how do you know when a pinion nut is tight enough when rebuilding a differential?

Question

im rebuilding the differential on my 95 chevy truck im not sure how tight to make the pinion nut i know the new bearings get set to 25 inch lbs but not sure how tight to tighten the nut with the new crush sleeve intalled? it is very hard to tighten and there is still too much play. im wondering i just keep going or what?

Answer 1

Read the shop manual. It offers torque specs for crushing the sleeve. Follow them. If yo don't have access to the information, go to the library, buy the repair manual from a parts store, or go here------>

http://www.eautorepair.net/

...and for a modest annual fee, you get access to ALL of the published repair data for your little pick up.
This includes repair information, diagnostics, SPECS, illustrations and photos, diagrams, Recall data and all public TSBs.

Good Luck and Merry Christmas

Answer 2

Even if you did know the torque specs. you are right, there is little room to work. I suggest you tighten to as little end-play as possible while still maintaining completely free movement in the gears. If you can feel even slight resistance between the movement of the planetary gears, the nut is too tight. If you can sacrifice a wrench, sometimes grinding the sides of a wrench down will give you a little more room to turn the nut. Good luck