[tinman386]

So I have a rear end I bought off ebay. It was a freshly rebuilt never used piece a guy was parting out the car. Anyway the problem I have is a oil leak coming from what appears to be behind the pinion nut. Like between pinion nut ant yoke. Can I tighten this nut a little bit to get rid of the leak? I know there is something about a crush sleeve involved with this and I know I cant just reef on it. But i was thinking 1 more turn of the nut might do the trick. I just dont want to mess anything else up.

[sqzbox]

There is a seal after the crush sleave. If you try "just one more turn", you'll mess up the clearence between the pinion gear and the ring gear. Leting it continue to leak, will cause the lube oil level drop and will
eventally burn up the rear end. I've had it happen to me.
It doesn't cost that much to fix but I would get a reputable shop to do the repair as there might be other issues causing the seal to go bad like a worn crush sleave or carrier bearings that if so, would need an experienced gear guy with dial indicators to set the proper clearence between the ring and pinion. Freshly rebuilt? or powerwashed and painted for EBAY?

[S10 Racer]

Originally Posted by tinman386

So I have a rear end I bought off ebay. It was a freshly rebuilt never used piece a guy was parting out the car. Anyway the problem I have is a oil leak coming from what appears to be behind the pinion nut. Like between pinion nut ant yoke. Can I tighten this nut a little bit to get rid of the leak? I know there is something about a crush sleeve involved with this and I know I cant just reef on it. But i was thinking 1 more turn of the nut might do the trick. I just dont want to mess anything else up.

There is a seal there that has to be leaking around the pinion yoke. You need to pull the pinion nut off and look at that seal. Also, inspect the pinion yoke and make sure there is no groove worn into it where the seal contacts it.

[lmsport]

Leaks from oil migrating up the splines on the pinion are possible which is why most factory assemblies use a liquid sealant on the cavity under the nut, or under the washer if one is used. I use regular RTV, just dont ge it on the threads of the pinion if you want to use loctite. It is important to measure the prevailing pinion bearing preload and restore that amount, or mark the nut and the pinion carefully and simply retorque the nut to the same physical location.

[eloc431962]

Sounds like a pinion seal leaking replace the seal and it should stop leaking.JMO...Cole

[sqzbox]

Your going to (if you don't have a yoke holding tool) find a way to hold the yoke to get the nut off. As far as the preload on the pinion nut you can count how many turns the nut takes to come off and put the nut back on exactly the same amount of turns.

[302 Z28]

Originally Posted by sqzbox

There is a seal after the crush sleave. If you try "just one more turn", you'll mess up the clearence between the pinion gear and the ring gear.

Not true, the crush sleeve ONLY pre-loads the bearings, it does not set pinion depth, only the pinion shims do that. Tightening down on the pinion nut will only apply more pre-load to the bearings and will not affect pinion depth at all.

Vince

[sqzbox]

My bad! shame on me. I need to read more and quit relying on memory.
No intention to steal the tread but, I've got some side play on my front axle
pinion in my 4x4. I'm not sure if it's a dana 44 or a GM 10 bolt yet. I'm GUESSING it's got bearing problems. Would I be correct?

[tinman386]

Thanks guys. The advice given is what I was thinking. How ever if for some reason I dont get the preload set correctly. What is the cause and effect?

There is a washer there and I was thinking of using the RTV sealant. My plan is to not count threads due to a thickness change in sealant. unless I can find a new seal here locally. My plan is to check what torque, nut is currently at by slowly increasing torque wrench until i get just to that point. Then duplicate upon reassembly. If all I have to do is go under washer then tightening to the yoke should'nt be bad. Thanks guys rear ends are my kryptonite lol . so I will nervously attempt to fix the leak my self.