the pinion seal has been leaking for many moons in my van...it has the 14 bolt rear end and i have the new seal for it. i just now finally got that large nut off, this was the third time i attemted it. No way i could wrench it off so i finally blocked off all 4 wheels and took my impact wrench to it and that got it off. Removed the large washer so now i can see in there, it looks like the pinion part should just pull off as i can see the grooves in the shaft and how it fits right into the rear end. But, i can't pull it off...

does anyone know what tool you are supposed to use to get it off? i have a large pully-puller tool and also a pitman puller but not sure if those will work. A mechanic told me it should just come right out and then the seal will pop out and the new one can be put in.

can anyone offer some advice on what to do? i would really like to fix this instead of putting it back together yet again and giving up for another year until the weather gets nice enough to work on the pavement...

thanks!

Paul

They make a seal puller that works great for them, but you should still be able to pry it out with a big screwdriver. You may be able to hammer the new seal in with small circular blows, or you can use a piece of pipe that matches the diameter of the seal.

to get the yoke off i used a puller a claw style puller. to get the seal out i went ape sh*t on it and ripped it to shreds (just dont scar the seal surface or splines) that way has always worked for me

We are in the process of repairing and building a rear end with a 14 bolt, and ... yeah, the bolt is a pain to remove, the yoke, is very simple once the nut and washer are out. just tap on it hit a little on one side, then hit the other. it will slowly move right out.
then just pry the seal out with a hammer and screwdriver, and use a socket of the approximate size to tap the new seal in. you can just jently tap around the edge of the seal until its seated too. what ever floats your boat.

i tried attaching some pics - hopefully they come through. i tried tapping on both sides and it did not come loose; and i also have a three-jaw puller i put on there. i was hesitant to wrench it down too hard because it seems like the three jaws could bend the flange that goes up against the differential because that metal looks kind of thin.
this thing has been on there since 1987 for sure. Any ideas what i am doing wrong? should i really pound on it with the hammer or what?
thanks,
Paul

Three words:
Get a torch!

Three words:
Get a torch!

i have several - but i don't know what/where to heat up. obviously somewhere on the pinion/yoke thing (i don't really know what it is called) but it would take a long time to heat the whole thing up. can you elaborate?
thanks,
paul

Before you started disassembly, you should have measured the torque to turn the pinion shaft with the wheels off the ground. If you haven't moved the flange on the shaft yet, you can still make the measurement. Normal torque for a used pinion shaft is 5 - 15 in. lbs. Before removing the nasty pinion nut, mark the nut and shaft end with a punch or white paint and note the number of threads exposed so you can reassemble the nut to the same tightness when reassembling.

After the pinion nut is removed, the pinion flange should slide off. If it is tight soak it with WD 40 or an equivalent. A two jaw puller might help or gently tap it off with a hammer as vstech suggested. DO NOT USE HEAT!!!

The dust cover and seal can be pried off with a screwdriver.

Use a pipe the same diameter as the seal to install the new one.

Install the dust seal and pinion flange on the splined shaft. Clean the splines with Emory or steel wool so that the flange will slip on the shaft. DO NOT HAMMER IT FLANGE ON THE SHAFT. You can damage the shaft bearings and the gears.

Place the washer and nut on the shaft and tighten to the original position where the marks line up. Check the rotating torque and tighten the nut to add 3 in lbs to the rotation torque. If you have no marks or pre disassembly torque information, I would tighten the nut until I had 15 - 18 in lb rotation torque

A note on tightening the large nut.
It will take a little effort to tighten the nut. We do not care what torque is applied to tighten the nut. The important thing is the rotating torque which preloads the pinion bearings. The tighter the nut, the greater the rotating torque.

