I've had a leak for awhile and finally got around to replacing the pinion seal over the holiday weekend. After getting the yoke off, the back side of the dust shield was hardly wet at all. However, the front side of the yoke was soaked. The seal looked like it was in great shape. When I put it back together, I dabbed a little RTV on the yoke/pinion spline area before putting the washer back on. Don't know if it will change anything, but I figured it wouldn't hurt.

This rear came out of another '82. The original rear in the car had a loose pinion nut when I got it, which I "fixed" by replacing the seal and tightening up the nut to snug before I even drove the car. The rear always howled, however (the ring gear teeth didn't look so good from the beginning, so I assume the damage had already been done), and continued to leak. I got tired of that after about a year and put the donor rear in until this posi became available a couple of years ago.

Makes me wonder if GM had some differential "issues" in the '82 model year. The '86 rear was always clean, dry, and quiet.

 

I wonder if they were using a newer kind of rearend for 82 or if they just carried the 2nd gen rear end over?

 

2nd gens used the 8.2" 10-bolt with leaf springs, but the 7.5 had been used in Monzas and the like which had the torque arm and coil springs. Axle length changed for the f-bodies. But, the carrier shouldn't have changed.

Does seem curious to me that I've had problems with 2 different '82 rears.

 

I use Locktite PST (pipe sealant w/teflon) on the splines for the yoke. This does keep it from leaking. I think GM uses either the same stuff or something similar. As when I pulled a '92 rear apart (stock factory) it had a white substance on the splines.

RBob.

 

I have a 78 El Camino with the 7½" rear, with the early (smaller) pinion head bearing no less. No particular leakage problems except when the nut backed off at about the 250,000 mile point, maybe 6 or 7 years ago, and ruined the tail bearing. I replaced the bearing and the seal, and just bolted it back together with the same crush sleeve (lazy). It's gone about another 100,000 miles since then, which isn't really enough to get any sort of long-term picture; I'll let you know how it does once it gets broken in.

Bottom line, I doubt there's anything different about 82 rears. I think you just suffered from some bad luck.

The 2nd gens mostly used the 8.5", not the 8.2". The last year for the 8.2" was about 72 or thereabouts (thank goodness).

 

five7 i bet it's been 3 months or more since you were talking about changing the seal. not that i'd got it done any quicker.

 

End of March, actually. Just 2 months...

RB, you're right, the 8.2" I have is a '71 (Nova). But, the 8.5" I have is an '84, so those two don't define 2nd gens very well.

The yoke splines had some dried-out whitish stuff at the very end of the splines (less than a 1/4" I'd say). I assumed it was white grease, but now that you mention the Teflon sealant, that could have been what it was. Wish now I would have thought about that instead of the RTV. I used blue tube Locktite (forget the number - it's the only Locktite I had in the garage) on the nut when I put it back together. Guess we'll see how it does.

I wasn't the one who took this rear out of the original car, but was told it had about 90k on it. I've put on another 20k. The original rear had 133k on it, and the '86 donor had 123k, to which I added another 10k or so. Perhaps one day I'll keep one in long enough to get it properly broken in.

BTW, you mentioned a smaller pinion head bearing. Did that change with different 7.5's, or from 7.5 to 7.625? Other than the ones I mentioned above, the only other 7.5 I've had was in a '76 Vega.

 

Seems like it was in about 80 or 81, they changed the head bearing. Then it has stayed the same until the present. They changed from calling it 7.5" to 7.625" sometime in the late 80s.... AFAIK the parts didn't change, only the nomenclature. At least, all the replacement gears were what they were before then, and they didn't change after the name changed, and they still fit, so draw your own conclusions from there.

 

So, sounds like the bearing was the same for all 3rd gens. Oh, well, thought that might explain it. The '86 rear that I used for about 10k stayed dry on the outside and quiet. I've considered using it as the base for a future 10-bolt "beef-up" (28-spline axles would be used, of course).

Per the Tech Data on the Board, for the 1985 year model:
"7.5 inch rear end dropped and replaced with a new 7.625 (7 5/8) inch rear end for all Camaros." The parts did change, but the newer ones fit the older assemblies as I understand it.