moosestang

Well, we had a good run. It's been some 5-6 years and over 30k miles since my gears were installed. I just noticed some seepage around my pinion.

For those that have replaced the seal. Did you need a gear puller to get the pinion flange off? I'm going to tackle this on Sunday if my Ford dealer has a seal in stock.

moosestang

Ah! I love google and the vast amount of info available on the internet. Can you believe there are still people out there that have never used a computer? I feel sorry for them.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=326205

Tomato soup can as a pinion seal driver! Such a brave can, LOL!

howarmat

wow what a write up! Creative for sure.

And yes join the club, mine started leaking about a year ago. I didnt want to mess with it myself so i took it to my shop. 3 hours later and $150 and no more leak. I have seen several others with this problem too.

wayne613

Effen saved. Thanks!

moosestang

Well it looks like a 3 prong puller is necessary, so I'll borrow one from autozone.

Now to get the bacon grease out of the soup can on the counter.

Should I go ahead and sleeve the pinion flange like he did? I see my local advanced auto parts sells both a seal and sleeve.

hammeron

that is a great write up, hpefully i won't have to use it
anytime soon though.

moosestang

I know that threads are worthless without pics, so i took one while messing with my exhaust. As you can see, it's barely leaking.

tx_zstang

*** WARNING **** That writeup is NOT the proper procedure for replacing the pinion nut!!!!

To do it right, you really need to FOLLOW THE PINION PRELOAD PROCEDURE, BEFORE you remove the pinion nut, and then again when reinstalling one.
NOT DOING IT RIGHT, YOU CAN DAMAGE OR DESTRY THE PINION BEARINGS.

Do it right, it's not hard. Get a 1/4" dial-type torque wrench that measures INCH-pounds, and learn how to measure the preload. Then remove the nut. Dont be cheap, discard it and get a new one (it seals around the nut as well).

Removing the pinion nut can be difficult w/o an impact. But it cat be done (I use an impact or a 3/4" drive socket set). Once the pinion nut is out, a standard 3-jaw puller can be used to pull the flange. Remove and install the new seal. Reinstall the flange, use a new nut and put red loctite on the nut, then tighten to proper tightness to obtain proper pinion preload.

Note also, you do NOT have to drain the fluid. Yes you will lose some of the fluid when you remove the seal (I lost about a quart when I recently did mine).

Search for ford service manuals on how to change the pinion nut. And I think americanmuscle.com has instructions as well.

tx_zstang

...if it's barely leaking, dont mess with it. If there's no drips, or one drip a month, dont bother, you're good enough.

moosestang

Maybe not the correct procedure, but there are a slew of people doing it this way without an issue. The correct procedure would be to use a new crush sleeve to reset the bearing preload, but who is going to do all that just for the pinion seal? I've read both sides to this argument and haven't found anyone that destroyed their rear end yet.