You can get an in-lb torque wrench at Harbor freight fairly cheaply. You want a beam type, not a click type. You can also Rub Goldberg one by using a wrench and a spring scale. Place the wrench on the nut and pull at right angle (90 degrees) to the wrench. The length of the wrench in inches multiplied by the pull of the scale in pounds equals the torque in inch pounds. Example 5 inch wrench pulling with 3 pounds of force equal 15 in lbs. (3 x 5 = 15)

I used a 6lb steel hammer and just whacked on the knuckle... it'll pop right off. I did soak mine in PB blaster though...

It's not as critical when pounding a flange off as when replacing the flange. As the pinion gear is tapered so it puts a side load on the shaft besides banging the gear teeth together.

Make sure the vent tube is clear and the cap isn't plugged or you'll be leaking again really soon.

Be sure to drive it in straight with a installing tool. Jeremy

One thing, I would not reuse the nut. it's a lock nut and not meant to be reused. I usually get a new one from the dealer. If you must reuse it use the good loctite. I can't remember for sure but I "believe" these may have a crush collar. Techincally that should also be changed and then torqued as described above.. I know the 10-12 bolts have crush collar. can't remember if the 14 bolts do. On a Dana 60 pinion bearing is preloaded by shims(PIA, lot of trial and error, I had a set of honed out bearings I used to use). wouldn't be a bad time to check backlash either. IIRC on the 14 bolt it's adjustable by turning the round thingys with the holes in them...(tech term).
:D

Now that I'm thinking more about it(it's been awhile) I think preload on the pinion bearing is shimmed by the plate behind the flange ?? I may not be remembering correctly.

The preload is established by the amount of crush on the crush sleeve. However, replacing a new crush sleeve requires removing the ring gear/differential case and pinion shaft. The pinion front bearing can then be pressed off the shaft and a new crush sleeve installed. The front bearing is then pressed on the shaft and the differential reassembled. As the pinion nut is tightened the crush sleeve deforms until the correct rotation torque is established.

The procedure outlined in #8 allows you to replace the seal and reestablish the required preload without complete disassembly. The nut can be reused using Locktite or slightly deforming the outer threads with a punch before assembly.

OK, on my rear, the nut and yoke were not on the truck when I got it, but the carrier and pinion were installed, but the carrier caps bolts were not tight... I tightened them, took the pinion yoke and nut off my old 85 truck, then tightened the pinion nut very tight, but I could still turn the yoke with my bare hand without difficulty. smooth really. I tried to tighten the nut tight enough for the 15 inch pounds of rotational resistance, but could not get the nut tighter. I had an 18" pipe wrench on the yoke, and a 1/2 " braker bar, with 6' of pipe on it, and STILL could not get it tighter.
It drove me down the mountain, and did not make any noise or anything. should I now take the truck to a shop with the proper tools to tighten this nut?

I would like to have heard an answer to that as well, vstech. I also have the 14 bolt rear, run into the same problem and planned to perform the same fix this upcoming weekend. Now I'm wondering if I'll run into the same jam - looking through other similar threads it sounds like some other folks have had difficulty tightening the nut to achieve the desired resistance.

I saw this thread back on top, and was hoping there had been a good answer...

On the 10 1/2 inch diameter ring gear differential (14 bolt), GM specifies tightening the pinion shaft nut to 350 FT-LB torque. Then, continue to tighten while measuring the rotation torque until the required rotational torque is established.

NOTE ON ROTATIONAL TORQUE

The 5 - 15 IN-LB rotational torque specified is for a pinion shaft only, with used bearings and the ring gear has NOT been assembled. This is a rather small force. If you are measuring the rotational force and it is also rotating the ring gear and axles, it is considerably greater. This is what is being measured before the pinion nut removal, outlined in #8.

My rear is the 9.5" 14bolt rear...

My rear is the 9.5" 14bolt rear...


In this differential, the pinion nut is tightened only until there is no play in the shaft bearings. The rotating torque is measured and then continue to tighten the pinion nut in VERY SMALL AMOUNTS until the desired rotating drag is reached. 1/8 turn on the nut can increase the drag as much as 5 in-lb.