Hey how are all of ya? I am putting a 9" under my fairlane and the yokes are different. Can I swap the yokes and not hurt the gear set up? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
as long as you set the bearing preload you should be ok swapping yokes. You can pull out the pinion bearing support and work on it, then put it back in with the same pinion shim and a new o ring, should be ok. I'd replace the crush sleeve and pinion nut and seal, and inspect the bearings....
Are you changing it because the yoke is too long or because the cups are the wrong size? If the latter, they make a u-joint with both size cups on them...save you a lot of trouble. If the former, good luck - the fact yer askin' questions means you'll probably end up with a whine...
If I change a pinion seal at work I just measure the pinion turning torque with an inch pound beam torque wrench,with wheels and drums off of course.Change the seal and tighten it back up until the pinion turning torque is slightly more than I started with.Apply a bit of lock tight to the threads as a just in case.Too much torque or preload will wipe out the pinion bearings.
Ratmoter - you do that w/o removing the pinion support on a 9" There are too many variables to get it right doing it that way - the bearings in the differential carrier, high spots on the ring, differing amounts of oil between the gears. You can do it this way, of course - that's how you set pinion bearing preload in the first place - but you shouldn't have any other drag on the pinion.
Yeah but if you aren,t taking the diff all apart its the safest way that I know.Too many times I,ve had to repair diffs due to someone cranking the nut back on too tight or not tight enough.
You must be talking non-9" then. Since the 9" is far too easy to remove just the pinion retainer and get a proper reading. In all honesty though, your way will probably be close enough 95% of the time...just doesn't make any sense on a 9" not to pull the pinion retainer.
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