2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Pinion Seal Leakage

[DonTX]

I am seeing some seepage from my pinion seal area, 97 3500 Dana 80, 175k miles. Can I expect to replace the seal to fix, or should I be looking at bearings etc?

 

[kentdiesel]

If there is no play when you grab the pinion yoke and try to move it up and down then a seal would probably fix the leak. You will need a good impact wrench to remove and tighten the nut. I used a 3/4" drive impact wrench because I didn't have a socket big enough in 1/2" drive. A 1/2"impact wrench may remove it, I don't know.



The pinion yoke can be extremely hard to pull off. The Manual shows a plate style puller which would be easy to make. I used a huge 2 jaw puller and I had to tighten it far beyond what thought it would take to remove the yoke. It would be good if you had a Seal Driver large enough to cover the entire seal so you could drive it in straight and not peck round and round with a hammer.

I made a combo Seal Driver in the Lathe that works for the axle seals and the pinion seal.

The pinion seal I bought was about $12. 00 cheaper at NAPA than the local Dodge dealer who didn't have it in stock.

Kent

 

[CumminsPower98]

What he said. I have done mine twice now with 306k miles on the clock. Second time around I had to sleeve the yoke as it was getting pretty grooved. A 3/4 impact is a must I think as this nut is 450-500 ft. lbs. Mark the nut, pinion and yoke all in relation to each other and then line the marks back up when it goes back together. I too had to use a puller for the yoke as it is a pretty tight press fit.

 

[zstroken]

I think your supposed to change the nut each time. I would call the dodge dealer get the dodge part number then let napa cross it. Seems like somewhere around 98 or so they changed pinion seals. Friend took one of an 94 80 and it looked different and wouldn't work in the 02 dana 80 he had.

 

[CumminsPower98]

A new nut may be recommended but I don't think you have too. Mine has been off several times and has never come loose in 306k miles and I tow all the time with it. This last time I put a little blue loctite on it. If you have a torque wrench capable of 500 ft. lbs. then there is no need to mark the nut and a new one would be fine. Many here have just marked the old nut and reinstalled. If you want a new nut and have no torque wrench then I guess you could just rattle it on there real tight and forget about it. The torque is not real critical as long as it's not too loose since this is a shim setup and not a crush sleeve.