baker420ex
Registered Member
Hey everyone, i just got this truck a few weeks ago, it's got a 12 bolt rear end with 4:77s (i believe) and a locker. This is the first rear end I've ever torn into but I did some research and I have some knowledge of how it works anyways.. Here's a little history on the issue:
From what I can tell the vent tube fitting worked its way out of its hole and during this time the previous owner had been backing into the lake (I was there...unaware of open wound in rear end however) So some water got into the rear end and was in there for a few weeks and turned the oil into a thick sticky green sludge...Also the pinion seal had been leaking (to the eye appeared to be "non-contaminated" oil) so I decided to go ahead and change the seal and wash out the rear end. Went thru 10 or so cans of brake clean getting everything out, and it would seep down the middle from the pinion, and down the sides from the axle tubes, so i kept chasing it out from the tube holes and from the pinion side of the rear end till the solvent ran clean.
Now for the seal:
I read online to tap the seal until it was almost fully seated, with an 8th of an inch sticking out, run a bead of rtv around it, and put yoke back on which i'm assuming seats it the rest of the way if needed. Before I took everything apart I ran a line from the top of the rear end, over the yoke and down the pinion nut so everything was indexed, and when I reinstalled the nut I torqued it a 16th of an inch past the index mark, which is something I read online.
Now here's my problem: I tore into the rear end because of a faint whine coming from the rear end, now that everything is the way it should be, there are no leaks but the whine seems much more pronounced now, and it's not in my head it's definitely a lot louder than before i took it apart. When i let off the gas there is a different whine, which wasn't there before. Is this because I over tightened the pinion nut? Would it make sense to take some pressure off or is it too late for that because of the crush sleeve?
Also there seems to be more drag when i am driving it now, like the e brake is on. I'm 22 yrs old and I don't have a lot of money. I was gonna just drive it and see what happens, i don't have the money or the expertise to completely rebuild it. It would suck to destroy such a nice rear end but in the event this happens i'm probably looking at a used ****ty 10 bolt in probably similar condition....Just wondering really
1) Why is it whining louder now
2) is there anything i can do to take some stress off the rear end
3) What should i expect in the event there's nothing i can do and just continue driving it the way it is? (I doubt it will grenade or something like that, but will it just be noisy, and can i get a 100 miles out of it, or 1000 or what would you guess given the circumstances?)
hopefully im not coming off too neurotic, just looking for an accurate prediction if anyone can provide one. Even if i roached this thing they're only parts and i'm here to learn. But i definitely want info from someone who knows what they're talking about because i have the feeling I roached this thing by taking advice from someone i shouldn't have.....
From what I can tell the vent tube fitting worked its way out of its hole and during this time the previous owner had been backing into the lake (I was there...unaware of open wound in rear end however) So some water got into the rear end and was in there for a few weeks and turned the oil into a thick sticky green sludge...Also the pinion seal had been leaking (to the eye appeared to be "non-contaminated" oil) so I decided to go ahead and change the seal and wash out the rear end. Went thru 10 or so cans of brake clean getting everything out, and it would seep down the middle from the pinion, and down the sides from the axle tubes, so i kept chasing it out from the tube holes and from the pinion side of the rear end till the solvent ran clean.
Now for the seal:
I read online to tap the seal until it was almost fully seated, with an 8th of an inch sticking out, run a bead of rtv around it, and put yoke back on which i'm assuming seats it the rest of the way if needed. Before I took everything apart I ran a line from the top of the rear end, over the yoke and down the pinion nut so everything was indexed, and when I reinstalled the nut I torqued it a 16th of an inch past the index mark, which is something I read online.
Now here's my problem: I tore into the rear end because of a faint whine coming from the rear end, now that everything is the way it should be, there are no leaks but the whine seems much more pronounced now, and it's not in my head it's definitely a lot louder than before i took it apart. When i let off the gas there is a different whine, which wasn't there before. Is this because I over tightened the pinion nut? Would it make sense to take some pressure off or is it too late for that because of the crush sleeve?
Also there seems to be more drag when i am driving it now, like the e brake is on. I'm 22 yrs old and I don't have a lot of money. I was gonna just drive it and see what happens, i don't have the money or the expertise to completely rebuild it. It would suck to destroy such a nice rear end but in the event this happens i'm probably looking at a used ****ty 10 bolt in probably similar condition....Just wondering really 1) Why is it whining louder now
2) is there anything i can do to take some stress off the rear end
3) What should i expect in the event there's nothing i can do and just continue driving it the way it is? (I doubt it will grenade or something like that, but will it just be noisy, and can i get a 100 miles out of it, or 1000 or what would you guess given the circumstances?)
hopefully im not coming off too neurotic, just looking for an accurate prediction if anyone can provide one. Even if i roached this thing they're only parts and i'm here to learn. But i definitely want info from someone who knows what they're talking about because i have the feeling I roached this thing by taking advice from someone i shouldn't have.....
