So fellas I screwed something up today. I replaced the original leaking rear pinion seal in my Dana 60 2WD. BUT now I screwed up. I got the nut off, backed the yoke off and got the seal off. Original seal back on and zipped the yoke on but when I put the nut on and tightened it the whole pinion seemed to back out some. The nut is tight but if I turn the driveshaft with my hand in reverse it backs out from being seated somehow. I feels like its disengaging from the ring gear. I dont know what I did or whats going on. I can drive forward fine but in reverse it is grinding bad and slipping out of alignment. Any thoughts. Is the seal not seated all the way in? Is the seal not all the way in and does it hold the bearing in somehow? Thats the only thing I can think of. Very confused and frustrated now. This was supposed to be an easy job.

 

Have a look . and

 

Thanks redroad, i am reading that the Ford dana 60 doesnt have a crush sleeve?

 

Sorry about that, Here is manual for Dana 60 rear axle. It should cover how to set the preload. I pretty sure that's what you got going on there. The rear axle starts on pg. 20

 

Thank you @redroad So did I crush the crush sleeve on accedent or what happened here. I assumed the nut was so hard to get off that using the impact to put it back on really tight was good but I guess not. So what did I actually do?

 

i’ve never screwed with a dana 60 but I believe it is shimmed from the factory to set the proper pinion depth and you just torque the nut back to 250- 300 lb-ft based on a quick search

 

If you over crushed your crush sleeve you should have too much preload on your bearings, and if you way over crushed it then it should be hard to turn. both conditions will take your bearings out.

I guess I'm not clear on what your symptoms are, but the crush sleeve shouldn't cause what I think you're describing. if I understand you right it would seem you either don't have the yoke tight enough, or you crushed a bearing on the pinion. which i didn't think was possible but maybe.

In any event you're going to need to reestablish your preload with a new crush sleeve, which to do correctly requires a little skill and some specialty tools.

if something got screwed up then it gets more complicated. how much threads to you have exposed beyond the pinion nut?

 

I used a very powerful impact gun and tightened it all the way. So i am positive I crushed the sleeve all the way.

 

Your pinion bearings are worn it sounds like
It's impossible to crush a sleeve with a wacky packy even a one inch drive gun
Your sleeve was crushed during the original gearset installation
When re assembling from a pinion seal replacement you just tighten it all back down like you did
If the pinion moves up and down or in and out when you are done is an indication ow worn pinion bearings
Tear it back down, pull the axles out and the carrier, pull the pinion out and inspect the bearings
have fun

 

Unless there's been one installed I did some more reading, including the manual that redroad posted and there is no crush sleeve on a dana 60. There are just shims like I thought, the manual says that and then he posted videos about a crush sleeve eliminator for some reason. So all of the talk about a crush sleeve is irrelevant. Did you actually torque the pinion nut back down to any specific torque spec? It needs to be beyond tight. I'm reading 250-300 lb-ft. The only thing I can imagine that's causing what you're describing is that the pinion nut isn't really seated all of the way or torqued. But your pinion would have to be way out for it to grind.

 

There is a crush sleeve in a Dana 60 stock from the factory
I checked an exploded diagram this morning for a Ford one and it shows one
Here is an exploded view of a Ford (Spicer) Dana 60
The crush sleeve is #6

#6 is the crush sleeve that is absolute hell to crush. Takes a pinion holder tool and a long pipe on a breaker bar. I used to get them started at the press to make crushing them easier.

 

Yeah thats a later super dana 60 from a super duty? Seems the older ones had shims and sometime in the late 80s/early 90s they went to a crush sleeve during assembly depending on what manufacturer it was for.

This is straight from the manual redroad posted:

 

The shim #3 is to locate the pinion depth
Here is a Dana 60 crush sleeve
If you have to, you can get the sleeve out and crush another one, in case yours is too tight after a pinion seal replacement
Worn bearings VS new bearings have a different rotational torque spec to use when crushing the sleeve
So, that sleeve is between the bearings, you can get it out for inspection and measurement by removing the pinion front bearing, seal and slinger
Then you can go fishing in there with a pick tool and pull the sleeve out
You might want to inspect or make sure you have yours assembled correctly
Just about the toughest rear end out there IMO and hard to "ruin", but yours may need some pinion bearings if the pinion is loose with the pinion nut tight

 

 

I'm done arguing, I don't care if a newer dana 60 has a crush sleeve. Guess we'll know for sure if he takes his apart.