Posted by Vaughn on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 13:29:25 :
Yesterday I removed the 3rd member in the rear end to do an inspection and to my surprise I found the following:
- The ring gear bolt nut were so loose, I could turn them with my fingers,
- The differential bearing cap nuts were also very loose.
As a result there is some wear on the pinion and ring gear.
I open the ring gear nut locks just enough to allow a socket and retightened the nuts to 40 feet pounds, the bearing caps to 120 feet pounds. I also used some lock tight for some added assurance. I tighten the axle housing nuts that holds the 3rd member to 50 feet pounds, that seem about right.
Even with some wear on the gears it smoothed out some drive train vibration. I’m glad I did it, would hate to think what would have happened if I needed to do some hard pulling.
If you haven’t done an inspection lately, I suggest you do it. It took about 5 hours to do.
Today I plan to again disassemble the right knuckle and replace the knuckle and bronze cone that didn’t have a spiral groove. The knuckle flange screws and bolts do well tighten to 85 feet pounds.
Ya, I’m on a Holiday Season vacation burning up some use-or-lose leave!