Good info there Subford. To the OP, I bought my beam style 1/4" drive torque wrench on Amazon for around $25. For holding the pinion flange I used a 2x3/8 piece of flat steel stock that I drilled two holes in for bolting to the flange. The flat stock extends far enough to fit between the leaf spring & frame rail. I use a 1/2" drive breaker bar with a 1" ID steel tube as the cheater bar. Crushing a new sleeve takes some torque, but 3/4" drive isn't required.

When you do replace the crush sleeve, buy 2 of them in case you over tighten the pinion nut on your first try (1/8 turn too far and it's junk). This preload is important, so be patient and once the bearing play is gone only tighten about 1/16-1/8 turn at a time while checking preload torque in between. Loose is better than tight, but better yet just get it in the range Subford listed. If you need to replace pinion bearings (I would not be surprised if you do), use a brass punch to drive out old races, cut the inner pinion bearing off the pinion (unless you have the tooling to press it off), make darn sure you reuse that same inner pinion bearing shim. To put new inner pinion bearing onto the pinion shaft, I put my bearings in the oven at 250F, pinion in the freezer, then very carefully drove the new bearing into place (don't forget the shim!).

None of this is that difficult, just critical to do correctly for long life.

 

You guys are awesome! This is some of the best info that I have received on this topic. I have learned about the steel stock and the crush sleeve. I only have two more questions...

1. To remove the pinion, do I need to remove the ring gear and axles (and everything that goes in between) or can I remove the pinion, bearings, etc out of the rear without removing anything else?

2. Will I have to recalibrate for backlash afterwards? That would be another tool to buy, borrow, or rent to get the tolerance within .001.

Thanks again for everything!

 

1. Yes you have to remove everything you listed to remove the pinion.

2. If the rear end was set up by Ford and no one has been in there then no you will not have to re-calibrate for backlash afterwards. You see the shims are for the housing and the bearings and center carrier are made with very close tolerances. But you have to make sure the same shims go back in the same places that they were removed from.

 

Technical detail but you're not removing just the ring gear, you'll remove the carrier with the ring gear still bolted to it. No need to unbolt the ring gear from the carrier.

It can be pretty quick, but my first time through was slow. Jack up rear axle, place on jack stands, remove wheels & brake drums. Pull cover & drain oil. 5/16" 6 point box end wrench on the pinion shaft lock bolt, slide pinion shaft out. Remove spider gears (Ford calls them pinion gears). Push axle shafts inward, remove C clips and then side gears, push axles back out (I would fully remove them for proper axle bearing inspection). Remove 4 differential carrier bearing cap bolts with 3/4" socket, careful not to drop carrier on your foot. May need to pry carrier out, sometimes they're a little stuck, Be aware they are pretty heavy. Keep track of shims on each side of the carrier bearings. Next remove pinion nut. Then use 3 jaw puller on pinion flange (you won't need this if it's already loose). Now pinion slides out the back of the axle housing, don't drop it or otherwise chip the teeth. Inspect bearings. Replace if any question of their condition. Same goes for carrier bearings, and outer axle shaft bearings. Reassembly is reverse of disassembly, using advice from above.

Pay attention to which carrier bearing cap goes on each side, as well as which way is up. If you mix it up, you can install the caps without the bearings and see which orientation gives the best journal alignment but just easier to use some yellow chalk or care to keep track.

Best of luck!

 

Just an update...

I have everything removed and everything looks good to me and my untrained eye. What does a bad bearing look like? They all look new and held together to me. The races look good as they are clean and smooth with no grooves.

The only issue I see is on the inside of where the axle shaft goes. There is a little rust on the top of the inside of those tubes. I might be able to get in there with a wire brush. Has anyone noticed this before? I know that the PO told me that the truck sat for a year or two.

 

The rollers of the bearings need to be free of any pits or rough surfaces. It's not too hard to spot a bad one once they're out. The rust is probably from having some water enter the housing and the PO not changing the oil, then parking it for those couple years. I can't see it being a big problem if it's not contaminating the oil, especially if it's just light rust.

 

Thank you, it seems like the bearings are good and the rust won't hurt anything. I just needed confirmation before I put it back together.

 

All back together, so far so good. Took a little test drive after and no leaks as of last evening. Getting that crush sleeve and bearings to set on the pinion was nothing I have experienced. I had a 3 foot piece of 2 1/4 x 1/4 flat stock steel bolted to the pinion flange and a 24" breaker bar with a pipe and it was still tough. I am sure it is a lot easier with the entire rear end out of the truck but I got the job done.

Thanks everyone for the help and past experiences. If this holds then I will be on to doing the front end; steering, ball joints, bearings, etc...

 

Carolina...did you ever determine what the cause of the loose companion flange was? Mine is loose as well, and the nut and pinion shaft seem tight with no play. And it's leaking as well. I have the same truck as you but it's a 91.