I read somewhere that when setting the final pinion preload on a 12 bolt, instead of using an inch lb tq. wrench... you put a 2 foot breaker bar on the nut..... if the bar moves the yolk... it's too loose.... if it stays put... yer good. am I playing with fire...? or is this half way reliable? I won't be ****oning it up until next week.. just gathering info... so far I have done everything by the book.... just wondering if an inch lb tq wrench is really necessary... after searching the site... I decided not to use an impact on the pinion nut... I don't want to chance crushing the sleeve too much... guess i'll make a bar to hold the yolk while cranking on it... "hey honey.. you wanna hold this for me?" any advice? thanks.
Find some spacers so you dont have to press the bearing off & on to set the preload. Your method is somewhat primitive and vague at best
My "method" has been pretty much standard since the gm 12 bolt was first made... just thinking out loud... waiting for my parts... thanks for your helpful post.. steve.. YES. I reckon I will I just found a decent inch lb tq wrench locally.
what you are doing if you dont ender stand it get a solid spacer kit it has shims and sets up like a dana dont put the front seal in tell you are all done the front bearing is a slide fit so it will come on and off easy. Clay >>>>>>>>
I have set up a few rearends, and they are very hard to get right. Mostly 10 bolt chevys. I know enough that I take them to someone who does it on a regular basis. Its either right, or your gonna damage the rear end and its components. Its like using an impact to start spark plugs into an alluminum head, your on or your in trouble....
oh boy... am I that misunderstood? good grief... I am using richmond gears and a richmond installation kit... the damn question has to do with the final pinion bearing preload.... just pickin your brains... thats all... believe me, I KNOW WHAT I'm doing... just need to get me an " lb torque wrench... as far as the impact... it takes a HELL of a lot of ball breakin to crush the sleeve... with a careful hand, an impact can be used... I have seen it done... again... just pickin your brains.. looking for input. carry on...
A friend tosses the crush sleeve and sets it up like a slightly ***e version of a front wheel bearing (no sleeve in those). He uses a new nut, cleans threads very well, and Loc***es. I know a LOT will frown on this method.....but he's been doing it for 20 years on everything from his and his friend's street cars to his 10 second 3400 LB drag car. The drag car's been running almost every weekend since the mid 90's and his street car since 1992. Each has had several motors, but only 1 rear end
Having done my share of GM diff's I always use an inch torque wrench. Yes some people can feel the rotating force it takes to rotate the pinion gear however there is not a lot of difference in the amount the nut turns to go from the 15"/lb to the 25"/lb and then to have the bearings a little too tight. Plus how big and strong you are makes a big difference in the ability to turn the 2' pipe. GM put spec's in for a reason so to answer your question if I were you I would use the torque wrench. Here are some shots of the tools I made for the different yokes.
THanks Henry. thats a cool pinion depth checker... do you find that the depth numbers from the factory (richmond) printed on the pinion are accurate?
See how close the crush sleeve is that you took out of there, for set-up purposes. I like to replace crush sleeves with solid spacers, and shims. Crush sleeves are too easy to mess up. Like this: http://pitstopusa.com/i-5057404-ratech-solid-pinion-bearing-spacer-w-shims-gm-12-bolt-p***enger.html
I wish I could have used solid spacers/shims on the 56 Olds rear I did last week. The pinion nut was not tight enough, and the crush sleeve edges had worn down from being loose. I doubt i could find a new one, so I added a .120 hardened transmission washer, and then could finally get a "new crush" to be able to set the correct preload. ,,,,and be able to get the proper "tightness" on the nut.
I use a snappy 36 inch breaker bar and a kent moore yoke wrench J3453 dana rears are 10 times harder to crush
Reuse the old crush sleeve Heat it with a torch and streach it a little and reuse it much easer to crush than a new one. Check pattern without it when you get it right then use the sleeve. Most of the time the machine work on the gears are close so start out with the old shim pack.
In my book "Any tricks " usually means "How can I short cut this?" In my opinion a new tool cost less than a ring and pinion. Your question is nuts.
John, I find the depth measurement quite accurate and gives me a good pattern. I used to fab solid spacers with my own thin spacers for stock and super stock drag cars and then you could buy them off the shelf so I just stopped making them. spider, if you look at the top right pic you will see part of the 8" fence top rail I use against the floor when tightening the pinion nut.
I'm cheap. I try not to buy tools I'll only use once or twice, unless there are no other alternatives. I've found that you can use a lever to move your torque wrench's range up or down so you only have to own one torque wrench. Also, you can convert torque units when the specified unit in the manual doesn't match the units on your torque wrench. For instance, the manual calls for inch-pounds but your torque wrench only measures foot-pounds. I welded an old socket to the handle of an old ratchet instead of using a wrench like they did in the picture below. On the particular job I was doing, I needed less torque than my torque wrench was capable of measuring, so I turned the lever back toward the handle 180 degrees, thus reducing the effective length of the torque wrench's handle and reducing the torque it delivered to the bolt. I hope some of that made sense and helps. Try this website. Just plug in the numbers and it calculates it for you! http://www.cncexpo.com/TorqueAdapter.aspx Here's the unit converter: http://www.cncexpo.com/TorqueSpecs.aspx
A fish scale and string wrapped around the yoke works pretty good. Inch-pounds ( lb-inches these days) = lbs with the string pulling tangent X radius the string is on, in inches. I found a picture and a discussion here - http://www.pacificp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=104847&sid=f1fb251d0cad72a055ff297b228c65f5
Bottom line is you need 15 to 20 lb/in drag in the pinion bearings regardless of if you use a crush sleeve or custom shimming between the bearings. With a crush sleeve, pinion nut torque doesn't mean anything if you have slack or binding in the pinion bearings. What I don't understand is the difference in the big truck world vs. the car/pickup world. I guess production numbers needed would lead to more variables and inconsistent tolerances/***embly speed would factor in on the automotive side.
I set up alot of 10 and 12 bolt car and truck rears,the oem gm crush sleeve starts crushing alot easier than the aftermarket ratech ones.Anyways to make it way easier take your old crush sleeve and put it beside your new and go to the press and start your new crush sleeve crushing in the press ,once you start it crushing compare it to the old sleeve so you dont go too far,leave it plenty long but just start the ential crush makes it way easier to set up in car. then sneek up on the inch lbs,I usually set at 15 or so inch lbs on new bearings and 10 on used.Also a .032 or .033 pinion shim is a damn good place to start most of the time for proper gear pattern.this has worked very well for me over the years so hope this helps.
The Jalopy Journal
