I replaced my rear axle pinion seal, and I broke my torque wrench so I had to guess if it was tight enough. I drove it to town which is 15 miles and checked the pinon area on the axle several times with the temp gun and the highest reading was 160 deg. Is this too high? Also it was about 60 outside. Will the hot summer make things worse? I live in Louisiana and it can get around 100.

Does anyone know if the temp would lower by backing off the nut a 1/4 Turn?

Which is better the Hot is good but the HOT HOT is bad theory or spending the $250 on a new torque wrench?

 

How did you break your torque wrench?

The proper way to tell if it's tight enough is to measure the torque it takes to turn the pinion, but you can't really do that with the rest of the rear end put together. You should have marked the pinion nut and reinstalled it to the same place you removed it from, plus turning it maybe a tiny bit more.

Chances are you're OK with what you have. It is very difficult to compress the crush sleeve, so it's probably right back where it was or very close to it.

 

i have never even thought of pointing a temp gun at my rear end.

 

You definatelly shouldn't loosen it a quarter turn under any circumstances.

As a ball park check, ...........With the rear axel lifted, both tires able to turn freely, and the driveshaft disconnected, If you can still turn the pinion flange by hand, it probably isn't too tight.

 

Before I drove it I did just that. The pinion turned nice I could feel the back lash in the Ring gear but not any end play in the Pinion.
My Haynes Manual said the rotation torque should be around 25-30 LBS. My broken torque wrench is about that so I put it horizontally on the nut and the flange did not rotate by itself unless I put slight pressure on it then it would rotate down freely. I also turned it quickly by hand and it would spin around by itself almost a full rotation before it stopped.

I don't have to make any long trips or heavy loads in the near future so I'll brobably keep the temp gun in the truck and check it every so often.

 

First of all It is an All-Trade brand name, made In Taiwan.
It is a micrometer style adjustment. I was turning the handle to adjust it to the setting and I heard and felt a something inside of it snap. I've never taken one apart so my guess is a large spring or something.

 

buy a snap-on or craftsman wrench when you can.

 

That is too loose.

It's gonna have play in it in no time and your gonna have a wobbly pinion.

 

The torque on the pinion nut is set by the rotational torque,meening the amount of torque while rotating the pinion nut should be 19-25 inch pounds with old bearings.It is not the torque it takes to make the pinion turn(or break away torque).That would be to loose. As a back yard rule you should have counted the threads that were exposed at a point you pick.Then pull the nut off,replace seal and installed nut to the same thread depth and gave it just a little nudge to keep the pressure on the crush sleve.

 

I know the difference between the pinon nut torque and the rotation torque. When I tightened the nut I used a 1/2" ratchet and about a 2-foot cheater bar. I turned it until I felt the pinion flange seat onto the pinion shaft then beared down on the cheater bar. So I know the nut is either fine or too tight. Another reason I know it's fine or to tight is it is just a little stiffer to turn by hand than it was before I did the work.

 

It may have been too loose to begin with which contributed to the seal leak.


After having it apart then reassembling, there is a slight wearing in that will occur.
There is also a difference in whether it is hot or cold when you check it.
I would drop the driveshaft and recheck it in a month or so with it a little warm, to make sure there is no lateral bearing play.

 

I get about 20 inch lbs with a dial torque meter to spin my pinion with axles removed and pumpkin full of cold 60 degree gear oil. Takes about 25inch lbs to start moving but it moves 360 degrees at exactly 20 inch lbs.
you guys think my pinion nut is too loose?. I replaced my pinion seal and put the nut back right where I found it, as I had marked it before I removed it.
Seems like i should have a little more resistance with the gears and fluid no?
Im new to the 10.5 sterling...
thanks.

 

Looks like 20 in/lbs in appropriate for a 10.25 axle.

 

6-8 in/lbs preload on used bearings so its technically too tight but it has a crush washer so I wouldn't back it off unless you replace the crush washer.
edit, after seeing the post above it seems 14 would be the highest you would want to go with (original) used bearings

 

Thanks. I thought maybe the gear oil, seal, carrier and ring gear would add quite a bit of preload.
I know that those numbers are sans all that stuff and they are the correct way to do it, I am just checking to see if I am too loose.