For those of you that have changed the rear differential input pinion seal, what does it take? Time, tools, special tips...... ?? I have the shop manual, but for me it's good to get first hand experience also.<br><br>If I'm here for the Claremont Roundup, I'm thinking I'd like to take care of the leaking seal when the wrenching begins.<br><br>Thanks

 

I have done many Dana 80 pinion seals. You will see in the manual that speciality tools are mentioned. You can make them yourself. Setting up the bearing preload is important. You will need a inch pound torque wrench. Send me a pm and I will help you.<br>John<br>

 

there is no real way to do the seal properly without completely disasembling the rear. the inch pound wrench talked about in the post above is use to measure bearing preload this is only on the bearings for the pinion so the carrier needs to be remove to get an accurate measure and a new nut and crush colar need to be installed. however if u r good and sometime a little luck helps u can replace the seal use a new nut, or the old one with lock tight, tighten it down to where it was and just a little more and u should be fine. 2 things to consider do not over tighten the nut it will burn up the bearings and make sure you use some sort of lock tight or it will come loose. I have changed the seal in the past on several differnt vehilce with success using the lock tight and being careful not to over tighten the nut.<br><br>Dan

 

i did not know any dana had a crush collar. never had a dana down that had one. just remove the seal, install new one, retorgue nut to specs. piece of cake.

 

There is a crush washer. You do need the tools to do this job properly. Failure to do so can (more than likely will) cost you a carrier. Very expensive.<br>John

 

I had it done to my truck by a local Dodge dealer...The process according to them is a pain. Once you put it back together they measure all the clearance on the gears to make sure they are set correct. Of what I found out...that nut is torqued to 440 lbs!!!!!<br> Also you may find out that the seal is not the only problem. The seal over a long period of time can wear a groove in the yoke and a new seal WILL not stop the leak. This was the problem with mine..At 170k I needed a new seal and also a new pinion yoke to stop the leak. The service department gave me the old pinion yoke so that I knew what was causing the problem.<br><br>Rick

 

[quote author=TBGH link=board=16;threadid=11541;start=0#110161 date=1046446353]<br>There is a crush washer. You do need the tools to do this job properly. Failure to do so can (more than likely will) cost you a carrier. Very expensive.<br>John<br>[/quote] for those who wish to know i have in my hand a disassembled picture of 98 dana 80. there is no crush collar. there is a spacer. the pinion bearing preload is set with shims. i stand by my previous statement.

 

jughead is correct. I just swapped my 4.10s for 3.55s this weekend. Tht pinion bearing preload is set by shims between the pinion bearings. By removing the pinion nut and yoke, you do not change the bearing preload. ust remove the nut, washer and old seal, drive in the new seal, replace the yoke, washer and nut, torque to spec and youare done. The only tricky part may be getting out the old seal. I agree that the yoke itseld may be scored, which would necessitate replacing the yoke.<br>Mark<br>

 

First, to those who said the Dana 80 uses shims for preload, they are correct. The Dana 80 has no crush washer. Secondly, I was thinking of Dana 60. So I appologize.<br>The old seal is easy to remove with a slide hammer type puller.<br>John

 

Thanks guys.