I replaced my pinion seal recently, and when inspecting the driveshaft/yolk and end play/lash, I found excessive lash in the pinion to ring gear (about 3mm rotational movement in the pinion). I have also been chasing a vibration above 65mph, and was thinking of replacing the driveshaft with an aluminum one.

The question is, can I (or should I) just install a new crush sleeve on the pinion and set the correct pinion depth again, or is it required in 10 bolts to intall new pinion bearings, and possibly carrier bearings, as well? I dont do a ton of 10 bolt axle work, for most danas and corporate axles, setting the pinion depth is either done with shims behind the outer pinion bearing or a crush sleeve between the pinion and yolk.

Thanks for the help!

 

Pinion depth in the 10 bolt is set with shims between the inner pinion bearing and the pinion head. Changing the pinion seal will in no way change the pinion depth. Pinion bearing preload is set by tightening the pinion nut until you crush the crush spacer enough to load the bearings. You can change the pinion bearing preload when changing the seal by getting the nut too tight or not tight enough. The best way that I know of to get the preload the same when changing the seal is to torque the nut to 150 foot pounds when reinstalling the yoke. Use red Locktite on the threads so that the nut won't back off later.

 

Thanks that answers that. After looking at the exploded parts diagram I can see what you are saying. I reinstalled everything as usual and torqued the nut to 150, I dont use locktite on yolks as I normally use a new lock nut and rtv on the inside of the washer to seal the yolk. I appreciate the help, looks like I will be putting some new bearings in at some point.