My pinion seal is leaking like a sieve. It's actually slinging oil off of the companion flange on to everything under the bed. I know basically what needs to be done to change the seal properly, but what I don't know is if I need to make an adjustment to the bearing preload now that I have a few miles racked up. I'll be checking the preload with an in-lb torque wrench first. Should that number still be maintained after 160k miles?

Thanks.

 

After 160K on the bearings the setting should be 14 inch pounds on a 8.8" rear end.

 

Success. Preload was only about 6 in-lbs before removing the flange but there wasn't any slop. I was a little nervous about generating enough torque to crush the collar but that wasn't a big deal either with a breaker and a cheater. I also figured while everything was apart I'd go ahead and do the axle seals too. I cranked everything down with preload at ~13-14 in-lbs, filled it back up and took a test drive. No leaks...yet.