Difficultly of changing pinion seal
Difficultly of changing pinion seal After putting it off for a while now its time to start planning on swapping out my leaky pinion seal w/ a new one but would like to get some advice before doing so. First quesiton I have is in regards to a "crush sleeve" is this necessary to replace or should I just plan on reusing whats in there right now depending on whether the condition of it is ok or not? Second question I have is I've heard its crucial to make a mark of some sort before I attempt to take the nut of the pinion so I can show where i need to tighten it back down upon re-installing but would like to hear some feeback on how others did it. My last question is what tool would you suggest me using when taking out the old seal? Thanks!!
fairly simple take the driveshaft loose, mark with a chisel were your nut lines up with your pinion. remove the nut and yoke. get a screwdriver and hammer and knock in the outer edge of the seal until you can remove it. install the new seal and yoke. tighten nut down to were you marked it at.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 345
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From: TX
A lot of the times you can do that and get away with it. But the crush sleeve is actually a spring, and once crushed, will not load properly if reused. Mine is leaking too, not too bad yet, but I'm going to do it some time in the fall.
Problem is, crushing that sleeve sucks, it's very touchy when you are trying to get the proper reading on the inch/pound dial torque wrench, just a hair too much and it will shoot past the range, needs a new sleeve if it's going to be done right. Sleeve concept itself is problematic. They can put too much load on the bearings and burn them up, not enough and that can cause problems too. So I'm thinking of using a solid spacer, never used one before, but I might give it a try.
Removing the seal itself is easy, just use a screwdriver.
Problem is, crushing that sleeve sucks, it's very touchy when you are trying to get the proper reading on the inch/pound dial torque wrench, just a hair too much and it will shoot past the range, needs a new sleeve if it's going to be done right. Sleeve concept itself is problematic. They can put too much load on the bearings and burn them up, not enough and that can cause problems too. So I'm thinking of using a solid spacer, never used one before, but I might give it a try.
Removing the seal itself is easy, just use a screwdriver.
Mine actually had a solid spacer so maybe it wasn't the first time someone blew it up. I wouldn't do it unless you were replacing gears or had a shop with full complement of tools.
Originally Posted by REDWS6ROCKET
fairly simple take the driveshaft loose, mark with a chisel were your nut lines up with your pinion. remove the nut and yoke. get a screwdriver and hammer and knock in the outer edge of the seal until you can remove it. install the new seal and yoke. tighten nut down to were you marked it at.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 345
Likes: 1
From: TX
Originally Posted by 2002_Z28_Six_Speed
Mine actually had a solid spacer so maybe it wasn't the first time someone blew it up. I wouldn't do it unless you were replacing gears or had a shop with full complement of tools.
So the next gear swap I did, I tried this method. It was the 8.5 10 bolt on my 71. It only took ~ 90 ft/lbs to get to the recommended preload for new bearings. I was a little nervous about maybe the torque being a little low, so I added a small tack with my MIG. That was ~ 10 years ago with more than a few runs at the track with zero problems.
Don't want to try it on the 98's diff. Weak sauce 7.5. Besides, I think I read somewhere that the solid spacer helps support the bearings better.
