94 laredo rear pinion

[hardisk_c]

Hi, just have a quick question: Recently bought a 94 Laredo in decent condition. There are a few quirks that need work, most of them I can figure out, and have found out how to fix from either this forum or the manual. Only one throwing me for a loop is as follows:

Rear pinion seal is leaking differential fluid, and in the Chilton it makes reference to 'preloading' the rear pinion nut once the assembly is going back together. . . I don't mean to be dense, but. . . how the heck do you do that??? I hate to say it, but it sounds like one's trying to tighten the bolt before you tighten it. Needless to say, I'm confused, and would appreciate any help I could get. . . before I end up doing something like treating the CCV on that L-6 like a PCV valve (that was *fun* cleaning rubber out of the valves & lifters). . . anyways, any advice would help.

[JDPascal]

The bearing preload is the amount of effort it takes to turn the pinion because of the tightness of the bearing.

Pinion preload is set when the pinion and new bearings are installed. The only time that you have to worry about resetting it is when new bearing(s) are installed and then a new "crush sleeve" is used.

When you change the pinion seal, all you need to worry about is using a torque wrench to tighten the pinion nut to the specified torque (minimum 200 ftlb).

The manual does tell you to check the pinion bearing preload with an inch/lb torque wrench and mark the yoke to pinion position when you remove it.

After you install the new seal, install the yoke in the original position and tighten the new nut to remove the end play. Tighten the pinion nut till you have the original rotating preload and up to 5 inch/lb more with a minimum of 200 ft/lb torque on the nut.

If you over tighten it, you can wind up replacing all the bearings in the diff.

JD