real weird 14ff pinion setup problem !

[sweetk30]

so i am changing the pinion seal on my 14ff later style with lots of case ribs .

she come apart fine . was driving fine before work was done to it .

i removed the nut / washer / pressed the yoke off the pinion with the outer bearing . no problems there with a 20ton press .

next i cleaned up the whole combo cause it was yucky from leaking . . . just brake cleaner and a scrub brush .

well i installed everything back as was BUT with a yukon crush sleeve eliminator kit . ( i have installed this type of item before no problems ) . all went good on a trial test . bit loose so i pressed them apart pulled .-015-.020 stack out and reset . still little loose . took a few more but i had it barley at 5inch lbs turning force for used bearings . bible spec is 5-15 for used . so i took another few tho out figured i would be all good ready for a seal install and final set with new pinion nut for the last time . . . . .

well sh!t just went down hill real fast and kept getting bad . . . every step i took i got no play but still no drag . . . all the way down to NO shims just the main spacer tube and still no drag .

i removed all the parts from the pinion support bearing housing and looked them over . i did not see any broken bearings / races or cone races . every thing spins super smooth .

WHAT did i do ? ?

only thing left would be pull the inner pinion bearing and check for a broken pinion in the middle of the inner pinion bearing race area you cant see with it pressed on . but how would this happen with just basic tools i have always used . this has got me stumped .

[kwmech]

There is a difference between the early 14 and the later ones. One of the differences is the spacer width. Just measured some crush sleeves I have here and there is about 80 thousandths difference between them. May have gotten the wrong year. I think the break off is 1987

[sweetk30]

randys ring and pinion / offroad design / and others all say its the inner pinion bearing only for parts difference in the pinion area parts list .

the solid spacer kit even has the same part# listed for both early and late style .

i am about to diss assemble the whole pinion setup to all its parts to figure this out.

[sweetk30]

all torn apart and no broken parts found .

called randys ring and pinion . verified the bearing / race part #'s and all correct for newer 2nd style inner bearing part #'s . they said toss it together with no spacer and snug it down see if i get pre-load drag or not .

he did say i might need to have the solid spacer machined down a little bit but he has never heard of this needing to be done before .

[kwmech]

I don't care what randys says, they are not the same unless they give you a sizeable stack of shims to make up the difference in thickness

[sweetk30]

ya i found that east coast gear sells theres for 45 bucks over the almost 70 bucks . plus they say in there add we give extra shims to make up for the taller stack some newer axles require .

problem is mine is kind of a mutt axle from the factory . 2/88 gear set in 16 rib newer housing and newer part# inner pinion bearing size from a 88 truck when most kits say 88 and older or 89 newer . and my crush sleeve is 13/16 or .82 tall for a used one i took out .

my buddy is showing up today or tomorrow to give me a hand . he has done more gears swaps than me .

[sweetk30]

this mornings fun.

well i started from scratch today . got it dialed in to about 15" lbs turning force with pressing the bearing first then the yoke each time and tighted down using old washer and nut . undid this combo and repeated to check my work to see if it stayed and it did .

so i installed the seal for good and new washer and nut . now i have around 50"-55" lbs turning force . . . . what the FRIGIN HELL

i even rolled the press out of its corner and put it next to the work bench . this seemed to help a bit dont ask me why

i have an appointment to go to now so i will try and redo this when i get back . . . . yet again .

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then this evening after i got back home from appointments i had .

so i took the pinion apart again and said screw it keep using the new nut and the seal is in so if i get it there it stays .

well i think i found the problem / AKA monkey in the shop . . . the old pinion nut & washer was not used on the last 3 attempts only the new ones . this was the trick ! i dont know why or care to know at this point . i was able to get 17-18" lbs turning force on the pinion nut with the whole thing clamped in the shop vise . and i have always been told and read 2-3" lbs drag for a seal . so at this point i say RUN IT .

i just dont get why the old pinion nut and washer combo was holding me back from getting this dialed in and repeatable results .

i also had the carrier assembly installed already so i dialed in the backlash to the 5-8 speck and got it at 5-6 so i clamped the bearing caps down good to spec and adjuster preload was set before on the bearings . the locks are on for them . just got to install cover and shafts .

then hope like heck my shafts are done tomorrow at the shaft shop . i called today just after lunch and he said he would be cutting them apart shortly to be set up with new tubes .

this has to be almost the worst / fussy / cranky rear i have done other than a corvette rear diff i did years ago . but he wanted it as close to min specs as i could and the richmond gear set just wouldnt come off the 12-13 backlash anymore . max spec was just below that # so i said screw it .