Pinion Nut Loose?!
 

Well I took my car in yesterday, not without other problems, to the local chevy dealer about my rear axle leaking around the pinion to yoke area. I figured it was a pinion seal, the thing that destroyed my first set of gears. Well this morning they did their best to wake me up to no avail, so I get a voicemail about a "small problem". They said the pinion nut is loose, the yoke is loose and that the U-Joints dont have clips on the caps.

I am 99.9% sure I put those clips on the U-Joints when I put it togather. However, when I first took my car out after putting the new engine and trans in it, I got on it hard in first and the driveshaft fell loose due to what I believe to have been an act of retalliation from the company that shipped my car while not functional (A whole other story, but the other evidence I have is a fuel line was cut straight through, must have been a knife....no other way). The U-Joint Strap bolts were loose....so my driveshatft hit the ground a few times, probably throwing the balance off. I got new straps/bolts/U-Joints, but the car had a vibration to it at 65MPH-about 90MPH. I figured well I guess I'll have to get my driveshaft balanced at some point...

Total driving was minimal. I think I made the trip home from harrisburg and back maybe a total of 10 times, 100 miles each way, and the drive to school is only 1 mile max of 30 MPH since middletown PA drivers do 30MPH whether the speed limit is 25 or 35 lol, but in 25 zones I still did 25 for fear of a speading ticket in a red sports car. The bolt wasn't loose that whole time, nor were the clips gone that whole time.

Last piece of info. I did the buildup listed here using the solid bearing spacer. Including the support cover, torsen diff, and redline shockproof oil. At least in forward gears, the system is designed to pull the pinion into the gears, but the solid bearing spacer should stop that no matter what, not like that ridiculous crush collar...I never go fast in reverse. If I have seen 3 MPH in reverse, I would be surprised, and my transition from reverse to forward is always slow and easy. I'm not kidding, once I get going in first I may get on it a little here and there, but I am still relativly new at driving manual, so going from reverse or a stop is still always a slow process.

What do you think the chances of major damage are? I really need the thing to last maybe another 6-8 months. By then I should be employeed making > 60K/year and will be able to just throw a ford 9" under there, and begin making that LT1 really perform...

Thanks for any/all input!