Rear end decisions...

[metalminded]

I plan to keep this truck for a good long time. I noticed that the pinion seal on the rear end is seeping making the front of the diff look wet. I crawled under to investigate and found that there seems to be some play in what i assume is the bearing. I have only ever serviced rear ends and have never worked on one before. I initially thought i could just replace the pinion bearing and seal but it seems like once you open up the diff there might be more to replace.
I am just looking for opinions on how to approach this as i dont have any experience. Looking at rebuild kits online i am not really sure what i am looking at, i have seen a few discussions stating that if the axle is a limited slip model that the LS should be replaced for a locker. I am trying to decide if this is something worth doing myself or if this needs to go to a shop. This is a work truck that tows occasionally, no extreme off road activities and it has 265 75 16s. That being said, i went to drive up a dirt driveway the other day and my driver rear tire went on some wet grass and just began spinning, this was at 5mph or so. I had to back down and stick more in the middle of the driveway to make it up in 2wd, I am not sure if that is right but the passenger tire had plenty of grip but the power never shifted.

Ok i may be rambling here, going to get some coffee.

 

[junk]

Sounds like you have an open rearend with what happened in the wet grass. These trucks are heavy and wet grass is not their friend.

I would wonder if your rear yoke is loose on the pinion? My 89 had that. I don't play with rearends much so I had a shop fix it. I believe they put a new yoke and seal in and torqued it back up. I would check to see if the Yoke appears to be moving to the pinion shaft.

What year truck are you looking for parts on?

 

[metalminded]

I updated my signature with my trucks info, sorry.

I called a local transmission shop and the guy suggested re tightening the pinion nut, he said these have a tendency to loosen up? how do i go about tightening this to the proper torque? and how would i know if this is the issue and not the bearings?

 

[sle2115]

These trucks do have an issue with the pinion nut loosening up. I would check it and personally, I use high strength Loctite on them. Others say it's too much, but you have a large nut and can get plenty of torque on it to loosen it up later, I all but never use blue Loctite, always use the red...anyway, get it tightened up, a good impact is what most use. I would tighten it up, and with the rear wheels off the ground, move it by hand, see if you feel grinding in the pinion. If it is smooth, you probably just needed to tighten it.

 

[metalminded]

i can tighten this with an impact? i must be confused, i thought that there was a crush sleeve that has a specific torque rating on the pinion shaft?

you are saying tighten the nut with an impact and then reassemble the driveshaft and spin it by hand to test?

just want to make sure i do this right..

 

[sle2115]

Yes...unless you have one hell of an impact, you will never crush the sleeve...torque spec isn't really given, but I usually torque them to about 125-140 when just changing the seal...of course proper method would be new crush sleeve, etc. Some on here have just ran them down with impact and called it good. I can tell you that when I changed the gear set and put a new crush sleeve in, we had one hell of a time crushing it to proper spec...read, two broken breaker bars, one a 3/4" drive and 6 feet of pipe with me on the end of it! I'm 6'1" and 280lbs and still had a hell of a time getting to crush...so, unless stated, and you are using a 3/4" or larger impact, you most likely will not even come close to changing the crush sleeve. If the pinion seal is leaking, I'd change it too, but if the nut is just loose, my procedure would be... remove the old nut, clean threads with brake clean, apply red (high strength) Loctite, and install a new nut torqued to 140 ft/lbs or so in increments. I'd go 100, 110, 120, 130, etc. and feel how the pinion rotates after each step. I can pretty much promise you, that unless you have a bad torque wrench, you will be safe! Like I said, others just spin them on as tight as their impact will take them and go.

 

[sle2115]

OH, and yes, my method is tried and true, I've done it to my truck, and others...was a wrench jockey for many years...still am to some extent. Been working in the garage for summer work currently! Just in case you wondered how full of it I am! lol It's not a horrible thing to do and I hope you find it is just a loose pinion nut. Keep in mind, when the pinion nut get loose, it starts to wear the splines in the yoke! Check them out while you have the nut off.

 

[metalminded]

i will report back with pictures.
seriously, thank you for taking the time.

 

[sle2115]

That's why we hang out here brotha, we all need a little help from time to time! Having changed a couple sets of gears, I'm pretty comfortable giving advice. Feel the pinion spline to yoke fit once the nut is loose...should be VERY little play, visually inspect the splines in the yoke too, heavy wear will be visible.

 

[icanfixall]

I'm really enjoying this crush sleeve information. I'm not a fan of the crush sleeve and if and when I change my gears I will be installing the shim kit in place of the crush sleeve. Probably will use blue loctite because I know it will let go easier than the red. I have worked with red before. I recall it being the 277. It fills gaps up to 10 thous. Shear psi is 4000 lbs and the break away torque is 250 lbs. Needs 300 degrees to soften it so it can be removed or you will snap off a 9/16 thread. Yeah.. That stuff is powerfull and its not the highest strength loctite makes.

 

[metalminded]

got delayed... went to my storage to get some tools and forgot my &#%&! keys.... truck is up on jack stands and that about it. fresh start tomorrow.

 

[sle2115]

I'm really enjoying this crush sleeve information. I'm not a fan of the crush sleeve and if and when I change my gears I will be installing the shim kit in place of the crush sleeve. Probably will use blue loctite because I know it will let go easier than the red. I have worked with red before. I recall it being the 277. It fills gaps up to 10 thous. Shear psi is 4000 lbs and the break away torque is 250 lbs. Needs 300 degrees to soften it so it can be removed or you will snap off a 9/16 thread. Yeah.. That stuff is powerfull and its not the highest strength loctite makes.

We've had this discussion before...I use it on 10/32 and smaller gun scope screws on receivers that I would NEVER use heat to remove...have no problems! Blue is useless as far as I'm concerned, but that's my opinion. I've NEVER had an issue getting red loose with no heat, but apparently I'm just lucky. At any rate, mine has red! lol As far as the crush sleeve, I've never had an issue with them, just take some serious torque on this one! lol About wore my ass out and when that 3/4" breaker bar let loose, I crashed to the concrete floor and thought the truck might not survive!

 

[franklin2]

The nut loosens on these rearends because the splines wear. That's part of the reason why Ford upgraded the later rearends with a longer pinion shaft length, to get more spline area to combat this. When the splines wear, it lets the yoke twist back and forth ever so slightly, and this over time loosens the nut.

I too just tighten them up with the impact on high. Red loctite is a good idea also. If the splines are not worn too bad it will hold for awhile. If they are really worn, this "fix" may not last very long before the nut loosens up again. I have never priced a new yoke, and don't even know where you would get it. I am also not sure how a new yoke with new splines would fit on the old pinion shaft and it's old splines. Theoretically you would be only fixing 50% of the problem, but maybe most of the wear occurs in the yoke, I am not sure about that.

 

[metalminded]

ok... well. i drained only about a quart of black fluid out of this thing... which is great because before i left Charleston with the truck i had all the fluids checked, ********. I will post the places info so no one else gives them money for nothing.

anyhow, the new diff cover is on and sealed and the new pinion seal is in. i nailed that nut with my gun and that slack disappeared, however, now when i turn the wheels its much harder than it used to be and there is a knocking noise coming from the diff.

i just double checked how everything went back in with a diagram and i assembled it correctly. what gives? it feels awful now.

pix of my findings....

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[IMGhttp://imageshack.us/a/img196/7049/ahxq.jpg][/IMG]

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[metalminded]

in other news... holy shiat, royal purple is actually PURPLE.

really hope messing with that nut wasn't a bad idea....