Pinion Question

I just had my pinion seal replaced and he said the pinion shaft/bolt is lose. He said that I need to keep an eye on it as eventually it will start leaking. How soon do I need to get it back in there? Is a pretty involved job but easy to fix, correct? How many hours do you think it would require?

If you just had the pinion seal replaced then the tech would have had to remove the yoke (which would require removing the pinion nut) to get the seal out and put the new one in. He should have:

A)Marked the nut in relation to the shaft and tightened it back to this location during install, this is most important when crush sleeves are involved. This will maintain proper pinion pre-load.

B)Used locktight on the nut when it was tightened.

Now if the tech is saying you have play in the pinion shaft then you may have a worn bearing and it needs replacing. That will require the diff to be torn down and rebuilt with new bearings and seals. This is a job for a professional.

Or did the mechanic nip the new seal when he put it in, and is covering his back by blaming a loose bolt!?!? just in case it starts to leak?

dunbad said:

Or did the mechanic nip the new seal when he put it in, and is covering his back by blaming a loose bolt!?!? just in case it starts to leak?

Click to expand...

I have gone to him for many years and he has been a pretty straight shooter... On top of that he said to keep an eye on the yoke shaft to see if it gets any looser...