Ford Need to do a rear pinion seal on a 99 Ranger, Educate me please

[frieed]

Looking for pointers..
I read that the torque of the pinion nut pre-loads the gears.
Professional work is not in the budget and I'm a fairly astute guy, so is this a do-it-yourself, or do I just keep adding oil?

1999
ext. cab
4x4
4.0L

 

[STAG]

If it is a crush sleeve design I believe you "need" to replace the crush sleeve if you remove the pinion yoke. You can pull the gears and replace the crush sleeve and pinion but, and as long as you put everything back together just as you took it apart, and the shims exactly where they came out, you can do the job yourself.

However, I put "need" in quotation marks because I had to replace my pinion yoke on my ford once and I removed the pinion, and replaced it without doing all the other stuff, and I never had an issue after that. Still, I bet others will reccomend against that.

 

[frieed]

Choc,
Thanks for the input
I've read a little about using an inch-lb torque wrench to "measure" the original torque to move the diff minus wheels, but that seems to assume what I have is correct.
I've also read that I could mark the location of the pinion nut and return it to the original position.
I'm not against buying proper tools to do it right, I really just want to know what is the "right" way to do it.

 

[N-Smooth]

I did one without messing with the crush sleeve about a decade ago and as far as I know it's still on the road. All I did was pull it off, put the new one in, tightened it down and bam I was done

 

[lewis]

I have done it, before I knew better. I bought an inch pounds torque wrench from a bicycle shop. By pulling it off and putting it right back on you don't know what amount of load is on the bearing and if the nut will stay on. You can get away with it but at the same time it may bring you more problems down the road.

 

[Donner]

I have done several pinion seal replacements on my own vehicles and I have not had a failure with the method I use. I do not know if my method is condoned in the industry, and for this reason I only do this on my vehicles. You decide if you feel good about using my method to repair yours. The only problem I have had was on a vehicle with significant wear on the R&P and/or the pinion bearings. this created a situation where the nut would not stay tight. The truck had ~212k miles on it and really just needed the axle rebuilt.

1. Remove the drive shaft.
2. Mark the relationship of the pinion shaft and the nut with a punch or chisel. In other words, give yourself two alignment marks that you can match up when you retighten the nut.
3. Remove the nut counting the turns until it's off.
4. Remove the yoke and seal.
5. Inspect the area of the yoke where the seal rides, it may need a speedi-sleeve or a new yoke if worn badly.
6. Install the new seal with gasket sealer applied sparingly to the metal OD.
7. Apply a little grease to the seal lip and/or the yoke sealing surface.
8. Reinstall the yoke.
9. Apply gasket sealer sparingly to the surface of the nut (and washer if applicable)where if tightens down on the yoke.
10. Reinstall the nut, counting turns. the nut should tighten up on the last turn, if not then you counted wrong. It's really unlikely that you could be off the marks by a whole turn. Tighten the nut to the alignment marks you made, then just a smidge further.
11. Jack up the axle and support it with jack stands then turn the yoke to make sure it feels smooth and no binding.
12. Reinstall the drive shaft and top-off the fluid.

 

[thenag]

I too have replaced a yoke on a ford 10.25 without messing with the crush sleeve.

I don't know that I would plan on getting another 100,000 miles on the axle with just pulling it off and back on.

I have since setup gears in my axles and have learned a lot more about the tolerances of ring and pinons.

For something like a busted yoke on the trail I would certainly just bolt a replacement one on and go on my way. but I would tear apart that axle as soon as I had a chance and make sure it was right.

I don't know the torque specs of the axle in question but it is un-likely that you would crush the crush sleeve any more using a basic 1/2 inch drive wrench.

A big part of why I would NOT say "go for it" is the pinion nuts are a one time use nut. The threads deform and after about 6 times they will completely strip. (I had a hell of a time setting up my d60 and actually had a new nut that I ran on and off so many times the threads were gone)
(also look at the picture on this page about 2/3 down, it is a picture of 2 pinion nuts)
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PR-ARB/articles/14b_Gear_Setup/

Using a new pinion nut it is un-likely that you would get the bearing pre-load correct and the pinion nut torqued enough with an already crushed crush sleeve.

Since you are not changing anything, the "right" way in my mind is; (read some re-gear threads)
open the diff up, drain fluid
check gear contact pattern (ensure it is ok)
carefully pull the differential, (keep track of shims, keep bearings and bearings caps orientated)
pull the pinion nut
carefully drive the pinion out (don't let it smack the housing/floor/etc)
install new crush sleeve on pinion, re-install pinion
(here's the tricky part especially under the truck)
torque the (new) pinion nut to get it start crushing, measure bearing pre-load as you go to get to the right specs
re-install differential with all shims in correct place (shims may be installed behind the bearings on the carrier so you may not have to pay attention to the carrier shims)
re-check gear contact pattern if everything went well it should be the same as before.

as far as parts you would need; new seal, new pinion nut, new crush sleeve (maybe buy 2 sleeves and nuts in case you over torque)
specialty tools, you would need an inch/lb beam style torque wrench, big ass breaker bar, and a way to hold the yoke so you torque on it. (some people have used a big ass pipe wrench wedged to the floor to hold the yoke, if you have a welder and scrap steel you can build a yoke holder)

So cost wise to do the job "right" will only be a new pinon nut and crush sleeve, and maybe some specialty tools.

However the time involved goes way up as does the potential to mess up something. Also you run the chance of finding out that your pinon bearings are shot and that is why your seal is leaking so then you have to buy pinion bearings and then you are setting up your pinon depth and pre-load from scratch.

So yeah there ya go...

Nathan

 

[frieed]

Thanks,

Looks like for now I just watch the oil level until I get either wealthier or more ambitious.
Now I just need to check the tag and see if it is a LS diff or not.

 

[XJ Jay]

I have done several pinion seal replacements on my own vehicles and I have not had a failure with the method I use. I do not know if my method is condoned in the industry, and for this reason I only do this on my vehicles. You decide if you feel good about using my method to repair yours. The only problem I have had was on a vehicle with significant wear on the R&P and/or the pinion bearings. this created a situation where the nut would not stay tight. The truck had ~212k miles on it and really just needed the axle rebuilt.

1. Remove the drive shaft.
2. Mark the relationship of the pinion shaft and the nut with a punch or chisel. In other words, give yourself two alignment marks that you can match up when you retighten the nut.
3. Remove the nut counting the turns until it's off.
4. Remove the yoke and seal.
5. Inspect the area of the yoke where the seal rides, it may need a speedi-sleeve or a new yoke if worn badly.
6. Install the new seal with gasket sealer applied sparingly to the metal OD.
7. Apply a little grease to the seal lip and/or the yoke sealing surface.
8. Reinstall the yoke.
9. Apply gasket sealer sparingly to the surface of the nut (and washer if applicable)where if tightens down on the yoke.
10. Reinstall the nut, counting turns. the nut should tighten up on the last turn, if not then you counted wrong. It's really unlikely that you could be off the marks by a whole turn. Tighten the nut to the alignment marks you made, then just a smidge further.
11. Jack up the axle and support it with jack stands then turn the yoke to make sure it feels smooth and no binding.
12. Reinstall the drive shaft and top-off the fluid.

Baicly the tried and trued method embraced by many auto service techs. Ive done countless pinion seals and for that matter diff bearing replacements using this method. If installing new bearings i will use a new crush sleeve if provided, other wise, uncrush the old one a bit, tighen till the marks like up and check pre load. Nothing is changed with a seal replacement, just mark the damn nut to the pinion.