Rear end seals!!!

[bitchin85]

the rear end in my 85is out of an 84 burban 2wd. its a 5 lug ten bolt. it has alot bigger brakes then the ones that i took off my 85 so i dont know if this makes it a 3/4 or what? i thought it would have to be a 6 lug for that.. anyways, the rear end sprung a leak at the pinion gear? where the driveshaft goes in.. can someone tell me exactally what seal to use and how to do it? i went to my local parts store and there was a few different seals.. i dont wank to tear it down and have the wrong one.. also how much fluid am i gonna need? thanks guys!

[bitchin85]

nothing?

[Keith Seymore]

If it's 5 lug then it's 1/2 ton 2wd.

6 lug is 1/2 ton 4wd.

It would be 8 lug in order to be 3/4 ton.

I can't tell you which seal you will need, but you'll need to pull the rear end completely down in order to replace it. If there are shims on either side of the differential ring gear carrier, make sure you note how they came out so you can put them in the same way. And - make sure someone gives you some pointers on putting the pinion gear back in correctly (as far as rotating torque, squishing the crush sleeve, etc).

It's not hard but you have to know what you are doing.

K

[RandyP]

Mine was leaking badly out of the pinion. Just take the driveshaft off and put a pinion seal in, was fairly easy to do actually. Drain all the fluid first in the third member.

[bitchin85]

Originally Posted by RandyP

Mine was leaking badly out of the pinion. Just take the driveshaft off and put a pinion seal in, was fairly easy to do actually. Drain all the fluid first in the third member.

thats where mines leaking.. just wanted to know how big the job is or if id need any special tools before i tore it apart and couldnt get it back together for work lol

[stkcode]

Yea...same here. This must be a common occurence with 10-bolts. I've had several 14-bolt full floats that have almost 200k miles and never leaked at the pinion. My 10-bolt has less then a 100k and it's leaking pretty badly now in the exact same spot.

I'd be interested in how hard it is to change the seal. I'm heavily considering just swapping the rear out completely with something stronger...like a 12-bolt or 14-bolt sf. Not to mention correcting the crummy front/rear tract width difference.

[kelsfine69]

Easy Peasy..Just undo the drive shaft. Mark the nut to the pinion and to the flange(use a center punch and make 3 little marks that line up. Undo the nut( I use an impact and hold the yolk with a glove or rag), tap off the pinion yolk, pull the seal, slide hammer works nice but hammer and screwdriver also works. Clean out the seal surface. Tap in new seal(dont forget to add a little grease to the rubber) Reinstall the yolk lining up your marks and reinstall the nut and tighten till your marks line back up then just give it a couple of minutes past. Like a clock not too much. This makes the crush sleeve add a little pressure to hold the nut on. No cover removal and almost nil on fluid loss.

[RandyP]

We drained the fluid, I could have swore it would come out but oh well. It needed changed baaaaad anyways. Took my tech about a hour to do it. Granted that is on a lift with air tools and he'd done it before. Actually we didn't put it on the lift, we used the frame machine to lift it up and he sat underneath it.

[bitchin85]

thanks guys! i got a seal today and two bottles of 80/90 and a bottle of some limited slip comditioner or addative. the guy sed i need it because aparentally a stock84 suburban came stock with a limited slip?.. dont make sence though cuz when i burnout theres only one tire mark.. anyone know anything about this?

[motornut]

mine was leakin on the pads,note the PO weld in the carrier......did more since it was apart...axel bearings were goin,used offset ones.....