Changing rear pinion yoke. Do I have this right?

[stretch-bsn]

Long story short I bought a set of rubicon axles (stock 4.10 gears) for my sport s off marketplace. The pictures showed a stock yoke on the rear pinion. When they showed up it was aftermarket.

I have purchased a new aftermarket, stock style pinion yoke (it was $200 for that or $600-$800 for a new driveshaft and I don’t have that kind of money after buying the axles).

It looks pretty straight forward. From what I’ve watched and read this should be the procedure:

Inch lbs to turn the axle with wheels off no brakes on…see how many inch lbs it takes, record number for reinstall.

Use ft. Lbs. torque wrench to get the pinion nut loose…see how many ft. Lbs. it takes to break it loose, record number for reinstall.

Pull pinion nut with impact

Pull aftermarket yoke with yoke tool

Inspect pinion seal for cracks or damage (replace if damaged)

Lube new yoke and gently tap into axle onto pinion.

Red loctite on pinion nut and rtv gasket sealer on the washer

Use ratchet to tighten down and bottom out the yoke, look for back and forth, up and down, and in and out play (should be none)

Retighten to original torque number previously recorded.

Check inch lbs to make sure it turns at the same inch lbs prior to coming off.

If I really want to….tighten slightly more so the inch lbs reads no more than 5inch lbs more for turning the axles after install.

Do I have that process right?

It sounds like my foot lbs should be anywhere from 160 ft lbs to 220 ft lbs

And inch lbs from 20 inch lbs to 40 inch lbs? Although I did see a Dana 44 doc that said less I believe.

I’m very worried about messing up the crush sleeve so I want to do it right. I’m not a stranger to mechanical stuff (I’m putting these axles in myself and I’ve done the top end of a motorcycle engine before) but I’m not the best with tolerances so I’m trying to do it right.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

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[grimmjeeper]

I'd use blue locktite. If you ever need to replace the pinion seal you'll hate yourself for using red.

And I'd replace the seal as long as it's apart.

After its apart and cleaned up, I smear a little RTV on the splines in the yoke. Enough to fill the splines all the way around. Though not end to end. Just enough to fill each spline with some.

Lube the yoke where it will touch the seal with a little gear oil. Put it on, spinning just a little as you do (tires off the ground). Run the nut down with an impact but on a light setting so you don't crush the crush sleeve more than it is.

Use something to hold the yoke and torque to 165 ft-lbs. It takes more than that to crush the sleeve so you're good at that point.

 

[stretch-bsn]

So you don’t use an inch lbs wrench? I will feel it bottom out? The seal only has 5 thousand miles on it…you’d say still replace?

 

[grimmjeeper]

So you don’t use an inch lbs wrench? I will feel it bottom out? The seal only has 5 thousand miles on it…you’d say still replace?

I measured mine. But once I got to 165 ft-lbs, the bearing is set on the crush sleeve without crushing it more (which can go wrong fast if you try to crush more and you're not careful). The preload will be within a few inch pounds so why sweat it?

If the seal is that new, you can probably leave it. For tens of thousands of miles, I'd change it.

 

[azwjowner]

So you don’t use an inch lbs wrench? I will feel it bottom out? The seal only has 5 thousand miles on it…you’d say still replace?

In your original post you seem to be wanting to try to set/match the same pinion preload that you had before, by actually setting the preload. You don't want to do that. It's a recipe for disaster. You want to secure the pinion nut, but not touch the pinion preload. @grimmjeeper is 100% correct here.

Get a yoke holder to hold the yoke so it doesn't move, and a big torque wrench, and you just torque the pinion nut to the specified torque. The torque spec for the pinion nut is less than the force required to further crush the crush sleeve.

If you try to take a big impact wrench and drive the pinion nut down and trying to match your previous pinion preload you're going to end up further crushing the sleeve and messing everything up. The way you leave the pinion preload alone is to torque the nut to spec, and not further.

 

[stretch-bsn]

Y’all make it sound so simple…I’m pretty good at over complicating things lol.

Alright so I may still get that inch lbs wrench to check pre and post for piece of mind but essentially get that nut off snug the new yoke down and torque it to 165 and call it good (as long as it’s not wiggling all over the place…seems pretty simple.

 

[azwjowner]

Y’all make it sound so simple…I’m pretty good at over complicating things lol.

Alright so I may still get that inch lbs wrench to check pre and post for piece of mind but essentially get that nut off snug the new yoke down and torque it to 165 and call it good (as long as it’s not wiggling all over the place…seems pretty simple.

Just remember there's no guarantee that the guy who put the aftermarket yoke on those axles did it correctly either. Let's hope he did.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Y’all make it sound so simple…I’m pretty good at over complicating things lol.

Alright so I may still get that inch lbs wrench to check pre and post for piece of mind but essentially get that nut off snug the new yoke down and torque it to 165 and call it good (as long as it’s not wiggling all over the place…seems pretty simple.

Make sure you turn the pinion as you tighten the nut initially. That makes sure the bearings are seated correctly. Once it's seated and turning free, torque in steps, turning the pinion between steps.

 

[stretch-bsn]

Just remember there's no guarantee that the guy who put the aftermarket yoke on those axles did it correctly either. Let's hope he did.

Yeah man I am certainly hoping so….I did some Internet sleuthing and it looks like he owns a shop in CA and looks like he has a pretty built rig sooooooo yeah fingers crossed.

 

[stretch-bsn]

Make sure you turn the pinion as you tighten the nut initially. That makes sure the bearings are seated correctly. Once it's seated and turning free, torque in steps, turning the pinion between steps.

Alright so bring it down…tighten the pinion nut a bit…spin forward and backwards, tighten down more, spin forwards and backwards and so on…once it’s getting pretty tight start torquing…something like 50-80-100-120-165

Maybe not that exactly but just wrapping my brain around the process. Thanks for humoring me.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Alright so bring it down…tighten the pinion nut a bit…spin forward and backwards, tighten down more, spin forwards and backwards and so on…once it’s getting pretty tight start torquing…something like 50-80-100-120-165

Maybe not that exactly but just wrapping my brain around the process. Thanks for humoring me.

Yep. I usually do it in 3 steps. 75, 125, and 165. More doesn't hurt.

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