Pinion Leak

[BigEd]

I have a Dana 80 that has a pinion leak. Truck only has 14,000 miles on it and has never towed anything. I've read in other posts that there seems to be a lot of problems with these pinions leaking. Has anyone determined the reason the seals are failing? Another question, my service manual says I have to torque the yoke at 440 ft lbs. Is this really necessary, or can I just use a 1/2 inch drive impact wrench?



Many thanks!

 

[vinceharris]

hey BigEd,

my truck is going in thrusday to the dodge dealer to have the pinion seal replaced for the second time. as long as my truck has a warrenty on it it will go to the dealer to have it fixed. the first one failed at 15k and this one failed at 31k. i do pull a 11k lb 5th wheel camper.



vince harris

member TDR ,GLTDR





99 2500 24v quad cab 4x4 4. 10lsd lwb white/driftwood

 

[John Berger]

Been there, done that

I've had 4 pinion seals go bad. I finally took the synthetic lube out of the differential and so far the leak has not returned. I haven't towed since the dino lube has been in. We'll see. I thought the service manual said 210 ft. lbs on the pinion nut. Somebody will know.



John

 

[LIONEL]

I recently replaced the pinion seal on a 97 model with a dana 80. The pinion yoke nut had begun to back off, and the resulting pinion movement destroyed the seal. I tightened the yoke nut with a 3/4 impact, and since I have access to a torque wrench with a scale that high, I used it just to see if I was in the ball park.

I still had to turn the nut a few degrees to acheive proper torque. Keep in mind this can be very difficult because the back wheels may try to turn even though the parking brakes are set tight, and when I finally got enough cheater pipe on the end of the torque wrench, the assembly flexed so much it would touch the floor before the nut would turn.