will or is my pinion nut tight enough????

I was replacing broken spider gears and decided to replace the pinion seal while I was down there. Now I am stuck on the pinion nut torquing. I know the subject has been beat to death, but I am looking for opinions for the next step in my situation.

I did not have an in/lbs torque wrench to measure the force needed to spin the no-load gear set nor do I have access to one (loaner).

As I seen on a youtube video-I marked the nut and bolt, counted threads and counted turns to remove the pinion nut. Upon reassembly, it went back fine, but I am concerned on if there needs to be more/better torquing? I checked it with my torque wrench maxed at 150 ft/lbs with no click and stopped when the nut/bolt marks aligned. So it is well below the spec'd 210 lbs. The thing is I bought the truck with 24K miles on the clock, it has 81K now, the nut/threads had surface rust and appeared not to have been messed with before, I put it back together as marked/counted, there is no movement except normal rotational slack and appears/feels normal. I also used blue lock tight.

Do you think it will be fine or what should be done?

Other possible/questionable factors are the diff cover and pinion seal had orange sealant used (is that factory or signs it was cracked open before I bought it?). Also, I did not notice lock tight when I took the nut off.

thanks for your opinions/input.

oops, the axle is the rear on a 2006 ram, 1500, 4x4, open 9.25 axle.

Not going to be much help for you. But it takes a LOT of torque to crush the crush sleeve. It doesn't take as much to torque it back on. I did the same on my jeep with a d44 rear axle (also uses a crush sleeve), and torqued it back to about 150 ft lbs using the parking brake to hold the axles shafts from spinning.

If I were you I would invest in a torque wrench to be sure it is right. A little more money spent now can keep you from spending a lot more later.

A couple months ago I had to change out the pinion bearings on my 07 1500 4X4 with 9.25 axle. I know the situation is a bit different but maybe some of my ideas can help you out.

I’ll start with the easy question- mine had the orange sealant on the diff cover and that was the first time I had been into the rear end…. So I’m pretty sure that is from the factory.

For my situation of changing out the pinion bearings I had to put on a new crush sleeve and reset the rotating torque in order to set the preload of the new bearings. Your situation is different but this is what we learned from our experience. The pinion threads on mine were a bit rusted also. Therefore, the amount of torque needed to set the new crush sleeve which sets the preload for the new bearings was EXTREMELY HIGH (we needed breaker bars and cheater pipes to get the slack out of the new bearings). We were way over the specs on the torque for the NEW crush sleeve. All that being said, I know that when you are just changing the seal and not fooling with taking out the pinion they say that you can do the “counting threads method”. I would however try to figure out a way to check your rotating torque bc that’s what tells you if you’re in the ballpark.

We also didn’t have the correct torque wrench to measure the rotating torque. (nobody had a loaner & everywhere in town that carried one had to be ordered and we needed it that day bc I needed my truck back together) So this is what we did…. I know this isn’t at all technical but I feel certain that we were very close…. I forget off the top of my head the actual numbers for what the rotating torque is supposed to be (I want to say it was around 20 inch pounds) maybe somebody who knows will chime in. I took a fish scale and our big breaker bar with pinion nut socket attached. I measured in inches to the end of the breaker bar, then with the socket on the nut weighed how many pounds the fish scale read at the end of the breaker bar with the breaker bar horizontal (1 foot pound = 12 inch pounds which means 1 pound of force at 12 inches). I forget the exact numbers but it came out about perfect, the weight of the bar itself would pretty much barely rotate the nut when I let the breaker bar go in the horizontal position (I think it was measuring right at a pound and was 19 inches). But I would think if the numbers weren’t perfect you could add a little weight till you had your jig where you wanted it. Like I said, this wasn’t at all technical, but it’s what we did and got us out of a pinch. I have now probably over 5,000 miles on my rebuilt rear end and so far everything is good to go.

