Topic: Pinion Nut

[RT]

Hey guys, the pinion seal in my dana 35 blew and I was wondering what the torque specifications for the pinion nut in a dana 35c were.

[grumpygy]

You are not going to like this answer.
http://www.sija.org/bounty/Misc/D35PinionSeal.pdf

[aw12345]

Is not as easy as it sounds but you could take a running torque measurement before you take it apart and set it back to that when you reassemble it. Make sure to use a new pinion nut or use a liberal amount of red loctite, you do not want that nut to back off. Also you do not want to over tighten the pinion nut since that will crush the crush sleeve more, which will over tighten the pinion bearings and will make them die an untimely death

[Torch_Ind]

Is not as easy as it sounds but you could take a running torque measurement before you take it apart and set it back to that when you reassemble it. Make sure to use a new pinion nut or use a liberal amount of red loctite, you do not want that nut to back off. Also you do not want to over tighten the pinion nut since that will crush the crush sleeve more, which will over tighten the pinion bearings and will make them die an untimely death

 

[sharpxmen]

like he ^ said you need to take the preload rotating torque before taking it apart, when you assemle it set it to the amount you measured + 5in.lbs.

You need a new crush sleeve, the FSM gives the torque for the nut between 200 and 350 ft.lbs. but that is all of course informational, you tighten it to crush the sleeve and keep going bit by bit until you achieve the bearing preload rotating torque.

your biggest challenge is to take out the outer pinion bearing, the crush sleeve is behind it so you need to do that to replace it. If you end up taking the carrier out i think the preload for used bearings is 12in.lbs. (can't remember for sure so you might want to double check that).

[RT]

damn dude, is their any way to do this without taking apart the whole universe, it's just a seal, the crush sleeve is fine and the bearing are new. I work at a mechanics shop and what the MM's do is simply count the rotations of the nut with the help of markings.

[Jeffy]

damn dude, is their any way to do this without taking apart the whole universe, it's just a seal, the crush sleeve is fine and the bearing are new. I work at a mechanics shop and what the MM's do is simply count the rotations of the nut with the help of markings.

Well if they're doing them, on axles with shims then it's a lot easier.  The crush sleeves are the problem though.  They do take a lot of torque to collapse though.  It's not that hard though as long as you have a inch-lbs dial torque wrench though.  Record the bearing preload before you start, torque the nut a bit then check the preload.   Add +5in-lbs like Sharp said.

[sharpxmen]

Well if they're doing them, on axles with shims then it's a lot easier.  The crush sleeves are the problem though.  They do take a lot of torque to collapse though.  It's not that hard though as long as you have a inch-lbs dial torque wrench though.  Record the bearing preload before you start, torque the nut a bit then check the preload.   Add +5in-lbs like Sharp said.

only prob is that is required to change the crush sleeve when you do this, now i don't know if that extra +5in.lbs would be enough to crush the existing/old sleeve just a bit more so you don't have to take it out and replace it - it can be tried, could work but in my case i'm pretty sure that's why my R&P got busted as i had a shop replace my seal and it failed shortly after that (in like 10k miles or so).

[Jeffy]

only prob is that is required to change the crush sleeve when you do this, now i don't know if that extra +5in.lbs would be enough to crush the existing/old sleeve just a bit more so you don't have to take it out and replace it - it can be tried, could work but in my case i'm pretty sure that's why my R&P got busted as i had a shop replace my seal and it failed shortly after that (in like 10k miles or so).

Was the +5 for reusing the bearings?  It's been a while since I've done it BUT many have replaced the seal without problems.  You just have to make sure you don't go too far over the recorded preload.

[sharpxmen]

Was the +5 for reusing the bearings?  It's been a while since I've done it BUT many have replaced the seal without problems.  You just have to make sure you don't go too far over the recorded preload.

+5 is when you reuse the bearings and do not take the carrier out, so basically you measure the rotating torque on the yoke nut with everything installed (carrier, axle shafts), with the axle suspended (both ends off the ground) and recommended that you have the wheels removed as well as the drums so you don't get any rotating torque added due to those - add 5in.lb. to the total rotating torque you measured - it should have the sleeve deform just slightly to achieve the added torque so that's the idea i suppose so it should work, but then contradicting all this is the fact that everywhere i looked it says to replace the crush sleeve, and that means you need to take out the outer bearing and that's a challenge with the carrier on (with the stock one would be easier than with a locker since there more room between the pinion and the carrier). So that's the dilemma, theoretically should work since you'd crush the sleeve just a bit more from where it was set prior to taking the nut off.

EDIT: also,
 - when rotating with the in.lbs. torque wrench the indication won't be the same over 360 degrees, so +5 should be added to the maximum indication that was recorded.
 - if you reuse the bearings but the carrier is removed then you just set the preload to 10 to 15 in.lbs. with a new crush sleeve (something like that, can't remember the exact figure but i can check the FSM if needed).

[Jeffy]

+5 is when you reuse the bearings and do not take the carrier out, so basically you measure the rotating torque on the yoke nut with everything installed (carrier, axle shafts), with the axle suspended (both ends off the ground) and recommended that you have the wheels removed as well as the drums so you don't get any rotating torque added due to those - add 5in.lb. to the total rotating torque you measured - it should have the sleeve deform just slightly to achieve the added torque so that's the idea i suppose so it should work, but then contradicting all this is the fact that everywhere i looked it says to replace the crush sleeve, and that means you need to take out the outer bearing and that's a challenge with the carrier on (with the stock one would be easier than with a locker since there more room between the pinion and the carrier). So that's the dilemma, theoretically should work since you'd crush the sleeve just a bit more from where it was set prior to taking the nut off.

EDIT: also,
 - when rotating with the in.lbs. torque wrench the indication won't be the same over 360 degrees, so +5 should be added to the maximum indication that was recorded.
 - if you reuse the bearings but the carrier is removed then you just set the preload to 10 to 15 in.lbs. with a new crush sleeve (something like that, can't remember the exact figure but i can check the FSM if needed).

Ok, that's what I remember then.  I ditched my crush sleeves over the years.

[aka-justin]

It was a real bear to crush mine when I replaced the seal. A 1" drive rachet and socket took me nearly standing on it to crush. My father (mechanic) said we should have been using a impact.

[sharpxmen]

It was a real bear to crush mine when I replaced the seal. A 1" drive rachet and socket took me nearly standing on it to crush. My father (mechanic) said we should have been using a impact.

never use an impact to set the preload, just did mine - it starts deforming at about 225ft.lbs. so you need a big torque wrench or breaker bar.

[Jeffy]

never use an impact to set the preload, just did mine - it starts deforming at about 225ft.lbs. so you need a big torque wrench or breaker bar.

An impact wrench set to a middle setting would have worked.  You just have to go slow and not crank on it with full power of the impact wrench.