Rear pinion seal

[kewltrks]

Hey all,

Saw my rear pinion seal starting to leak, Anyone replaced theirs? Any special things I need to know before attempting to replace this? Is there a pre-load on this as well? Maybe bite it and let the pros take care of it.
Thanks in advance

 

[bcbender]

Saw my rear pinion seal starting to leak, Anyone replaced theirs?

Yes.....but I have a friend that can set up a ring n pinion NP. Seal not so bad, if that it.

 

[Ozymandias]

Mark nut and bolt and bring it back to exact that point. Problem solved. Easy job.

But with that seal leaking you wanna check the driveshaft and it's u-joints very carefully, because drive shaft harmonics let that seal leak without it being bad.

Also check the axle breather assembly.

 

[endoscott]

Can u-joints really be checked adequately without removing the driveshaft? forgive my ignorance...

 

[endoscott]

Reason I ask, is I already had to have one replaced at 76,000 miles and I wonder if I should just have the other ones changed as preventive maintenance since we travel to remote spots and go off road a little bit. Service tech told me just replace them if they do go bad. Not sure how they determined the one was bad that they replaced. At least covered under warranty.

 

[Ozymandias]

Can u-joints really be checked adequately without removing the driveshaft? forgive my ignorance...

Nope, you must pull the shaft and work the u-joints by hand, to feel in what condition they are.
Installed in the vehicle it must be in very bad shape to be visibly, let's say rust traces coming out the bearing cups and such.

 

[endoscott]

That sounds right! I am going to get under there and drop the driveshaft(s) and have a look. that's about like in the old days right? Nothing special just mark things so they go back exactly the same, right? I really want to check them carefully.

 

[Ozymandias]

Yes, you just disconnect it at the rear axle and pull it right out of the TC.
Be careful it is heavy, and the bolts are fixed with loctite, use a socket that fits them perfectly otherwise there is a high risk of rounding them of.
An impact wrench is ideal for it.

 

[sag2]

And mark the shaft orientation before removing so you don't end up with a vibration when your done.

 

[Blakers]

My rear pinion seal began to leak and I replaced it. But the seal wasn't worn out -- the steal flange part of the seal had a hole rusted through it next to the rubber seal. I had a hard time getting the nut back on tight enough to match the mark I made. I used a 3/4" ratchet with a 6 foot pipe, but it just wanted to spin the wheels on the ground when it got really tight. Next time I'll borrow a 1" impact wrench.

 

[Bob4x4]

Just make or buy a pinion holding tool.If you don’t have a lot of experience with an impact it’s easy to overtorque the pinion nut.