Pinion seal?

[dirtautoguy]

My dad wants to change the oil in the rear diff of his 1997 k2500 with a 14blt ff. Not a big deal right?

the parts guy told him that if he did then the pinion seal would start leaking really bad. It is seeping a little out of it now not enough to reach the ground.

is this truth? I’m comfortable changed the fluid and doing the drum brakes for him but messing with the pinion stuff kinda scares me a little.

can anyone shed some light on this? Iv been doing some research about it but I know a lot of you guys on here know an awefull lot about these trucks too.

 

[alpinecrick]

Well, if the diff fluid hasn’t been changed in recent millennium, it may have the consistency of tar—which makes it hard to leak out....

Try conventional diff fluid rather than synthetic. If there is a seep with conventional fluids it will generally turn into a leak with synthetic.

 

[dirtautoguy]

I’m not sure if it’s ever been changed, the trucks had a very easy life. The fluid isn’t black but it could use changed

 

[thinger2]

What he said. Dont use synthetic. Its better to change it and see if it leaks than it is to not change it because you are worried about it leaking.
If it still leaks a little bit. Keep it topped off.
If it leaks a lot. Bight the bullet and do the pinion seal.
Its a pain but its a whole lot cheaper than a new gear set.
And dont pay a whole lot of attention to the parts counter guy.
Some of them know but most of them dont.
Its like going to Home Depot and asking them how to wire your house so it doesnt burn down.

 

[Supercharged111]

The pinion seal is stupid easy to replace. Not even a fraction of an asspain to replace. At least not on a lift. I got lucky and my parking brake was enough to keep the mess from spinning when reinstalling. Put a paint dot on the yoke, the nut, and the pinion shaft. Yank it apart, shove a new seal in, and retorque to that. I did it to my Camaro, my 1500, and my 3500 eariler this year and they're all leak free and the diffs are just fine. I even converted both trucks to Royal Purple synthetic lube out back and zero drips.

 

[thinger2]

Forgot to mention, if the seal is leaking now, it wont get better.
But, change the fluid, check for slop in the pinion bearing and keep it topped off.
If its a tiny leak
If it leaks a lot, seal and maybe rebuild time.
The whole idea is to save the ring and pinion.

 

[thinger2]

The pinion seal is stupid easy to replace. Not even a fraction of an asspain to replace. At least not on a lift. I got lucky and my parking brake was enough to keep the mess from spinning when reinstalling. Put a paint dot on the yoke, the nut, and the pinion shaft. Yank it apart, shove a new seal in, and retorque to that. I did it to my Camaro, my 1500, and my 3500 eariler this year and they're all leak free and the diffs are just fine. I even converted both trucks to Royal Purple synthetic lube out back and zero drips.

Doesnt sound like he has a lift and who knows if he has an impact.
Trying to do that on jack stands with a cheater pipe is pretty well impossible.
Dude doesnt sound real comfortable about it anyway.
But, im curious, when you re torqued the pinion, which of the 157 possible methods did you use to check gear lash and what did you find to be the easiest?
Pre torque/ re torque? or the old tried and true grease or both?

 

[Supercharged111]

Doesnt sound like he has a lift and who knows if he has an impact.
Trying to do that on jack stands with a cheater pipe is pretty well impossible.
Dude doesnt sound real comfortable about it anyway.
But, im curious, when you re torqued the pinion, which of the 157 possible methods did you use to check gear lash and what did you find to be the easiest?
Pre torque/ re torque? or the old tried and true grease or both?

None. I simply put the nut back at the exact position it was before replacing the seal and it worked flawlessly. I was ******** my pants trying to figure out how to do it then found a stupid simple Youtube video on how to do it and pretty much facepalmed myself before getting down to business. I could have done this on tall jackstands, but it definitely would have sucked more.

 

[thinger2]

None. I simply put the nut back at the exact position it was before replacing the seal and it worked flawlessly. I was ******** my pants trying to figure out how to do it then found a stupid simple Youtube video on how to do it and pretty much facepalmed myself before getting down to business. I could have done this on tall jackstands, but it definitely would have sucked more.

Awesome. Ive tried it on stands on a Ford 8.8 and it was just stupid hard to do.
And getting it retorqued was even worse.
The next ford I had with a bad pinion bearing got sold immediatly

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

When I changed the gears and rebuilt my 10B I used this crush sleeve eliminator. I reamed out a couple bearings so I could slide them on and off easily while setting it up. We dropped the whole rear end out of the truck and did it all on the bench. Worked great. I know you probably don't want to tear into it but, something to keep in mind.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/yga-55048