trwebb26 Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 I just installed my powerbrute (from the RR group buy) into the r200 yesterday. I took the thing to the media blaster beforehand. They didn't mask off the pinion (like I asked them to) and the pinion seal was packed with little plastic blasting balls. There is a proceedure in the FSM to replace the pinion seal (a requirement for me at this point) so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I ordered a new pinion seal and did everything it says. I torqued down the pinion nut to factory specs at 120 ft-lbs. I then measured the pinion "drag" and it was MUCH higher than the starting value. I messed with different torque settings on the pinion nut to achieve equivalent pinion drag and I can only torque the pinion nut to 80 ft-lbs to get the same amount of drag as before. My opinion - I should leave the pinion nut torque at 80 ft-lbs to avoid destroying the pinion bearings - and put some loc-tite on the nut. Drive the car for a while and then re-evaluate the pinoin torque/drag. What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 I replaced my pinion seal a while back and afterwards it has a good amount of stiction, but once it breaks free the resistance in the bearings feels right. I know I did it all correctly. If that's not what you're describing, then I'd guess one of three things is wrong. 1. No grease on the seal where it rides on the pinion flange. 2. Seal is not properly seated so the face of it is rubbing against the pinion flange dust seal. 3. Didn't put all the shims back in between the two cone and cup pinion bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trwebb26 Posted May 12, 2007 Author Share Posted May 12, 2007 I didn't mess with the pinion bearing - and there were no shims between the pinion companion flange and the bearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 So you had the diff media blasted with the guts in it? Was everything else still in, or just the pinion? Was there any media in the ball bearing behind the seal? If not, then I'd guess the pinion seal is hitting the dust cover on the pinion flange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trwebb26 Posted May 13, 2007 Author Share Posted May 13, 2007 I had it blasted with everything in it - cover on and all... They were nice enough to tape off the breather hole in the diff cover. I would be skeptical if the face seal rubbing on the pinion flange is my problem... I drove the seal in a little deeper than I probably should have (about 2mm past being "flush" with the end of the housing). After reviewing the section view of the diff in the FSM - I don't think that driving it deeper would cause my problem. Come to think of it - the face seal was awfully stiff compared to the one I took out of there. So knowing what I know - would you go ahead and snug up the nut to the minimum 120 ft-lbs and live with the extra pinion drag? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 I don't know what the "right" answer is. I know that John Coffey and I disagree on this particular subject. My take is that the pinion bearing drag is set by the shims betweeen the tapered bearings, and you can put 100 lbs or 200 lbs and it shouldn't change the amount of bearing drag. Once the distance between those bearings is fixed you would have to deform the bearing or the race to make it otherwise. I think the FSM says to keep tightening the bearing until you reach xxx preload, which to me doesn't make any sense at all, since the preload should be adjusted by changing the shim stack. I'm also not one for leaving it wrong and hoping the problem goes away. I guess you could try another seal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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