Ford & Dana Axles Pinion Seal Replacement: Tricks of the Trade

okay welcome back it's been a while since my last video I've been really busy here in the shop which is good for business but not good for YouTube but I'm covering a lot of great topics I haven't actually cover believe it or not in five hundred plus videos so there'll be a lot of great new content coming out on different subjects covering more aspects of Ford vehicles case in point today we're working on a 2005 Ford f150 4x4 and we'll be showing you how to change a rear pinion seal seems to be a hot topic and this procedure applies for Dayna axles Ford axles front rear it doesn't matter it's all done the same way and there's a few tips and tricks I've learned throughout the years that are tried-and-true that I want to show you today from start to finish so let's go check it out okay what you want to do is have your vehicle in park preferably the front wheels chopped make sure you're on a flat surface then we're gonna get the jack underneath our rear differential right here we're going to lift it just enough so the rear tires are off the ground like you can see right there and then we're going to get our neat built our jack stands I bought that height right there so we can get it onto the axle will support it and then we can work on this safely so we're gonna go ahead and check it up high enough get these placed like so we'll let it back down on to them slowly like that there we go okay so with our front wheels chocks we can't roll in the back end support by jack stands we're going to come into the vehicle here and we're going to put it into neutral and then turn the key back off okay and there it is very obvious pinion seal leak now just because it's leaking doesn't mean the seal is bad and that's the only concern or reason why it started leaking in the first place from where and age it can also be from worn driveline components there causing excessive vibration and we route that seal in there this case the driveshaft u-joints actually worn out and it's vibrating so much back here that took out the seal plus there's a lot of miles in this truck but you can see this is a recent leak and the driveshaft just killed it so it's a good idea to check that before you go any further okay now the reason why we have the axle off the ground in the vehicle and neutral is because we want to be able to hit these bolts directly on you could get to these two just fine but you can't get to these two in the top because of the driveline angle here so you might strip them and have problems in there already a weird design of twelve point 12 millimeters so you won't have these directly on with the be a neutral we're allowed to do that also before you take this driveshaft off you want to mark the drive shaft flange and the pinion flange together just one side a little paint mark on there and you cannot mess it up that way and what this will do is they'll keep the drive line balanced and also keep from a stack up of rust tolerances on there causing a new vibration so there's multiple reasons why you want to do this so we got that marked and there are sockets and extensions out there with a swivel and I'll link to it down below that has their mate just for that's their 12-point and 12 millimeter and they're also a swivel okay on there so you can get to these better no better access but this how it looks go ahead just start taking them out nice and straight on like that we'll get to the side here so you can see a little bit better there we go and just keep spinning around you can see all those driveshaft is definitely has some u-joint concerns now that's last one we're going to take it out well we're going to keep a few spreads in and the reason being is this flange is stuck big time usually to the pinion flange so you want to break those free first so that's a few threads just like that and then we're going to spin around to the other side away from that bolt and we're going to hit the drive shaft lens right here you don't want to hit right here on the drive shaft you want hit right here so you can break the bond of the drive shaft flange to the drive shift the pinion flange here so let's see if I can do this video and you see it doesn't take too much and then we're free that point can come over here and loosen this okay now also if you have a multi piece driveshaft usually there is bolts down here same thing in the four bolts twelve point twelve millimeter this is a one-piece this simply slides into the transfer case it'll slide right out once you pull the other side down I'll show you how that looks get that last bolt out hold it up so there's one fall on your head push it in a little bit and then your hand down here and on the other side and support it wiggle a little bit it should come right out along with some trans fluid usually that point the way what you can do down here if it is dripping out is just put something underneath the drain pan whatever I don't like to stick rags and stuff in there I think it deforms the seal I don't like doing that at all so just clean the shaft a little bit on here you know of debris and if it's dripping just let it drip out that's that's what I've done and there had no issues going back in and having leaks afterwards all right now this one looks pretty rotted out so we're going to go ahead and spray it let some rust pad Trent so we can clean the threads on there a little bit okay once the threads are clean on here lets me off the rough pant rant and kind of debris what's a break clean get those threads exposed and make sure they're not damaged before pulling this nut offer you don't want that okay now the best way that I found to make sure the preload is the same going back in as it is right now is to actually count the threads on here and I also mark the location of the axle nut to the flange okay and that way you know well gee five threads plus the nuts matching up we're back at the original preload and that give it just a little bit more with the impact on there and then also before you ever take it off feel the backlash okay see you go back and forth you can really good sense of how it should be when you're done okay let's go ahead and count the threads real quick get a general idea I got one two three four and five good and then we'll go ahead and I'll mark all three of these together something like that you should have an idea then going back together at this point I can pull that nut off of there and put it to the side now in this one inch and 1/8 is matching up just right on here hold it get it off of there and smoking because of all the axial loop that's going through there it's leaking pretty bad so our marks are still in place make sure you don't wipe them off of your nut and we'll keep it off to the side here for reuse and then your pinion flange