replacing 8.8 pinion seal

[farmer]

My pinion seal was leaking badly so I replaced it. I just pulled off the pinion nut and yoke, replaced the seal, and put it all back together. What do i need to torque the pinion nut to? My repair book didn't list a thing so i have it snugged to 60 ft lbs for now but before I drive it and blow shit up I probably should find out.

 

[4x4junkie]

Did you scribe a mark on the nut, pinion shaft & flange before you took it apart?

If not, you'll then need to remove the differential carrier from the housing, then torque the pinion nut down in extremely tiny amounts until a preload (rotational drag) of about 8-10 inch-lbs is restored on the pinion bearings.

Also, if you reused the old pinion nut, you MUST clean the threads and put Loctite on it, or it will come loose on you (they suggest you use a new nut any time it's disassembled).

Hope that helps.

 

[farmer]

WHAT!!??
Seriously though I live across the street from a mechanic and we did it on his lift. He said it would be fine the way we did it, but it wouldn't hurt to check the torque specs

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

That's just it, there is no torque spec for that nut. It is at the proper torque when it has applied the proper amount of pinion bearing pre-load. If you tighten it too much you will crush the crush sleeve more and apply too much bearing pre-load which will eat the bearings in a hurry.

 

[farmer]

And the only way to do that is yard the whole damn carrier out? theres no "half assed but still works fine" way to do it?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

No, because with the carrier in you will get the resistance from the gears meshing and the carrier bearings rotating.

If you are going to change the seal without doing this you need to mark the pinion nut and shaft and line them back up when re
assembling.

You will need a beam or dial type inch lbs torque wrench to check the bearing preload.

 

[farmer]

Too late

 

[4x4junkie]

Yep, sorry to say, but that's how it is.

Axle work isn't something to be taken lightly, there are specific procedures that have to be followed to ensure that nothing goes kaboom in the next 1000 miles.

Pulling the carrier isn't exceedingly difficult though... After the axle is taken apart and the bearing caps are removed (DON'T MIX THEM UP!), the carrier should pop right out with a little bit of effort. There will be some shims on the outside of the carrier bearings. Again, be absolutely sure everything goes back in right where it was exactly.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I apparently got lucky when I did mine without taking any precautions... seal was leaking, bearings slightly loose, changed the seal and tightened the nut with my cheesy impact (not very effective), stopped leaking and has lived 20,000 miles since...

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

It does take a fair amount of torque to crush a crush sleeve, but things can go for shit if you do manage to.

 

[canyoncritter]

had to do this a while back proably about 3500 miles ago.


8,8 was leaking like a shot gangster, from the pinion. being cheap I took my chances here.

what I did was use a beam dial type Tq wrench and got a close ideal how much it took to back off the nut, then counted how many threads were exposed (same as marking) so far so good.

sorry to say, there is no "set" tq spec. gotta love crush sleves.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

gotta love crush sleves.

Exactly why my 31 spline 8.8 in my ranger has a crush sleeve eliminator in it.

I can take the yoke off and change the seal in a matter of minutes without having to worry about anything.

 

[farmer]

It does take a fair amount of torque to crush a crush sleeve, but things can go for shit if you do manage to.

so only if you crank the piss out of that nut it it fawk everything up? we took the slop out of the pinion and snugged it (60-65 ft lbs) but we didnt crank it right down

 

[farmer]

ok well I just talked to my brother in law who is a certified Ford mechanic, he said at the shop they just wind the nut back on with an impact and don't tighten it too much, and they've never had an issue... coming for a dealer mechanic I'm alot less worried now

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

I'm a dealer mechanic as well FYI

Like I said, you might be fine, but would it hurt to be sure? Absolutely not.