My buddy and I have been discussing the pinion seal replacement that I did last week, and according to him, I did NOT need to replace the crush collar because my bearing preload was so low before disassembly. The initial reading was only about 6 in-lbs. I told him that you have to do it every time, but he says that his Ford Technical Service Publications CD says differently. Since I'm a "show me" kind of guy, we went and looked at it. And...sure enough. Ford's procedure in my case would have been to use the same collar. They would have just torqued the pinion nut more to get the preload back up to the 8-14 in-lbs that the specs call for.

I read through the entire procedure and there is only a mention of a new spacer if you over torque and have to back off. The procedure does call for a new pinion nut, just not a new spacer. The very first thing that you read on the "Drive Pinion Seal/Universal Joint Flange, Rear Axle" procedure is this:
"Note: Replacement of rear axle drive pinion seal only involves removal and installation of the pinion nut and rear axle universal joint flange"

What does everyone think of this? I found it to be a bit off from what I was taught. Do you think that if you finish with a higher preload than you start with (within range), you really need to change the spacer? Do you all think that the pinion bearings could suffer without changing the spacer, or do we trust that Ford knows what they're talking about?

 

An interesting addition is that my Haynes manual doesn't call for the Crush Collar to be replaced either. Hmm. Looks like I could have saved myself the agony of crushing that little bastard.

No other input on this?

 

I've seen the crush sleeve reused on dozens of vehicles with no problems. My concern is that you only had 6 inch pounds of preload when you took it apart. That and the leaking seal makes me wonder if your pinion bearings are worn. But since it's already done, just keep an eye on it and see if the seal leaks again. Also listen for noise from the diff in the future.

 

i reused my crush collar, just torque it down and check your preload.

 

no you do not replace the crush sleeve..i hope you do realize that in order to properly check bearing preload on the pinion you haveto dissasemble the whole diff....also bearing preload usually has 2 different specs, one for new bearings and one for used bearings, and 6lb/in is fine for used bearings.

 

Personally, I wasn't too worried about that considering there were 161,000 miles on those bearings. Everything was still nice and tight.
Will do. I've been checking for leaks every day for the last week, and so far so good. No funny noises except for an entirely respectable clunk back there when I put it in gear. No noise in motion.
I didn't get quite that far, but I did have the wheels off and brakes removed. After I finished with the pinion seal, I pulled the axles and did the axle seals too. I thought that any rubber seal with 161k on it would probably be hanging on by the skin of its teeth.