I know this is long but I hope in some way it can help. I know this forum helped me out a lot when I needed help on my rear end.

WOW M&Ms4D, thanks for the info and opinion. I never thought of the fishing scale! Now that is utilizing materials at hand. I'll probably check that tonight. thanks again. - John

nigthrunner said:

I was replacing broken spider gears and decided to replace the pinion seal while I was down there. Now I am stuck on the pinion nut torquing. I know the subject has been beat to death, but I am looking for opinions for the next step in my situation.

I did not have an in/lbs torque wrench to measure the force needed to spin the no-load gear set nor do I have access to one (loaner).

As I seen on a youtube video-I marked the nut and bolt, counted threads and counted turns to remove the pinion nut. Upon reassembly, it went back fine, but I am concerned on if there needs to be more/better torquing? I checked it with my torque wrench maxed at 150 ft/lbs with no click and stopped when the nut/bolt marks aligned. So it is well below the spec'd 210 lbs. The thing is I bought the truck with 24K miles on the clock, it has 81K now, the nut/threads had surface rust and appeared not to have been messed with before, I put it back together as marked/counted, there is no movement except normal rotational slack and appears/feels normal. I also used blue lock tight.

Do you think it will be fine or what should be done?

Other possible/questionable factors are the diff cover and pinion seal had orange sealant used (is that factory or signs it was cracked open before I bought it?). Also, I did not notice lock tight when I took the nut off.

thanks for your opinions/input.

Click to expand...

The pinion nut not having loktite on it from the factory is a known problem. The torque spec if I remember right is 25 used and 30 inch pounds new install. This is with the axles pulled. If the axles are still installed then add a little for them. I use a bicycle 0-60 inch pound beam wrench to measure the torsional load. But the key is no slop and a light torsional load that can be felt by hand. I don't know what color sealer the factory used on your year but mine was black and I bought my truck new. Pinion nut torque should be above 200 ft/lbs with the stated torsional load from above. Good luck.

Here is a pic i took from the piece of service manual i had when i did mine. with the torque specs.

When I work on mine I use the service manual as my guide.

Pinion Seal Notes...9.25 rear axle

Just a few notes that might be helpful besides all the great help i found out there...already..

1. get the torque wrench for measuring the crush bearing preload or pay someone else to do it...same with the carrier tools to adjust preload...
2. If you change the seal, change the pinion bearings...small price to change while in there..(don't lose the shim...)
3. Make sure the old oil in the well under the pinion gets cleaned out, typically a harbor for metal and misc pieces...
4. It takes a ton to torque the crush sleeve...I was at 1/2" socket wrench, 4' galvanized pipe, 6 ft barbell to get it....no joke....need the torque wrench to check the rotational torque to know when you are good.
5. with the 3.92 gears you can buy an OTC stinger 7 ton bearing puller and use to both remove and press the bearing on...the pinion just fits between the wide legs
6. keep everything in order during dis assembly...mark it or make a cardboard pegboard / pattern...
7. if you think you can change the seal / get the crush washer out from the front, if your lucky...maybe....mine was in so tight there was not way it was coming out without getting hit from the back....
8. when changing the pinion races...make sure you clean up any burrs from your punch driving them out...they will be there for sure...I was careful and still had a couple, would have kept the race from being back in the correct depth...
9. take your time....with all the proper tools and experience it is a long job to tear down, clean, reassemble, and adjust. For me it took approx 10 hours total time...I'm a bit meticulous, but some things can't be rushed.
10. Even buying all the tools and parts needed you will be way less $$ than a trip to the dealer for 1 bearing issue...

I've decided when it's time to do mine I'm getting the crush sleeve eliminator. Rock Auto has them for $17.00.

DO NOT REUSE A CRUSH WASHER EVER.

you absolutely have to have a preload measurement to reassembly the axle. If you don't have a wrench, buy one. I got mine on amazon for $60.

Do it right or don't do it at all. Otherwise you'll regret it.