Well as some of you know I have replaced the rear end in my truck twice. The second time I put a detroit locker in it to replace the part that was breaking. Sometimes I feel that if it weren't for bad luck, I would have no luck. I got a harsh grinding from it the other day going to work. As it turned out the nut on the pinion shaft backed off. Why does it do that?? I thought I had it bullet proof at this point, with the detroit and its third set of ring and pinion gears. It was an easy enough fix, but still WHY???

 

I don't know alot about rear ends except that there a p.i.t.a. to get set up right. You used a new crush collar every time right?

-Jon

 

I agree with Ford4ever it is very important to use a new crush collar everytime. Not using a new crush collar could cause you to over torque and ruin the pinion bearing. Trust me I know this to be true. Also new nuts come with a coating on the threads, not sure if this is for sealing or locking purposes, but their readily available at the dealer and cheap insurance (new nut and crush collar are much cheaper than a whole rebuild.) Just my thoughts.

 

Most new pinion nuts have a little extra thread out past the hex part of the nut. I usually take a small chisel and put a dimple in that part of the nut. This is just a little insurance that it wont come loose; just be sure not to hit the pinion threads.

 

yeah, I set it up last time and it was bueatiful, the only parts I reused were the axels and housing. I put a new crush sleeve and seal in it this time, then red loc-tite on the nut and pinion. Then to top it off I piened the nut into place in half a dozen spots. I hope it never needs to come off.

 

If you dont get the threads clean, loc tite will be useless. Make sure you get all grease and debris off of there. Use brake clean as a last step cleaner just prior to loc tite application.