I put a new Quick Performance 9" rear end in my '26T coupe. It now has about 1K miles on it. I just bought a pinion mounted E-brake system from TSM. When trying to install the rotor onto the back side of the pinion yoke, I found that the hole in the rotor is not big enough to let it get there. Turned it every which way from Sunday. I'm pretty sure that it is supposed to go on there. It's close. It almost goes on but not quite. The interference is in places that I do not want to relieve. I don't know if I have a non-standard yoke, or the hole in the rotor is incorrect, or just what the problem is. In order for it to get to the back side I am going to have to remove the yoke and slide the rotor on from the back side, then reinstall the yoke. I'm not much on rear end setup, but I know that I do not want to change the pinion preload. The rear end runs great and noise free. I just hate to take it apart for fear of screwing it up, but I don't see any other way. Will it work if I measure the distance from the top of the pinion nut to the top of the pinion shaft, then remove the nut and yoke, slide the rotor and yoke back on and tighten the pinion nut back to the same dimension? Or does it need to be torqued to some value? I sure don't want to eff up that new 3.89 TrueTrac pig. Thanks for any advice.
First, you can remove the pinion support with the yoke and pinion gear in it, and not hurt anything. There's a shim between the pinion support and the center housing, which controls pinion depth. Just make sure to put the shim back in, and that won't be an issue. When you have the pinion ***embly out of the housing, it's easier to see what's going on with it, and to measure pinion bearing preload with a small torque wrench. If you measure the preload (in lb) before you take the nut off, you'll have a reference to check it against after you're done replacing the yoke. The torque on the nut should be 150 ft lbs or more, but if you are going to just remove it and reinstall it, you only need to tighten it to 150. It takes more torque than that to crush a crush sleeve, is why I said "or more", but that's not a concern for you, really. You might need to use a puller to get the yoke off the pinion gear splines, after you remove the nut. And you might have to press it back on. Some splines are a tight fit, some are not so tight. After you get the rotor on and the yoke back on, torque the nut to 150 ft lbs (hold the yoke in a vise to do this). Then measure the pinion preload torque with the small torque wrench, make sure it's close to what it was before you dis***embled it, or to factory specs for new or used bearings, depending which you have.
HEY! Thanks! That is exactly what I needed. I think I got it except for that shim between the support and the housing. Is that on the pinion shaft and will it come out on the pinion shaft as I pull it out? My lack of knowledge in this area is embarr***ing. My best buddy always took care of the rear ends and transmissions in the race cars while I worked on the engines and suspensions, etc. He p***ed about a year ago. I miss him and his expertise. So, here I am floundering. Just thinking here (maybe dangerous), I need to remove the p***enger side axle to fix a leak at the axle bearing anyway. If I remove both axles, could I then pull the nut and yoke, add rotor, and reinstall with 150ft/lbs, and the check the preload as you prescribe without removing the support and pinion shaft? I think I would rather pull both axles than pull that pinion support/pinion gear if that method is acceptable. Thanks for your help!
I'd rather leave the axles in and pull the pinion support ("pinion retainer" in the image). The shim is big, the five bolts that go through the pinion support into the case, go through the shim. There is an O ring around the pinion support that seals it together. more info from Ford on how to work on them, including torque specs http://selectric.org/manuals/rearend/indexford.html
Thanks for the info. I see now that it would be easier to pull the pinion support/shaft than pulling the axles. I'll go that route.
Note that you have to pull at least 150 ft. lb. You need a sturdy bench and vise to hold the u-joint flange while you tighten the pinion nut. That might be hard if you have a brake rotor attached. Also, if you have a non-hunting gear set, one of the pinion teeth is marked on the back of the pinion gear and must go into the correct position on the ring gear when you slide the pinion ***embly back in.
I always mark the nut and the pinion,count the threads if needed ,so I can return the pinion nut to the original position.
The 9" has a crush sleeve for pinion depth. I have always set the preload then pull the crush sleeve and turn a spacer the same width the crush sleeve mic,s at, then you can retighten the pinion without changing the preload.
