jrp76

I did this pinion seal replacement this weekend. It went pretty well other than putting the flange/yoke back on went pretty hard. I made sure it was lined up and started on ok, but I had to really beat it with hammer and then tighten up the nut little by little until it went on all the way. Is that normal? I mean I really had to hammer on it for quite a while. It did come off hard as well with the gear puller.

And I did mark the pinion nut so that I got it on exactly to the same place where it was before I took it off. It lined up perfect when I got it as tight as I could go, which would reinforce that the crush sleeve sets this distance automatically.

ibd2328

iTrader: (2)

I would say you are fine. Congrats, yes the crush sleeve pretty much prevents all that.

howie2092

Great writeup, ibd. In fact, all of your how-to's are top-notch. You have that teaching gene that is so rare these days.

I did the pinion seal replacement last fall, but only just now found your how-to. Turned out I did most everything correctly, and I got myself a new impact wrench in the process (old one was too tired and worn-out).

spw15108

Thanks IBD for the step by step pictures for the pinion seal replacement. Extremely helpful...I don't have the tools to replace my leaking seal, so I am taking to the garage this week. Does anyone know the estimated time or cost that a Ford dealer would charge for this service?

Thanks again..

tonyroc14

That shouldn't matter with a crush sleeve

Dirttracker18

As noted in an earlier post, lubricate the inside of the seal before putting in on. A dry seal is easily damaged.

haber

OK, so to bring this topic back to life. I did the seal change. Getting the nut off was a big problem, mainly because of the lack of space beneath the truck for the 4 foot cheater bar I had to use. Additionally complicating things is the play that comes from the truck trying to move when working the nut. But I did get it off. I had marked it at three places - the stud, the nut, the flange. Measured with a caliper at the marks the distance between the end of the stud and the nut - 7.4mm. Sorry, I deal metric.

Seal change went OK. When tightening the nut I lined up the marks, but the caliper was showing I had to tighten it a bit more. So I did about 1/3 of a turn more. Now the caliper was showing it was about 0.4mm deeper than originally. That's 0.016 of an inch. I could not get the nut to go in the opposite direction after that, so I left it where it was.

I have the 5.4 triton with the heavier duty rear end - don't recall the numbers - it's and LSD. It took about 3 quarts of Lucas Synthethic 75W 140. I read this is what I should be putting in this diff. Also put in about one and a half of the little Ford friction modifier bottles.

Now I'm worried because the rear end seems more stiff when driving. I did check the diff oil filler plug and only after about 200 miles it has accumulated some fine metal dust - this could be from the previous oil, although I did wipe down everything as best as possible on the inside, but there was at least a bit left on all the gears and the walls of the housing.

First time I changed the oil the truck had 60k miles on it. I used Valvoline synthetic at the time with just one bottle of the Ford friction modifier. I drove about 50k miles until this latest change with zero problems, and a little metal dust accumulating on the magnetic cap, with the LSD working perfectly and no binding.

Fisrt question: Is this 1/3 turn more I did a problem? I think the difference in the caliper measurements came from the nut setting slightly differently on the threads, due to rust, loctite, etc.

Second question: I added a bit more of the friction modifier because I noticed the LSD would engage the other wheel a bit more quickly than before. Before I did this I think I got a very slight binding once when reversing out of parking spot. Is 75W 140 the correct oil?

Waiting for your input. Thanks.

Tony22

I understand all these steps. But, does the rear need to be on jack stands? Should I set emergency brake? I'm not understanding what'll keep the wheels from spinning while I brake torque or am resetting torque. Any tips or answers appreciated

raski

Yes, the wheels need to be off the ground. Old post but I will offer my assistance. No, I would not follow those steps. They are not the best way to do this. I did this repair last year. Follow these instructions so there is no chance of screwing up the pinion preload.You will need a dial type(1/4 inch drive), inch pound torque wrench along with the adapters for the large pinion nut socket to set/verify the pinion preload of typically 8-14 inch pounds( typically 25 inch pounds if you replace the pinion bearing) and a large 1/2 inch drive torque wrench to retorque the pinion nut which is around 160-175 ft lbs. You can get by without the bigger torque wrench if you are careful and are constantly rechecking the preload setting.Wheels need to be off the ground. If you do not have the proper tools, do not attempt this and let someone qualified to do it for you. It is very easy to mess things up and end up with a noisy differential.
Before to take the pinion nut off, remove either your drums or rear calipers so they don't interfer with the preload measurement. Measure your present preload to see what it is originally set at.
Then you can remove the pinion nut. I put my drums back on so I could set the emergency brake to hold everthing still to remove the pinion nut.It is very tight so you will need a breaker bar and maybe a pipe on it.
Now you can deal with the seal, lube the lip of the new seal with gear oil prior to installation.
When you get that all back together, torque your pinion nut in small increments, checking your preload each time.Make sure your drums or calipers are off as you check the pinion preload. It will take some patience till you get the desired preload. Don't go beyond the preload spec by over torqueing the pinion nut. If you do, you will have to do some disassembly to replace the crush washer and start all over again. Double check your specific vehicle for exact preload load and pinion nut torgue settings.Again, if you do not have access to the dial type 1/4 inch pound torque wrench, don't attempt and have a qualified person do the repair for you.Without it, you are just guessing and there's no margin here for mistakes.