Well, All I thought I had was a rear seal leak. I pulled my diff plate thing that attaches to my U joints and I noticed that I have a significant amout of play in the rear end that attaches to my U joints I had planned on going to whistler this June....maybe not? I have atleast 1/8 inch play in all directions, up, down, Left and Right. I"m so pissed! For now, i"m gonna put her back together so I can go to a junk yard and get a rear end to repair and replace this pos in my truck

I've a few questions....

One, how much play is ok for a rear end. Guess none, right?

Two, Crap, i forgot i"m so freaking tired
Oh yea, what gear ratio do we have in the XT 6.0 SuperDuty? My truck is an automatic, 4x4 with a 12 bolt rear end which I think is a 10.5 rear end gear.


Any thoughts, comments or concerns, please list.

Thanks for the help!

 

Sounds like you ard talking about the yoak at the pinion shaft/gear. If so it COULD just be the pinion nut backed off

 

OK.. I might..MIGHT be OK. I'll clarify;

When I pulled my drive shaft off, I had zero play with the yoke and differential plate which connects to the U-joints. After I removed the Diff plate and had the spindle yoke gear exposed, I had about 1/8 inch play up and down..in all directions.

I'm guessing that is normal because I put the seal in and snugged down the bolt which holds the differential plate on to the yoke @ the marked position. I marked 3mm on top and bottom at 5 thread depth and I marked all points. I aligned all marks correctly and I now have zero play.

I'm hoping I got ahead of myself and the play I found with the diff plate off and bolt off to put in the new seal was normal play.

am I correct? God, I hope so!

I guess I was a bit confused as to when and where the play in the yoke is a concern. Is the play noticed when the yoke nut is properly secured which holds the flange on? Or is play when the yoke nut is removed and the spindle threads are exposed as when your removing and installing the new rear diff seal?

Thank you guys for the help!

Ozz

 

The pinion gear has two oposing tapered roller bearings. When the pinion nut is tightened it brings the bearings closer together, taking out any movement in the shaft. So with the the nut off or loose, movement, tight, no movement.

 

Yea, I started thinking and that is way ..preload is so important. I measured and counted the exposed threads when I took the differential plate off and I also marked the position of the nut. I had 3 mm and 5 threads top and bottom exposed. Once I replaced the seal, I got the nut to the exact position and exposed thread count and then added 1/16 turn for good measure as many of the threads here show how to do. I did not want to remove the entire rear end and rebuild my rear end...it's been a long time, like 20 yrs since I've done it on a car or truck. Anyway, I think I"m ok....Checking for leaks tomorrow.

Please let me know any thoughts or ideas,

Thank you!

 

It is too late now, but one thing I found is that oil can seep out of the splines on the pinion and yoak. I usually put a little RTV around the nut seat area before I install the nut. Also some loctite to the threads doesn't hurt.