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Pinion nut torque help

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JPSmit said:
Gliderman8 said:
When I replaced my pinion seal and had to re-torque the nut, I used chain and a bolt..... I wrapped the chain around the axle and inserted a bolt through the chain, and one of the holes on the flange. This kept the flange from turning as I tightened the nut. Let me know if you need a better description.
Click to expand...

I need a better description.
Click to expand...

This should help....

<span style="font-style: italic">edit: I wrapped chain over the front housing of the diff... not the axle</span>
 

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And this...
 

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OK that helps a lot! thanks
 
JPSmit said:
OK that helps a lot! thanks
Click to expand...

Happy to help JP. This is what worked for me and I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish it. I like this method since it does not leave teeth marks from a BF wrench!
 
A flange wrench would be the preferred method. easy to make and use. tr6 rear end is a whole different animal.

m
 
I think you guys are missing something about setting up a pinion gear it has to do with the preload that your setting on the bearings the pinion gear has to run true to the ring gear if it is set to lose you will get ring gear wear and pinion wear :cryin:
to tight the bearing will wear this must be set up with a dial indicator to get it right
if it has a crush sleave you must replace it!
 
Actually folks, I think you could pad the jaws of the pipe wrench with, say, a piece of aluminum and get by just fine. Still glad I made up my tool years ago. I've used in on several cars.

Kurt.
 
Hooey, if just replacing the seal I've always just retorqued to a figure lower than the original setup torque for the crush tube diff's. If it is the early diff with the solid spacer tube then go to the spec torque.
You're right on for original set up.

Kurt.
 
but he replaced the bearing too, not just the seal
he has also put it back togeather
was the pinion bearing bad ? I alway remove the the dif
and set it up the right way but that just me I don't like to goback and do things twice
 
I made a mistake on my original post. After going through my records, I found that I replaced the bearings and seals on the sides for the axles, but only the seal for the pinion. I figured I needed to replace the side bearings since one axle was broken when I bought the car. In retrospect I know I should have just rebuilt the whole rear end. I can't undo my mistake. The worst case scenario as I see it now is I will have to rebuild the rear end if just tightening doesn't work. So, I made the tool based on the article from Trevor's hyperlink. (I was having difficulty trying the pipe wrench without damaging anything.) I will be going out to the garage shortly, I figure I have nothing to lose at this point. I spoke to a local guy who works on British cars, and he thinks I have a solid spacer. He was busy and I didn't have time to ask, but I would like to know: 1) How do you know what kind of spacer this has without pulling it apart? 2)If it is solid, why should it matter if I just tighten it to original specs?
Kevin
 
hooey said:
I think you guys are missing something about setting up a pinion gear it has to do with the preload that your setting on the bearings the pinion gear has to run true to the ring gear if it is set to lose you will get ring gear wear and pinion wear to tight the bearing will wear this must be set up with a dial indicator to get it right
if it has a crush sleave you must replace it!
Click to expand...

True, and mentioned early on, when we were trying to determine if he had a shimmed diff or a crush sleeve diff (filler plug on diff or axle housing).
But, external identifiers on a 50-year-old Limey Limo can mask what has been changed internally over those decades.
Pinion gear preload is set with either shim adjustment or crush sleeve, and you really have to know what you are "feeling" as you re-tighten.
I would not use a pipe wrench on the flange, as it will knurl up the edge, maybe interfering with u-joint companion flange fit, and I would never use on bolt at an angle through the pinion flange to a piece of kid's swingset chain.
If the chain doesn't fail at 175 pounds, and whack you in the skull, the bolt's gonna snap and poke you in the eye, or at least the angled bolt will enlongate and curl the edge of the hole.
 
If you just replaced the bearing and the seal and put back all the shims as they were then your pinion depth should be ok. If it just backed off and you didn't get it tight enough the first time then tighten it to the correct setting and you should be ok. the crush sleave will just crush a little more and be ok. If you have a real concern then run some prussian blue through the gear mesh and check it. I got a feeling that it will be just fine. I can't tell you the number of cars that I have had the nut come loose on from drag racing and just giving a car general heck. I just re-torqued the nut and it was good to go. If it comes loose again I would torque it to about 200. Unless you put in a new pinion or lost some of the shims, your pinion depth and preload should be fine. Most of the bearing tolerances are within a 10th of a thousandth so it is not a consideration.
I did a new gear set in my pumpkin about 5 years ago, so I had to re shim and all that to get it right. It is a PITA, but you got to do that to get it right and not whine.
 
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