Ok, so I'm looking to finally get this car back on the road. It needs some work, and the rear might be the most expensive.

I'd still like to get the 9", but I'm wondering about your opinions on the Current 10 Bolt. Let me explain.

Originally the problem was an oil leak. Took it to the dealer they say the pinion net is loose. I ask them to tighten it up, the gears whine on the way home....Havent driven it since.

So the idea here is, even though I told them it is NOT using a crush collar, but rather a solid bearing spacer, maybe they over-torqued the pinion nut? If so, did the destroy the bearings? The drive home was about 6 miles, and I kept it to about 40MPH. Furthermore, do you think it will be OK if I just retorqued the pinion nut? I can check backlash/preload, although I'll have to read up on procedures again...and finally, if you think it might work, do the procedures for torquing that thing down change with a solid bearing spacer? I assume they would, but then you know what they say about assumptions...If so, what should I be doing?

Also, just in case, I think I remember reading somewhere that people had needed more than 1 of the solid spacers from ratech for the rear? Is this true? If so I guess the shop that built the current rear didn't really use the spacer after all, and I can be pretty sure setting up the rear again will be a major PITA for me, and I might as well just save the money and grab the 9".

Unfortunatly this has had to wait, and will be delayed again as I just cracked the rim on my '04 Goat....a $550 proposition there...

So let me know what you guys think. Even if I can get another 6 months to a year out of the current rear, that would be something...The Goat is leased, and I'm over milage I need to drive the T/A around for a while to make up for it....plus I just cant see leaving that LT1 sitting there rotting away

 

If it was set up properly, the spacer makes pinion nut torquing easy - you tighten it. Only way to know if it was set up properly is to recheck it.

 

Sorry for not getting back to this in a while....work, and the fact that i have a car that runs have been keeping me from working on the T/A...


If torquing it is all thats necessary, how tight should it be? What if someone torqued it to say 120 ft-lbs attempting to crush a collar, but gave up when the torque went that high? Any issues?

I'm probably going to begin working on the front of the car today or tomorrow....the exhaust needs some work, so I'll start there. If the rear is salvagable with minimal work though, that would help me out alot.

Thanks
Corry

 

Alright, did a search, got the answer, just so its in 2 places....

"You can torque the nut until it screams" I believe was the exact wording, when using a solid bearing spacer, so thats out of the question.

Furthermore, one of the problems mentioned using a crush collar is sometimes the pinion nut can come loose, possibly due to bearing wear, and then if you try and tighten it back up, obviously, its not going to be set right anymore, and whine...so I think I have my answer.

Furthermore, other posts I read with the spacer from raytech is that the don't come with enough of the smallest step shims. The shop I had do this build was having an impossible time setting this thing up. The main mechanic had an odd smile when he had it not whining and believed to be set up right. I'm guessing its because he gave up on the spacer, and put the crush collar in, and everything seems to point to that.

So I am going to assume that when I pull this thing apart, I will find a crush collar, and remove it. I am further going to assume the pinion depth is set right, although I plan on checking it anyways. Then I'll put in a solid spacer, and hope Worst case, I waste some of my own time, and a little money, and maybe buy myself some time to grab a moser 9".

If anything in here is wrong, someone PLEASE correct me Just sitting in the car today and starting it up again really made me want to take it out again. The GTO is ok, but it just doesnt seem as much fun as I remember the TA being...