While removing my driveshaft for a tranny swap, 3 of the 4 bolts that hold the u-joint retaining straps to the yoke snapped off. Rather that try to drill the broken bolts out, I've come to think it'd be easier to just swap the yoke out. I have another yoke from a spare rearend. My question is, how tight should I tighten the pinion nut without messing up the pattern on the rear gears. I don't really want to get into the rear gear on this particular. I do know there is a crush sleeve on the pinion shaft that I don't want to crush further due to messing up the gear tooth pattern. I HAVE to get this car back on the road by Monday night to get back to work. Just one more problem I hadn't figured on. I took vacation to do my T56 swap and this was the first problem I'd ran into.

 

Anybody...????

 

Do yourself a big favor and don't remove the yoke -- drill, heat, eazy-out, etc, the broken bolts and clean the threads. Pulling the yoke seems like a simple task to fix stuff like a leaking pinion bearing seal, but it's a trap that will screw-up the rear end somewhere down the road.

 

I was afraid of that.

 

After thinking about it, I may go ahead and replace the yoke for the following reasons.

The bolts are I imagine hardened and I'd probably mess up the threads inside the yoke anyway drilling them out. The rearend is still in the car and I have no access to a lift. Doing it all on a creeper on the garage floor.

Hopefully within the next year I'll be replacing the stock rear with a 12 bolt of either Strange, Moser, etc.

Still sound like a valid reason for the yoke swap? I'm honestly looking for the best solution. I need experienced answers.

Thanks!

 

You remove the pinion nut, yoke, pinion seal, outer bearing, and crush sleeve. Install a new crush sleeve, the old bearing, a new seal, the replacement yoke, and a new pinion nut. Remove the rear tires, remove the drums or disks, remove the diff cover, drain the fluid, remove the cross pin, remove the c-clips, and slide the axels down the tubes until they are out of the differential. Hold the yoke steady and tighten the pinion nut until it contacts the crush sleeve. Continue crushing the sleeve until you get a drag reading of about 10 inch/lbs on the pinion. Reassemble the rear, fill with fluid, reassemble the brakes, put on the tires and go.

That's the right way to replace a yoke. Anything less will eventually lead to a failure of some kind.

 

You also have to remove the carrier with the ring gear on it. The rotational drag measured is for the pinion gear only.

Now, you can remove the one on the car now if your mark it precisely (nut and pinion threads), fix it on your workbench, and reinstall it roughly a 1/16" past your marks. I would only do this once.

 

Technically you should remove the carrier, but I've done it both ways with no problems. With the bearings still coated in oil the resistance of the carrier is pretty minimal.

If the yoke is good you can always try to save it. Especially if it didn't leak. Most yokes of this vintage are scored from road grime and need to be replaced to prevent the seal from leaking after a couple hundred miles. A new yoke is like $90 through GM.

 

Many thanks to everyone for the help. I believe I will do it the way Lo-tec described as I didn't really want to completely disassemble the rear end. I know the way TKOPerformance explains is the "proper" way to fix it. I've never set up a rear end and now isn't the time to learn.

It has to only last another year at most and I think I can get this fixed on my own this way. In the future I will go with a 12 bolt of unkown (as of right now) manufacturer, but that's a different topic on it's own.

Again, I do thank and appreciate everyone for their replies.

 

When I was working as a tech, replacing and pinion seal. I used to mark the bolt and yoke with a razor or marker and count the threads. I'd zap the nut off, replace seal then zap the bolt back on and would barley pass the marks I marked on the yoke and bolt as i tightened.


but your placing the yoke though so it's not going to be machined identical It's going to be risky you are going to have issues most likey I'd heat the bolts and drill and tap. It's not worth lossing and entire rear end. But thats just me.