The heavy bench and vise are no problem, and I have a big kid if I can't pull the 150 anymore! I don't know what a non-hunting gear set is, but how would you be able to "time" it going back in. Wouldn't you have to be able to see the ring gear, meaning third member has to come out? Maybe a dumb question. Again my lack of knowledge. I should have paid attention when I had the opportunity.
That was my initial thought, too. Only measuring with a dial caliper from top of nut to end of shaft and with a mark.
To make sure the pinion goes back in to the same tooth as before, take a black sharpie and draw a pointing up arrow on the end of the pinion shaft . As you pull the pinion, the arrow will clock. Set it to the same clock when installing, and it should end pointing up. Block the wheels so the ring does not move. I believe 3.89 is a hunting ratio, so it should not matter.
It's a 3.89 ge****t, no need to worry about timing the gears. If it were 3.00 or 2.75 or 2.50 or some other even number, that would be an issue. It's not. You might have a solid pinion spacer, if it's a high performance center section. But if it has a crush sleeve you will be very likely to get the correct preload by just tightening the nut to 150 ft lbs. If it gets too much preload at that torque, it needed a new crush sleeve, anyways.
All this above info is good for sure. I often look at things a little different so here's something to check out if you haven't already moved forward. I have noticed often that replacement Yokes are made with more material than a Factory Ford unit. In other words, they are just a little larger in body. This may be the reason the Rotor won't quite slip on and go in place. I might think about using a file or grinder and just take a little off the Yoke so the Rotor will slide on as designed. I doubt it would compromise the Yoke at all. You may do everything above and still find the Rotor won't seat as needed on the new yoke, then you're still going to need to do something to get it to fit. Just saying
Usually if you check the preload, then remove the nut with a torque wrench, then you can carefully sneak up on the same torque without exceeding it, and you should be OK on the crush sleeve, double checking with the preload number. If you make up a solid sleeve when first setting it up, by measuring a properly set up crush sleeve and matching that dimension, you can reset it when you need to without all the fuss
Who is TSM? My thought is you can cut any clearance you need to get the disc on the back side of the yoke. Hell the disc doesn't have to run true [od] except for face which may require machining of the back side of yoke at u bolt holes. A sneaky machinist would be able to do this with out removing yoke from pinion or messing with preload.
I’d like to see how it bolts on. I’m having a tough time (because of not looking into this setup) seeing how you can slip a disc over the yoke and bolt it on the back side? Does it have “ears” on it, I/e slide it over then rotate it to line up?
I started to post this last night, but my laptop took a ****. I have the car on the lift and was ready to pull the pinion then read about the non-hunting gears. And apparently mine are hunting gears. So out it comes. Right now. Thanks guys. ... this morning...I removed the pinion support/ shaft, removed the yoke, and added the rotor. Reinstalled the pinion support. Came up with the same in/lb pull. All good. Easy peasey. I wish the rest of the installation of the e-brake had gone as well. So, as I mentioned, the rotor would not slide over the pinion yoke as it should have. On trying to bolt the rotor to the u joint holes in the yoke, I found that the 4 bolt holes in the rotor were off enough so that it wouldn't bolt up. I had to file slot the 4 holes outward almost 1/16". The caliper bracket bolts to the bottom 3 holes in the pinion support. I had to enlarge and slot these holes in the bracket to get it to bolt to the support. The holes in the bracket were not as far off as the rotor. The instructions are basically useless. Then it is a tedious installation/adjusting procedure that you have to come up with yourself. I bought this on recommendation from someone on the HAMB. I ***ume he had an easier installation than I did. Maybe they sent me the wrong rotor, I don't know. I do know that it would have gone a lot better if the rotor had slid over the yoke and the bolt centers had been correct. I was able to overcome all the obstacles and the brake works well. So, I win! Thanks guys
Yes, that is the company, but it is not the kit that I bought. Mine has a larger caliper and was more than $100 cheaper.
I have 1310 joints. They asked for the dimensions of the u-joint u-bolt holes in the yoke, I measured them with a dial caliper before ordering. I'm sure I ordered the right size. Who knows at this point. It's working now, although I am still adjusting on it, I'm betting that Pist-n-Broke has the answer. The aftermarket yoke probably has more meat making the rotor not fit over the yoke. That doesn't account for the incorrect bolt hole locations in the rotor, however.
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