should not come off of here so not just fall right off shouldn't be able to just pull it off of there you should have to use something like this regular two jaw puller pressing off the center here and gripping on the outside and that way it comes off there nice and even without any damage it should be a pressed fish not be loose so stick this on here and think about this I'll show you here in a second get snug is you want a puller that's beefy enough and big enough to go around it all the way long-winded okay okay you make sure that these attachments here are tight so it doesn't flex okay and then we want be straight on the same access with the pinion flange there so you press off there straight so the same thing when you got the impact on here you're going at it you want the impact nice and straight on there too so I get it straight by hand like so looks good right put a drain pan underneath there's going to be some fluid coming out and then you can start pressing this off of here it should come off pretty easy unless there's some major problem get you off to the side here kind of sit there right now once this pinion flange is off of here this is a sealing surface for the actual seal so you wanna make sure that there's no deep grooves in here or anything like that if there is to clean it up a little bit before going back together now what I use is a real fine scotch brite okay and you probably see it looks really nice now it's even out on there and real light pressure you're just getting the ridges out of there and now you should be good to go after that clean it up real good with brake clean and a rag and then make sure you put a light coating of gear wheel back on hear me real light coating and make sure you clean the splines to go them back in here especially this side where that seal is leaking out so crazy like that I was pretty bad leak okay here comes the fun part what we got to do is get the pinion seal off here without damaging anything and it's really hard to get one of those seal ores in here because the shafts in the way so we're going to clean this a little bit okay we're going to do let's find a tool we're going to crush in the side of the sleeve we're going to hit the the seal itself we're not trying to hit the flange at all on the differential right past it we'll keep going what this will do is it will you know get the pressure off of there by crushing it in and if you can get behind like this and start pulling it out a little bit - usually it's stuck in there pretty good though so once you have they crushed in enough like that I work it up a little pry and what this does as it will ruin the seal and not the housing it works really well see it starting to come now yeah there we go that point you pop out by hand it's got a lot of sealant on these see all that clipped it off to the side here don't worry about draining out we got a lot of cleaning up to do before putting this new one on here now what I do is I pull off the slinger and make sure it doesn't have any huge grooves in it anything like that okay now the inside of the housing here okay it generally does not have any kind of sealant inside of there it's all on this chamfered edge right here so what I use is a small flathead and I will get it off of there like so you can see it right here the reddish orange stuff right there rusty colored stuff that's the sealant so this particular screwdriver has a square drive to it Square shank on it so what you can do is scrape it with that square drive on there and see that and you can clean it off that way and of course use this part too so the whole thing can be used for this all the way up and around right in the edge right there it's nice and clean now this outer part right here that does not matter me you don't want to build a book garbage on there salt spray some brake line on there okay now while you're in here if you have any kind of rear-end noise you can actually check your pinion bearings while it's part like this and you can actually change the outer one while you're in here put a pic behind there and it should come right out pretty much get it in there and then you can start inspecting the bearing on here now this one does have a noise in it we're not rebuilding it yet and clean it off here real quick I'll show you I'm talking about what to look for ok so you should be able to see that ok you see the regular shiny part right there that's just fine but when you start getting into the pitted areas like that right there where it's all pitted and right there that one's pretty bad got some pitting right there that's where you start getting your noise and you can look at your other bearing in there Walsall part in a course your inter rates on here it's just see how bad it is I took a chance now to wipe this up real good teachers any small metal filings right in this area or sealant that came off real nice and clean and we can start reassembling it so go ahead make sure the bearings back into there like so and don't forget your oil slinger you're going to need that and your blinds on here and then we're also going to clean the threads so we apply the thread Locker here in a little bit it'll actually adhere in do its job okay now the only seals I recommend are the Ford seals they seem to last the longest and you should have a special seal installer that hits it from the front here okay put the pressure evenly all the way around and then also stretches out the seal in here so on the back side the Garter spring doesn't fly out while you're pounding it in if you don't have the tool like I don't right now because they didn't sense me yet there backordered what you can do is pack the backside of this seal with some heavy grease so that's that darter spring does not pop out and then we're out to use in this situation is pieces from my ball joint kit and we'll tap it in evenly that way it's the most important part of it so definitely matter but before I start putting it in I like to quickly wipe this area from grips and then we'll put it in here now first start off with a 1 pounder so you can tap it in there evenly and just keep tapping it in there and keep looking around to see where it might be cocked in there this sides a little bit deeper so we need to go on this side and tap it in and that way it doesn't get too cocked in there and see now it's nice and evenly around and you just keep doing it in that fashion with a 1 pounder it shouldn't take much more than this so we're getting there all the way around back and forth and there it is now you can see down here it's nice and tight up here's a little gap you want to make sure afterwards that's nice and flush all the way around so we'll tap this in up top there and then we'll recheck from there perfect okay now going back in you I use plenty of Loctite on both the