I've recently put on tubular LCAs w/ relocation brackets and a rear end girdle. Didn't get to drive the car between each, but after the LCAs and brackets were installed, the pinion seal (I think) started leaking . I'm sure someone else has these (one or both), so would one of these be responsible??? I've got the LCAs in the lowest mounting hole on the bracket. I replaced the seal hoping it had just gone bad, but when I took it out again, it still leaks. It's always possible I just damaged the new seal during install, but... Any Ideas????? PLEASE HELP!!!

Also, when you put the yoke back on after replacing the seal, do you just tighten the nut as tight as it'll go with a ratchet (hand tools). Does the rearend (pinion) have to be readjusted or anything?

 

You probably don't have the nut on tight enough. Disturbibg that is why it now leaks, not the other things.

It should take somewhere around 150 ft-lbs to get the right bearing preload which is how you measure whether it's tight enough. Sometimes it takes more, sometimes less, that's why the spec is preload not torque on the nut itself.

 

Is there any easy way to figure out exactly how much? How could you measure bearing preload without disassembling the whole rearend?
I can't do much of anything for another 6 weeks...would I be best off to baby it and just have the whole rear set up again (professionally) come summer? It's been making clunking noises sometimes (like when you let of the gas suddenly after hard acceleration) so I think the crush sleeve might have crushed itself too far...any thoughts on this??? (As much as I want to hear no about the rebuild, please be honest )
I inspected the gears when the girdle went on and they looked fine...should I replace all bearings if I have it rebuilt?
TIA

 

Probably don't have it tight enough. You should have marked the position of the nut before you removed it, so you could put it back in the same position. If you don't have the nut tight, it will probably take out the seal and clunk up and down--among other problems. On a used bearing, you want no or very preload on the bearing--but no slack at all.