So the pinion seal is leaking in my 2005 Dodge truck. The truck only has 40K miles on it and I'm guessing that it got dried out during one of the periods of inactivity. I thought it was the diff cover but I did that and cleaned everything up really good and after driving 200 miles this weekend I can clearly see it is the pinion seal. When I did the diff cover I checked that the breather line wasn't plugged and it wasn't.
So it has the AAM 11.5 inch rear end that was used by Chrysler, GM, and probable others. This rearend uses a crush washer from what I've been able to determine.
Best I can tell there are two ways to do this fix.
1. Easier : Mark the pinion nut as well as number of threads and depth it is currently on. When you reassemble you reuse the crush washer and put the nut to the same depth and maybe 1/8 inch tighter.
2. Difficult : Use a new crush washer. You have to keep tightening slowly until there isn't play in the yoke. After the play is out you have to then check the preload by putting a beam torque wrench on the pinion nut and checking inch lbs of drag. According to the literature this should be done with the axles pulled out as the bearings and brakes will cause drag thus causing an incorrect reading. You then tighten the pinion nut even slower until you get the correct preload as indicated by the beam torque wrench.
This is a truck I will keep for at least the next 10 years so I want it done right however my guess is that even the stealership is going to probably do method 1. While I will likely attempt this myself I would be up to having this done professionally if I could trust that the shop would do it correctly. I'm in Houston if that helps for advice on a shop.
Any advice?
Also is there a reason why you can't do method 1 with the rear wheels on the ground? If not you have to fabricate a tool or buy a tool to hold the yoke when you tighten the pinion
So it has the AAM 11.5 inch rear end that was used by Chrysler, GM, and probable others. This rearend uses a crush washer from what I've been able to determine.
Best I can tell there are two ways to do this fix.
1. Easier : Mark the pinion nut as well as number of threads and depth it is currently on. When you reassemble you reuse the crush washer and put the nut to the same depth and maybe 1/8 inch tighter.
2. Difficult : Use a new crush washer. You have to keep tightening slowly until there isn't play in the yoke. After the play is out you have to then check the preload by putting a beam torque wrench on the pinion nut and checking inch lbs of drag. According to the literature this should be done with the axles pulled out as the bearings and brakes will cause drag thus causing an incorrect reading. You then tighten the pinion nut even slower until you get the correct preload as indicated by the beam torque wrench.
This is a truck I will keep for at least the next 10 years so I want it done right however my guess is that even the stealership is going to probably do method 1. While I will likely attempt this myself I would be up to having this done professionally if I could trust that the shop would do it correctly. I'm in Houston if that helps for advice on a shop.
Any advice?
Also is there a reason why you can't do method 1 with the rear wheels on the ground? If not you have to fabricate a tool or buy a tool to hold the yoke when you tighten the pinion
