Dana 50 pinion seal leaking

[DrCharles]

Now that I've installed a drain plug on my '93 F250's Dana 50 front diff, and filled it with the proper amount of gear oil, it's started to leak at the pinion seal. I have a few questions:

• Does this pinion have a crush sleeve or is there a shim pack so I don't have to worry about preload?
• Can someone verify that the correct pinion seal is National 5778?
• Should I go ahead and order a Speedi-Sleeve, assuming that the reason it started leaking is wear on the shaft as well as the seal itself?

I'll have the driveshafts down soon to rebuild the transfer case, so that'd be a perfect time to do this seal as well.

thanks
Charles

 

[hce]

Shim pack no crush sleeve, Seal rides on yoke. Can pull the yoke and check for a groove on seal surface.

 

[DrCharles]

Thanks.
I know I can look for grooves... just wondering the odds of needing the sleeve too. I like to have all the parts in hand before actually disassembling anything - reduces the number of days I can't use my truck Guess I'll order it, since I could always send it back!

Does that sound like the right seal p/n? There are sure a lot of different ones...

 

[hce]

Takes 20 minutes to pull the yoke and reinstall, not days. 4 nuts on the u-joint, one nut on the pinion, pull pinion and inspect. Should not take days.

 

[DrCharles]

I meant there could be a several-day delay in obtaining new parts. We don't have a NAPA store in my small town and mail-order is slow.

Obviously it won't take me days to work on! And I hate having to do part or all of a job more than once... But thanks for the thread bump.

 

[DrCharles]

Did some more searching... it does appear that 5778 is the correct pinion seal p/n. The late model Dana 50 ('00-up) has a different seal.
https://www.yukongear.com/productdetails.aspx?ProdID=8853