I seem to be leaking diff fluid out of the pinion in my rear axle. How hard is it to replace the seals? Thanks!

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Jerold Burrow

Replacing the seal is the easy part...setting the pinion bearing preload is the tough part. The pinion uses a crush-sleeve design. Upon tightening the pinion nut, it will crush the new sleeve, generating preload on the pinion bearings. The rotating torque of the pinion is measured to determine if there is sufficient preload. Now, the thing is, if you overshoot the preload, you have to start form scratch...with a new crush sleeve. This is because you cannot simply back off the pinion nut, because then there is no preload from the crush sleeve.

In order to accurately measure the pinion rotating torque, you have to remove the carrier assembly.

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05 Liberty Rocky Mtn.
02 Renny...Traded for 2010 F150, 8200 GVWR, Plow prep, Max tow
1983 Husq. Model 61, modded
Husq 335 XPT, trail saw, modded

Hmmm.... sounds pretty involved. Maybe I'll just keep an eye on the fluid level for now. One of these days I'm going to learn how to re-gear my diffs anyway.

I'm reluctant to take it to the dealer because of the modifications I've done... lift / bigger tires / powertrax.

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Jerold Burrow