pinion seal replacement trouble

[Isaacmacleod]

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Sorry for spamming in this thread. Not sure if that’s frowned upon or not,

Also for anyone else trying this tedious task

This is by far the best youtube video that i have found which explains pinion depth and gear setup in depth

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[Erik the Awful]

Get a spare new pinion bearing for setup. You definitely want the same part number from the same manufacturer, and if you happen to get the same lot number, that's a bonus. You'll need to hone out the middle of that bearing so it'll slide on and off the pinion for setup. I duct-taped emery cloth onto a drill and worked around the inside edge for about half an hour to make mine.

Measure the shims when you take them out and write it down. That'll give you a starting point for shims when you reassemble.

Yeah, new bearings will affect the measurements, just as using a mock-up bearing won't exactly match the final assembly bearing. You're dealing in tolerances, not exactness.

I shot video when I rebuild my rearend, but I got bogged down halfway through editing the nine hours of video and never finished it.

 

[Isaacmacleod]

is this a viable replacement for my trucks axle

it has 8 lugs not 6

is this the 12inch ring gear or something?

It says in the glovebox it’s a gt4

which means it would be compatible with my 3.73 gear

This comes off a 1998 chevy 2500
should fit my 1996 c1500 right??
right???

Everyone is now recommending i swap axles even the do it yourself center guy who’s been helping me

 

[Schurkey]

Yup, that's a 9.5" semi-float with 8-lug axle shafts.

6-lug axle shafts would be my preference.

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Yes it would work if you dint mind using 8 lug rear wheels?

 

[Supercharged111]

I don't recall if the axle tube lengths are the same 6 lug vs 8? If so, you'd still need backing plates, shoes, hardware, drums, axle shafts, and maybe wheel cylinders to get it all back to 6 lug status.

 

[Isaacmacleod]

I don't recall if the axle tube lengths are the same 6 lug vs 8? If so, you'd still need backing plates, shoes, hardware, drums, axle shafts, and maybe wheel cylinders to get it all back to 6 lug status.

Yup, that's a 9.5" semi-float with 8-lug axle shafts.

6-lug axle shafts would be my preference.

Yes it would work if you dint mind using 8 lug rear

So this axle, which comes from a C2500HD,
Is the “14 bolt semi float 9.5” axle” that everyone is recommending upgrading to from my current 10 bolt 8.5”.

Any axle bigger than the 14 bolt 9.5 inch
Such as the 14b FULL FLOAT 10” and up would be considered OVerkill for a c1500 , correct?

In other words Where is the point of diminishing return with these axle upgrades?

From information i’ve read on here, It seems to me that the 14 bolt 9.5” semi float with the 6 lug wheels would be the ideal new axle for my application.
I’m not trying to race anyone(and win) my goal is simply longevity of the truck and minimizing maintenance work.

When I changed my gear oil I opened a can of worms starting with leaking pinion seal, then a leaking plug weld,

Now to change the pinion crush sleeve properly id have to dig into my 10bolt 8.5” axle and get it all set right.

After getting 1200$ quotes from every mechanic I decided to do a deep dive in setting up gears.

I now feel (pretty) confident i could tear down and rebuild my 10 bolt axle and at least get myself back on the road, having the benefit of some fresh pinion bearings, a new seal and new gear oil.

I thought i hit the jackpot when i found this 14 bolt semi float 8 lug axle near me in rhode island.

Killing two birds with one stone would make this whole ordeal worth while,
Then I could rationalize the whole screw up by saying “well it was a good opportunity to upgrade the axle”

But after realizing how complex the axles and brakes really are to PROPERLY change, I think i’m better off fixing my current axle.

Again my goal here is just to get back on the road this is my work truck.

I got myself into this mess by trying to do preventative maintenance that was beyond my scope (it was all for the sake of prolonging truckys life)

So as much as i love the idea of a more robust and reliable and powerful axle/ rear brakes.

Now that i have an idea of what i would take to do that properly, I think i need to double down on fixing what ain’t broke (yet)

 

[Isaacmacleod]

I believe I mostly caught this screw up in time Because I stopped driving the truck completely once i noticed the inner bearing near the pinion was riding extremely hot.

I don’t think anything blew up yet and if i can correct the bearing preload with a new crush sleeve, I am confident it will be a happy gear set again.

I will be checking both the backlash and gear pattern before and after as well as the bearing preloads on the pinion and axles until I get everything within the tolerances provided in my manual.

I have some pretty specific underlying questions though,

1. Pinion depth setting.

the 2000$ pinion depth setter gives you the CLOSEST TO EXACT shim thickness needed to put the pinion at proper depth…

But even then you still need to check gear pattern and adjust pinion depth accordingly… Right??

However, this tool is mostly for starting from scratch in a new housing right?

So since my gears and housing already have the correct pinion shim in place,
Do I have the luxury of simply slapping that same shim on the pinion then rechecking gear pattern?

Also does this apply to the shims which set the axle bearing preload left and right of the differential?

Can someone with experience in this tell me the chance that everything goes back exactly how it wants to work with the same factory shims?

Also,
When checking axle bearing preload,

should i put my torque wrench on the ring gear bolt itself with no pinion installed and aim for 20-25 in lbs?
Is there a new bearing and used bearing preload spec for the axle bearings like there are for pinion bearings ?? I wasn’t planning on changing anything but the pinion bearings.


OR should I put the torque wrench on the pinion nut after assembling everything together, and take the total torque to rotate everything minus the pinion preload equals axle bearing preload….?

I am planning on checking the pinion preload without the ring installed…

 

[Isaacmacleod]

Also now that i think of it, Should i consider changing the axle seals while i’m doing this??
My axle has started leaking in 2 different places since i changed the fluid. (pinion seal and one of the plug welds) So maybe it’s fair to assume the axle seals are on their way out also?

And how worth it would it be to replace the axle bearings as well?


ALSO, could these leaks have been caused in part by me spraying the crap out of the gears with brake clean when i first changed the fluid?

If the brake clean collected in the axle shafts and remained in the housing, could this have caused my leaks?

And would this be reasonable cause to change all the seals out ?

(I see why people are recommending I just swap a new axle in there now) Lol

 

[scott2093]

I believe I mostly caught this screw up in time Because I stopped driving the truck completely once i noticed the inner bearing near the pinion was riding extremely hot.

I don’t think anything blew up yet and if i can correct the bearing preload with a new crush sleeve, I am confident it will be a happy gear set again.

I will be checking both the backlash and gear pattern before and after as well as the bearing preloads on the pinion and axles until I get everything within the tolerances provided in my manual.

Again, I don't know anything about rear ends apart from being able to understand the terminology. I didn't start working on my truck myself apart from basic shotgunning and maintenance until a couple of years ago.
When my original rear end ate itself, I found an axle from a nearby junkyard for a few hundred. While there I mentioned to the guy I need to find someone to put it in. Turns out the guy was the one responsible for stripping the cars and was a gmt400 fan..Had an old Suburban he built up...carb swap...His son was into them too.
Anyway, he did my swap in his driveway but something went sideways that required him to pull a locker from another donor and swap into the donor I bought. Can't remember.
I was just handing him tools....
He had his cordless and swapped out everything in like 15 minutes...no special tools or even measurements/marking things etc....
Sure the ring gear ended up getting chewed up 4 years later, but I drove the truck everyday and towed quite a bit until that happened...
Just figured I'd share the story to say that maybe you'll be better than ok getting things back on the road since you're thinking about it well enough, but keep looking for that upgrade scenario for if/when the time comes.
Those quotes seem high for replacing your seal.