Has anyone set pinion preload with a breaker bar? I just did one with an impact wrench and it's pretty touchy. I wanted to do it with a breaker bar, but wasn't sure how to keep the pinion from turning under that much torque. 300-400 lb/ft. Suggestions?

 

I use a tool I made out of a 4' piece of ¼ x 1¼" strip stock; I just drilled 2 holes along the edge, to bolt it to 2 of the U-joint bolt holes, out of the way of the socket.

 

I've seen a large pipe wrench used.

 

use a monkey wrench with a pipe fastened to the yoke and insert the pipe betwen the trailing arm and the body.then crush the new crush sleeve,.NEVER USE AN IMPACT GUN .ALWAYS USE A BREAKER BAR WITH A PIPE INSTALLED FOR EXTRA LEVERAGE.you can destroy a 7 and 5/8 crush sleeve with a gun in no time and overload the pinion bearing to the races it floats in during operation and create excessive heat and coasting and driving noise. .with new bearings it should be set to 20 inch pounds.it usually will take 360 degrees or 1 full turn after the slop between the flange and pinion is out.go 1/8 of a turn at a time until the flange doesnt move in and out ,then a hair at a time until you have the preload.most wont have an inch pounds wrench so tighten very easy until you just start to feel the slightest bit of drag and the pinion bearing rollers amke an audible whirring.always rotate the pinion bearing on working cars when you are able to so your hand and mind will know what is acceptable.if the pinion cant make a revolution or 2 by itself when you spin and let go it is a sign it is overtightened.remove the pinion,install a new crush sleeve and start over.

 

i use a "special tool much like RBs to hold the yoke. a pipe wrench is a crude second choice way of doing it.

 

Chris718... I set the bearing preload without the crush sleeve to 22 in/lbs during initial set up per ususal using an in/lbs torque wrench. The drag was conciderable, much greater than I would have expected. There was no way it could complete 1 free spin. I kept upping the preload untill the wrench read between 20 and 25 so I know it's where Richmond spec says it should be. Now I'm really confused. To spin or not to spin?

 

your wrench is reading wrong.if you step up from 1/4, 3/8 to 1/2 inch drive socket its off .i have tried that too .it doesnt work.we do 7/8 ears a month here and never get pinion bearing hum anymore.must use a 1/2 inch drive inch pounds wrench .mine is from europe,works great.just hate the conversions

 

I use the GM J-tool . works great

 

cant go wrong with that

 

How far is it skewed by? This is how we set up mine and my brothers. Mine was silent for the first 200 miles, and now I have pretty loud whine. After break-in was complete at 500 miles it seems to be getting slightly quieter. My brothers is still silent. Next weekend I'm gonna pull the cover and see if a tooth chipped or something. Just found it strange that it would go from silent to noise...

It was during a decel to merge onto an off ramp, btw. Noise is present in accel or decel, goes away if I take load off drivetrain by shifting to N.

 

Guess it's time for a new crush sleeve huh? Where can you beg, borrow, steal or buy a 1/2" in/lb torque wrench? Any idea how much?

Thanks

 

That's almost funny. The idea that the size of the square will affect the torque in such a way that two torque wrenches with 2 different size drives will produce different torque while reading the same. No, in fact, it actually is funny.

The drive size doesn't make a bit of difference.

24 inch-pounds is 2 ft-lbs. You can make your own 2 ft-lb torque wrench by hanging a 2-lb weight from a breaker bar (any size drive that will hook up to a 1¼" socket will do fine) at exactly 12" from the center of the drive.

This is a car, not rocket science, or black magic. There's millions and millions of them on the road, each with potentially a number of things set up by way of bearing preload, on production lines the world over, with an incredible variety of tools, by the most unskilled labor imaginable. If all of those people can manage it without the "one and only" magic tool or technique, so can you.

Use logic and common sense, it will take you much farther in life than a belief in voodoo. A good education in science or engineering would help dispel some of these myths.

 

could i just weld a 3/8 drive socket to a 1 1/4 1/2 drive socket and use my 3/8 torque wrench?

 

RB83L69.... Thank you for your voodoo to real world stint. I couldn't believe that how you tie down a rod has anything to do with what force it takes to bend it. Problem is... Set at 25 in/lbs, there is a great deal of drag in the pinion bearings. Much more than I would have expected. First turn after setting I concluded that I would never have imagined that much drag from such a slight torque setting. Does having to "crank" the yoke to get it to turn sound right for a new bearing set up at 22 in/lbs ?

 

i agree with the last post.we have tested this theory and it works.sorry if you find it wrong or amusing but your absolutely wrong.at 22inch lbs itll barely spin and will make noise on deceellaration like previously pointed out.the extra weight of the socket and drivers will affect the reading on such a low scale.

 

ede ,that is an interesting point.we have been building rears for years and have found that when using a 1/4 or 3/8 inch pouns wrench with a 1/2 drive socket and setting torque readings below 100 inch pounds they will always be innacurate.each wrench is designed for a specific size driver is what we have concluded.i suggest you locate a 3/8 drive inch pounds wrench that reads from 0 to 50 pounds and buy a 3/8 drive socket that fits the pinion nut.they are available.mine is in metric and was bought through a relative in greece.i think that the maximum inch pounds for a new sleeve and old bearings should be 14 inlbs and for a new sleeve and new bearings 18 inchlbs with all 7 5/8 and 8.5 gm rears.

 

One last question... We know that too much preload will cause heat and noise. What could we expect from too little preload? With the questions surrounding in/lb torque wrenches, would the 1 to 2 free spin rule be a good enough measure. They're only bearings, right?

 

use a torque wrench

 

too loose and the bearings will lose their preload.follow my methods if you choose.we are very serious about providing our customers with the best service and parts,and we are well respected in the industry.