Hi,
I have leaky rear end on a 1976 GMC C1500. I knew just enough, from youtube, to get in trouble and do things wrong. The leak remained. I marked the nut but I didn't count threads or rotations. I'm now leaking a lot more fluid. The first time around, I put the nut back on with a 2' breaker bar. Now I'm reading/hearing about needing closer to 150-250 ft/lb on a torque wrench.
Today, when I took the thing apart, I noticed that the pinion nut wasn't tight at all. It probably took less than 1/8 turn with no effort at all to start loosening the nut. It took maybe another turn before I could start turning the nut with my hand with the wrench sticking out straight.
Something else I noticed was that the yolk took 0 effort to remove. I'm watching youtube videos of guys using pullers to remove the yolk or flange.
Simple logic is telling me that the leak is from the backside of the yolk not being pressed up against the seal well enough. The attached photo shows where the leak is coming from. It's not from around the outside of the seal. I had gray RTV on that.
Other things to note, maybe, are that when I pulled the seal off (today), as the oil was pouring out, the bearings floated forward and the pinion gear was loose. I pushed the bearings back to where they were sitting and the pinion gear wasn't moving at all. Is all of that normal?
So the problem is that I don't want to pay a shop to do it right, and I don't want to break my rear end. Is there a solution?
Any thoughts on how to put it back together where it's not going to leak and be good enough for driving around?
Do I need an torque wrench? How many lbs? How many turns on the nut, etc? I've googled around but there is a lot going on that I don't have the knowledge for.
I appreciate the help!
I have leaky rear end on a 1976 GMC C1500. I knew just enough, from youtube, to get in trouble and do things wrong. The leak remained. I marked the nut but I didn't count threads or rotations. I'm now leaking a lot more fluid. The first time around, I put the nut back on with a 2' breaker bar. Now I'm reading/hearing about needing closer to 150-250 ft/lb on a torque wrench.
Today, when I took the thing apart, I noticed that the pinion nut wasn't tight at all. It probably took less than 1/8 turn with no effort at all to start loosening the nut. It took maybe another turn before I could start turning the nut with my hand with the wrench sticking out straight.
Something else I noticed was that the yolk took 0 effort to remove. I'm watching youtube videos of guys using pullers to remove the yolk or flange.
Simple logic is telling me that the leak is from the backside of the yolk not being pressed up against the seal well enough. The attached photo shows where the leak is coming from. It's not from around the outside of the seal. I had gray RTV on that.
Other things to note, maybe, are that when I pulled the seal off (today), as the oil was pouring out, the bearings floated forward and the pinion gear was loose. I pushed the bearings back to where they were sitting and the pinion gear wasn't moving at all. Is all of that normal?
So the problem is that I don't want to pay a shop to do it right, and I don't want to break my rear end. Is there a solution?
Any thoughts on how to put it back together where it's not going to leak and be good enough for driving around?
Do I need an torque wrench? How many lbs? How many turns on the nut, etc? I've googled around but there is a lot going on that I don't have the knowledge for.
I appreciate the help!