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14 bolt leak - pinion seal?

SmithvilleD

SmithvilleD

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Location
St Joseph, MO
I've got what appears to be a leaking front/pinion shaft seal on my truck's 14 bolt/10.5.

I haven't worked much with the 14 bolt and am wondering if I can R/R the pinion seal without requiring a new crush sleeve & then needing to check the gear mesh pattern?

Can I measure the rotational torque (I suppose with axles pulled) as it is. Then note the # of threads exposed. Then pull the nut & yoke. R/R seal.

Then replace the yoke & tighten the nut back to where it was. & finally check to ensure the rotational torque is similar to before?

If it was a small leak, I'd just tolerate it, but it leaks enough to require watching & replacing a bit of gear oil maybe once a month.
 
If your that worried about it then go by the rotational torque with axles pulled, i personally have never worried about it when replacing the seal on something that old. I have even done this with new cars under warranty that had a different method of tightening the pinion. Chrysler 300c/Magnum for instance. To replace the pinion seal you are suppose to drop the rear suspension, drop the center diff and disassemble just to change the seal. I pulled the rear brakes/rotors and checked rotational torque with the axles in, and i checked it 3 times too. I then replaced the seal and tightened the pinion back to the same torque and shipped it. The car always came in for service and never had a problem again. I also made like 3hrs on that job too. Funny thing is those rear diffs are also Mercedes too.
 
Yeah, I tend to be uber-cautious when working with something I don't have a lot of experience with.

Guess when I think about it a bit more, the gear oil will be drained anyway, so I can pull the cover & check the tooth pattern. If the rotational torque is the same & pattern is good - that should mean everything's OK.
 
all the produce calls for is to matchmark everything, unbolt relace the seal and line everything back up. same # of threads exposed.
 
Yes it is a rather easy task. . .tho it can be nerve racking on your first time.

I do believe you just put a drip of paint on the yoke Nut to Pinion threads then remove the large nut pull the yoke off then loosen up the 6 bolts remove the seal and replace then do it all in reverse order to reassemble.

on the yoke nut when retorque just go slow with it you'll feel sorta feel it once its back into place.

Mike
 
Only the yoke needs to be removed and the seal can be pried right out. It's a 1-1/2" socket and re-torque is 65 ft/lb IIRC. Don't quote me on this, verify tq with a manual first.

DO NOT unbolt the pinion retainer (6 bolts around the pinion shaft) after pulling the yoke. That is incorrect. The pinion and bearings are not held in place by the yoke like in other rear axles.
 
The pinion seal is leaking on the 93 K2500HD, and I figured I would ad to this thread rather than start a redundant one.

Is saratogas method the preferred method? I to am concerned about screwing up the pinion and ring gear relationship. I take it the 6 bolt pinion retainer sets everything, so I am good to go on yoke removal and seal replacement without worry of screwing up settings?

thanks folks.
 
Mark the nut and pinion with a chisel. Count the threads. Then knock the nut off, replace the seal, and count threads back on and line up the marks. So far so good on my 1993.
 
I want to say it is 165 foot pounds you can tighten the pinion nut to without the crush sleeve compressing any furthur. What most don't realise though, is teh pinion seal leaks because there isn't enough preload on teh pinion bearings which lets the yoke walk slightly. Rotation al torque with used bearings should be about 10-20 inch pounds for the pinion assembly by itself. If it's a 14 bolt full floater it's a walk in the park to do the seal as you can just drop the pinion support out and replace it on the bench and reset your pinion preload while your at it. Just make sure to put the same shim back into the support you took out of it.
 
so I can pull the pinion retainer, the 6 bolt plate on the front of the diff, tear it all down, change seal, the re-assemble exactly the same way I took it apart?

if so, does the crush sleeve need changed, or will this screw things up adjustment wise?

try to explain to me how this works, I am quite interested. Never thought you could drop the pinion out seperately!
 
On the 14 bolt I'm pretty sure it will drop out with stock gears. I know some gear sets though don't leave you enough room to slide it out due to the pinion diamter. And crush sleeves are not that expensive, but it is a PITA to retorque them as it took right around 250 foot pounds to begin to compress it(5 foot breaker bar is what I had to use to crush mine down). I use an impact myself, but I have done enough of them I have a feel for how much to tighten them down.
 
The rear differential in my '01 2500HD gasser seems to be the same as the differentials mentioned, above. I'm planning to replace the seal, due to a drip I recently discovered. I took off the nut and didn't know to mark it, beforehand. The yoke is still in place. The link, above, looks like a whole teardown, etc. and all I want to do is replace the seal.

Once the yoke is off, the old seal is out and I have installed the new seal, am I ok to torque to the above mentioned 165 ft. lbs. or is there more to this? I didn't have it in my mind that it was too complex, but I've been wrong before.

10.5" ring gear is about all I know about it, so far, and it has the 1-1/2" carrier bearing, instead of the 1-3/8".
 
...so, according to this, it looks like I need to tighten the pinion nut until I have 5-15 in-lbs. on a dial type torque wrench to maintain rotation of the pinion. At that point, I'll have the preload on the bearing set correctly?

Pinion.PNG
 
luckily mine just seep and no drips, I still have not gathered the courage to do this. :)

One other thing to make sure is the vent line is not plugged, it was on my 95 K2500HD
 
Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about the vent line. However, it started leaking, while just sitting in the garage. I drove it about 1000 miles to get it home and it's sat since then, in the fall, with exception of a couple miles to a friend's house in October.
 
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