Pinion seal

[Wirenut]

I did install mine myself. Some U tube videos show marking the nut or counting the threads on the pinion shaft so you can put back to spec but, its best to use a inch lbs. torque wrench to set the drag on the pinion so as to not overtorque/under torque the crush washer. I removed the complete assembly and rechecked the backlash and drag just to make sure. It was a lot of work but I also went through the rear brakes and brake cylinders since it had been 10 years since any of that was serviced. 

[Tom S]

Rich, it MAY not be considered a "proper" repair, but at the dealership, we would often replace a leaking pinion seal, without replacing the crush sleeve. We would put a paint mark on the pinion nut, threads on the pinion shaft,and the pinion yoke, then remove the yoke and replace the seal. Rather than torque the pinion nut back on during reassembly, we would thread the nut back on, to the exact same position, and stake the nut to the pinion shaft. Did quite a few this way, and never had a come back. Of course, this is dependent on you retaining the same gears, yoke, bearings, crush sleeve, etc, and being able to return the nut back to the same position.

Maybe I'm missing something here but how did you keep the paint mark on the pinion shaft threads from being obliterated, scraped off, by the nut when you removed it? Did you have to put 300 – 400 lbs of torque on the nut or does that only apply when using new crush seals? Must be quite the trick to hold that yoke in place while applying that much torque.

Glad I ran across this thread & learned about these different sized seals but I'll be surprised if I get an email notification of any replies.
For some reason that mostly hasn't been working since this board was ...'updated'? Got no help about fixing that. It's odd but I have received email notifications for the Morning Coffee thread.

[Ford Blue blood]

A fellow old time rodder showed me how to mark the pinion nut and shaft.  He simply made a stripe on the top of the nut across the threads to the end of the pinion shaft using one of those yellow marking pens junk yards use to mark up parts.  He then said to count the number of turns, only to get in the "ball park", before using the inch pound wrench.

One of the many tools I have made is a plate that bolts to the yoke and has the end cut down to allow a large piece of pipe to slip over and hold it against the spring or chassis while tightening the nut with a four foot long 3/4" breaker bar.  Pain in the butt but it makes checking the inch pound fairly easy.  Never did find or own an impact that would pull it down enough.

[Tom S]

Damn! I actually got an email notification!

<  > One of the many tools I have made is a plate that bolts to the yoke and has the end cut down to allow a large piece of pipe to slip over and hold it against the spring or chassis while tightening the nut with a four foot long 3/4" breaker bar.  Pain in the butt but it makes checking the inch pound fairly easy.  Never did find or own an impact that would pull it down enough.

Yeah, done things like that many times myself. Sometimes just put the pipe over the handle of a big Crescent wrench & even a big pipe wrench to fit over very large things.
I should have made it clear that I was thinking about when the center section was removed from the axle housing that could possibly be quite the trick to hold the yoke in place while applying that much torque.  It just depends on what tools & space you've got to work with.
Right after I posted that I realized that it's probably easy enough for most of us old experienced  geezers with the tools & a good bench that we didn't have many years ago.

[brushwolf]

Put the yoke end itself in a sturdily-mounted vise with pinion support hanging loose, tighten pinion nut with bar gradually and stop frequently to test preload inch pounds. If you go too far, you have to replace the new crush sleeve again and start over.

I have five 9 inch carriers in my pole building. Only two of them have that 4+ inch diameter seal. That screwed me up too cuz my ordered parts came with the 3 inch seal. I also learned that the carrier bearings are a larger diameter (+3") in the early axles so had to order those again too.

Carrier that I pulled from a 61 Galaxie (but now suspect it is a 57 carrier someone had installed). Had the 3.22 ratio I wanted, but which was not available in 1961, or so I have read. The other one with a large pinion seal is a 3.10 ratio that I pulled from a 57 years ago.

All the rest are 3 inch pinion seals. A 1963, a 1976 and an unknown year.

Side note: I also learned that the early 9 inch ring gears are actually only 8 3/4" in diameter. All of mine measured 8.75 diameter, except for the 76 Torino carrier which came in at a true 9 inches diameter.