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Leaking Pinion Seal

D

Daves69Coupe

Member
So i took the rear pinion out when I got the car to inspect the rear gears and just make sure everything was there. But when i went to put it back together it seems to seal but then gear oil will slowly drip out of the pinion seal. Any suggestions on how to fix this? I got a qoute from a shop by me and the guy said $140. BTW its a ford 8" rear in my 69
 
Considering the amount of labor involved $140 doesn't seem unreasonable. Installing the pinion yoke requires the use of a "crush sleeve" behind the yoke that ties into your pinion gear backlash setting. It's not as simple as installing a new seal and torquing the pinion yoke back on.

When you pay someone else to do it.... if it leaks.... or if the gears are howling..... it can be fixed (again) on their dime.
 
If all they're doing is JUST replacing the pinion seal, $140 is a total rip-off. Before I rebuilt my first rear end, I paid $50 for a front pinion seal replacement. I then paid another $70 to have the clutches in the traction-lok replaced. For $140, you should get a complete rebuild, if you were supplying the parts.

I will admit that it's going to be very tough to figure out where the pinion nut gets tightened down to if it wasn't marked and the turns to remove it counted. It can still be done, but if no one did that when they removed the pinion nut, the best course of action is pull it apart and put an new crush washer (or shims) in. If you're going that deep, though, you might as well just rebuild the whole thing, IMHO.
 
Did you replace the crush sleeve with a new one or use the old one again?

If you strip down the pinion gear you will have to replace the crush sleeve and tighten to exact specs. You will also need a torgue dial to get the settings just right (15-29 inch pounds of torque on a 9" rear). If you have the pinion stripped i would replace all seals...they cost very little.

Johnny
 
"Johnny M" said:
Did you replace the crush sleeve with a new one or use the old one again?
Click to expand...

I couldn't honestly say. I bought the junk from 66gt350. He warned me when I bought it, that the front seal was leaking, and that he could sell it to me "as is" and me fix it, or he could have it fixed before he brought it down and I could just reimburse him the $50 they'd charge him. I took the easy road ... bring it to me done and I reimburse you. :pbj

The chunk is the 9" traction-lok in AzPete's newly acquired '66 coupe.

Doing the "mark the nut and count the turns to remove" method of removing the front yoke is more of a "back yard mechanic" approach and not really recommended by most, but I have heard of others having success in doing it. (Personally, never tried it.)
 
If you do it the old school way, you can remove the pinion nut, replace the seal yourself, and then install the pinion nut and torque it down to 100 ft-lbs. This is without replacing the crush sleeve. I know and have read that many old-timers have done this numerous times without issue, but it doesn't exactly follow the books with using a new crush sleeve and the proper torque. Your backlash could be way off with this method.

I'm temporarily replacing my pinion yoke with a 1350 as well as putting in a new seal, and plan on going with the 100 ft-lb torque until I get the $$ to do a full rebuild of the chunk. Key word: temporarily

One other thing that may be happening is the pinion shaft can wear a groove from the seal and even a new seal won't fix that. They sell repair sleeves (can't remember their name) that will help but I consider that a temporary fix.
 
Replaced the crush sleeve and pinion seal today and bolted the rear back together, not leaks. Thanks for the advice and help everyone.
 
"Daves69Coupe" said:
Replaced the crush sleeve and pinion seal today and bolted the rear back together, not leaks. Thanks for the advice and help everyone.
Click to expand...

How did you torque it down?
 
took the rear apart and pulled the pinion seal and most of the inner ring was gone so we replaced it with the new one then bolted the carrier bolts down. then tightened the pinion nut down til about 85 ft/lbs
 
"Daves69Coupe" said:
took the rear apart and pulled the pinion seal and most of the inner ring was gone so we replaced it with the new one then bolted the carrier bolts down. then tightened the pinion nut down til about 85 ft/lbs
Click to expand...

And then checked it with marking compound, right?
 
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