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Diff pinion nut

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drooartz

drooartz

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Replaced the pinion seal on the diff, and I can't get that nut tightened back up to spec (140ft-lb). I've got it back in the car now, hoping the hand brake would hold it, no dice. Any ideas?
 
You need a long steel bar that you can secure to two of the bolt holes. It needs to be long enough to be braced against your floor. It can be braced against the chassis, but I prefer to use the ground. A long piece of Superstrut/Unistrut works well, but some flat bar stock or angle iron will work too.

Even using a single hole with the bar leveraged against your socket will work.

Here's another approach - pic from the MGE library.

differential-tool.jpg



drooartz said:
Replaced the pinion seal on the diff, and I can't get that nut tightened back up to spec (140ft-lb). I've got it back in the car now, hoping the hand brake would hold it, no dice. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Do you want to go back to 140'#? Are you crushing a new sleeve? Are you checking bearing preload? When I've done it in the past I never went quite back to the original spec's just to be safe.

Kurt.
 
Thanks for the tips.

I went to just under 140 -- not a new crush sleeve. I did make my own BMC-approved special service tool out of 4' of angle iron from my local ACE hardware. Drilled 2 holes and ground off a little so it would bolt on. I guess I now have a tool for next time. "That's not scrap metal, that's a carefully calibrated tool!" :grin:

Car is buttoned up now, just need to do an oil change and general servicing and the Morris will be ready for another year.
 
Jack the rear of the car up, place wood blocks under the rear wheels, lower back down onto the blocks. Naturally, the higher the better. Maybe you can get it tight enough without moving the car off the blocks.
 
I did have the car up on blocks, but it still would move the wheels when I tried to tighten the nut. Adding my 4' long "special service tool" (angle iron bolted to the flange) did the trick.

... though it still leaks from that spot. No worse than before, but no better. Ah well, I'll just keep an eye on the level for now. Some day I'll pull the whole axle out for a good cleaning and suspension rebuild and I'll deal with it then.
 
Drew, it can leak down the splines on the yoke. Late now but some sealer there is a good idea.

Kurt.
 
You should be fine Drew - this conversation was had years ago (and I did the same) 140 lb. is for a new crush sleeve - about 1/2 that is fine for a new seal.
 
Drew, I meant the wheels sitting on the wood blocks. Is that what you did?
 
Paul McGuffin said:
Drew, I meant the wheels sitting on the wood blocks. Is that what you did?
Click to expand...

I did do that, didn't work -- even with the car's weight on the wheels and the hand brake on the wheels would still move. Bolting a 4' long piece of angle iron to the flange did the trick. Now I have the tool handy for the next one I need to do for the Bugeye.
 
Glad to hear that wood block didn’t work. I have a “clonk” in my rear diff. when I shift gears. Sounds like rear U-joint, but they are both new. I was going to try tightening it down with the car on blocks. Your try saved me the effort.
 
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