Pinion yoke issues (again)

[4by4bygod]

I was under my truck today, greasing the rear driveshaft u joints, when I looked at where the pinion yoke meets the pumpkin. I'm seeing a nice gap between the two, far enough apart to see the shiny surfaces inside, and the pumpkin is leaking from there as well.

I found a socket big enough for the pinion nut, but I can't tighten it up any. I can loosen it, but that's it.

I just had the yoke and seal installed a year ago. Any idea what happened, or what the fix might be? it's a bone stock 87 with open diffs if that matters.

Thanks, Tom.

 

[dyeager535]

There should be a shield around the yoke where it meets the diff. Are you seeing the yoke underneath it? Probably normal for it to be shiny since its fairly protected.

If it's leaking, the seal is bad...unless the housing is cracked there (unlikely) the seal is the only other reason it can leak from that point that I can think of.

 

[88sub4x4]

Not sure what you are seeing. Can you post up a pic?

 

[79Beast]

I think I know what you're seeing. It's important that the truck be immobilized an you have the transmissionin neutral when you check, but does the yoke have any in/out play? If there's no play, then it's ok you might just not have a guard on your yoke...especially if you've replaced it. The guard is a part that generally has to be reused. If there is play, they either you need to grow a little more ass to tighten down that pinion nut, or your pinion bearings are worn out.

 

[DPI]

I am ass-uming you are running a 10 bolt. If you have loosened the pinion nut you may be screwed very soon. That design of axle has a crush sleeve that when set to the correct torque sets the pinion bearing pre-load. If you have loosed it, you need to put it EXACTLY where it was before you messed with it. You DO NOT want to tighten it anymore. It will screw with the pre-load and destroy your pinion bearings...

Oh, I hope the person who installed the new yoke and seal installed a new nut too. The nuts used should be a lock nut... If they didn't install a new nut, that is why it is backing off. It is not locking anymore cause it's worn out...

just my 2 cents -

I was under my truck today, greasing the rear driveshaft u joints, when I looked at where the pinion yoke meets the pumpkin. I'm seeing a nice gap between the two, far enough apart to see the shiny surfaces inside, and the pumpkin is leaking from there as well.

I found a socket big enough for the pinion nut, but I can't tighten it up any. I can loosen it, but that's it.

I just had the yoke and seal installed a year ago. Any idea what happened, or what the fix might be? it's a bone stock 87 with open diffs if that matters.

Thanks, Tom.

 

[4by4bygod]

Thanks for the input guys.

I talked to the shop that did that work for me, and I'm taking it in Wednesday morning. I'll let you know what happens. BTW, there wasn't any in - out play with the yoke, I did check that before I did anything else.

Tom

 

[4by4bygod]

Well, I took the truck to the shop yesterday AM, and it was the nut that backed off. The did re use the old nut, this time they torqued it down and loc - tited it, as they didn't have a new nut on hand. (I probably could have used an impact myself and tightened that nut, but I didn't want to break anything.)Also got me a new seal, bearing thingy, crush sleeve and the gap I was worried about has gotten much smaller. They did the job a year ago, but they considered it a "warranty" repair and didn't charge me for the work.

If I was into it, I could have waited for all new stuff and rebuilt the whole thing, but it's not going to be my DD for much longer, and I was in the "fix it just so it doesn't grenade" mode.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. Even if I don't tackle a problem myself, I can at least use what I get here to ask intelligent questions of the repair professionals.

Tom