for someone who hasnt done it and really doesnt know how to 'feel' it

 

[Evan]

I just changed my pinion seal a few weeks ago. You should use a very sensitive inch-pound torque wrench to put the pinion nut back on. One that measures beween 0 and 80 in-lbs would be great but I could only find a cheap 0-800 in-lb one. The specs said something like 30 in-lbs for used bearings. I just tried my best to keep the torque less than 50 in-lbs when putting it back on with the cheap wrench. It has been a few weeks and it still hasn't leaked or suffered any ill effects. You should also use a new pinion nut. Mine was crimped on the top end I guess to make it harder to twist off, sort of what lock-tite would do. I didn't have a new nut so I used a dremel and grind stone to grind the crimped part off. Without doing this or using a new nut, you won't be able to torque it. You should be able to finger tighten the nut all the way before using the torque wrench.

Where did you get your specs from? 30 in. lbs. is way too much preload for a used bearing and even on the high side for a new bearing. Used should be 8-14 and new should be 16-29.

 

[Evan]

wow... this site never ceases to amaze me,does that mean you would grind the crimp off a new nut too? and while there is a torque number that would let you do this decent enough to work, the problem lies in that all crush sleeves dont exactly have the exact same crush rating. some crush easier than other, so theres no way you could really put a number on it. and even more hard to do for someone who hasnt done it and really doesnt know how to 'feel' it

If you're using the existing crush sleeve, your goal is not to crush the sleeve at all, as it's already crushed to spec for the gears. If you torque the nut to 200 ft. lbs. the sleeve should remain as-is.

If you are setting up the preload for the first time with a new sleeve, you're right; there is no way to put a number on the amount of torque. You keep cranking the nut down until the preload is in spec.

 

[bottledgt]

im quite aware of that. your not hearing me. im saying that youre 200 lb spec may in fact crush some sleeves more and others not so much,. and i know for a fact it takes less than 200 lbs usually to move the crush sleeve more once its crushed down where it needs to be