threads on the pinion and the nut here I put pull Oni on here so there's no issues a nice use the blue loctite it's all you really need on here make sure your pinion flange here is clean and greased like so and then you just simply line it up on here with the splines okay and then you should have a tool that screws into here and then it'll suck this thing down no one has it and it's not really needed you just simply tap on this evenly all the way across real light okay then you take your nut and get threaded on there make sure you can't thread it on there wait a minute for it there we go goes on clip it actually and then you can start renting a home on here once you get it tight enough start feeling that backlash you see it's way out right now obviously and then once it sucks it in you can start checking that backlash and count your threads on here now it's nice about this gun is that it's not too strong and it won't cinch it down and start collapsing that spacer in there it's actually just weak enough so I can get a good feel for it it'll actually stop when it hits that spacer right there now let the seal install the nuts all tightened down we can see the housing hair just try not to get it up into the ceiling like this down it's gonna be soaked in pretty good we can get most of it off of here we'll be all telling test drive if the you know leak is gone or not okay now since we are installing a new drive shaft I'm going to be cleaning the mating surfaces of this pinion flange I shed that laws off but I forgot right here you could see is where the mating part was the drive shaft this like triangle area this Halfmoon shape I guess right here and here not right here in here so we're going to clean up that area and a course of centering flange the next part is very important you want to put point of Loctite once again on your bolts that are holding drive shaft on this we'll get them all ready now okay just sitting here ready you can thread them in by hand when we're putting the drive shaft in and they're all set to go all right so yes your drive shaft lined up with the transfer case and slipped into there should have lubricant on this internal splines already from the factory okay it's in there and then we'll simply line up the same pattern on here let's see we got here just like this get in there you want to make sure it's centered in here like so and all four of these bolts go into here no sweat my hand and this way you know what's centered in there before ever tightening anything down okay there we go okay this works back on these is 76 foot-pounds just another in a crisscross pattern now the easiest way to torque them down and still be able to pivot it is to have someone actually pressing the brake they'll hold the wheel so it can't spin and then you torque these to spin it 180 and we can go ahead and torque the other two on this side again the torques back on these is 76 foot-pounds whole lip all right let off alright hold it alright okay now the fill plug is on the driver's side of almost all four differentials so it'd be pretty easy a spot they don't have them on their covers like the dodges and it's three H drive square drive and because it's sitting there pretty tight I recommend a 1/2 inch ratchet and adapter and you can break it free without breaking your freaking knuckle that tiny pops so we'll simply take this out drain pan our Neath it and we'll see if it's still feel good enough or not if it needs a little topping off this one's sticking in here there we go all right so of course a little bit low which is fine I have fluid here to adjust it now almost all of the four differentials in the rear anyways have been changed over to 75 140 instead of the old 8090 so it's pretty crazy fluid it is synthetic you'll see it there that's the stuff to get right there you shouldn't need any of the differential additive xl3 the limited-slip because you're just you didn't lose that much so this little pump right here will be able to get in there because the ring gears right fricken there so it's hard to get anything in here besides a small tube you can go ahead and just start pumping it in there and this works out great for this I mean deer oils you know it's hard to pump in it's a lot thicker but this this is doing really well and the fluid is only about I say 67 degrees you want to just fill it and once it does start coming out you want to manually verify its level with the bottom of the fill hole and the reason being I can go crazy right now and just start pouring this stuff into here and guess what it'll actually be spitting back out in all reality it's not actually filled so give it time to be level to level out in there and get to all the areas this one's taking quite a bit usually they don't take this much for a pinion seal leak all right not at this point sled drain out to pretty much level I mean right now a few drips here and there it's it's good it's got a it's got to fill other cavities in there by the pinion and all that stuff yet so while it's dripping let's go ahead and just wipe down our plug on the side here you know put some thread sealant on here high-temperature thread sealant just like that and we'll go ahead and plug it off and then once this thing stop just give it a little bit more like that and you're good it's literally just a plug Oh little break clean and that's it replace the seal check the fluid go for a test drive make sure there's no leaks and that's all there is to replacing a pinion seal and getting that preload back on the pinion bearings it's very simple all right let's go for a little test drive we've done a lot to this vehicle power steering lines CV boot ball joints tab links brake leaks driveshaft pinion seal and of course as you may be able to hear they're still opinion and carrier bearing noises back there in the differential he knows about it and he's holding off for obvious reasons is very very expensive it's going to be one heck of a job back I tell you so for right now let's go for a test drive make sure everything works fine engagements are fine no vibrations of uh nothing weird like that and the leaks obviously it's a good thing I know you can't see them very well it's getting dark out but I just want to take you for a drive the best part of a big job like this is a big job big job that's part of a big job like this is going for the road test afterwards and everything sounds good feels good and of course you come back and there's no leaks it's the best got a sense of accomplishment you really fix something so just throwing parts at

Channel: FordTechMakuloco

Views: 1,244,565

Keywords: ford, f-150, how, to, repair, diy, Ford, Motor, Company, (Automobile, Company), pinion seal, leak, gear oil

Id: scb_FcHtMZM

Length: 35min 45sec (2145 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2016