pinion seal replacement

[forestdan7]

'87 4runner SR5 22RE 5-speed

I posted a couple weeks ago about a bad pop in the rear driveline. After reading the responses and doing some searches, I probably need to tighten the pinion nut.

While under there, I noticed the seal leaking at the flange. So I got a new pinion nut and oil seal to fix this up too.

But now I'm getting cold feet. I read some posts on another site about getting the torque absolutely right, always using a new crush sleeve, measuring the preload in the absence of bearing friction, re-staking the nut, etc., etc.

This is a second truck, rusty as anything, and I just want to keep it running. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Anybody got a step-by-step pinion seal replacement write-up for a novice? (No, I don't have the FSM, and the Haynes manual is pretty vague on this.)

Or should I just give the seal and nut to my mechanic and pay 5 times what I should?

Thanks in advance.

[Tools R Us]

Zuk has some good write ups on dealing with gears.

http://www.gearinstalls.com/

[Poser]

Have you drained the gear oil in the rear diff to see just how much metal is in the diff?

If you find a jack factory, it does not make any sense to install a new pinion seal into a differential that is eating itself.

I would drain the gear oil from the diff and see what is going on.

A pretty good pop from the rear end of other mini trucks that I have worked on, that have had loose pinion nuts, has been a pretty good indicator of a damaged ring gear and or pinion.

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Also, you should check if the breather is plugged. It is on top of the diff and if it's plugged the air heating up inside will push fluid out the pinion.

["N8"]

Is this your front or rear diff?

[Poser]

Originally Posted by "N8"

Is this your front or rear diff?

Originally Posted by forestdan7

'87 4runner SR5 22RE 5-speed

I posted a couple weeks ago about a bad pop in the rear driveline.

[forestdan7]

Thanks everybody.
I'll drain the diff oil tonight and see how bad it looks in there.
And check the breather while I'm under it.
I'll be back for more advice, I'm sure.

[forestdan7]

Last night I finally got the time to change the oil in both diffs, the transmission, and the transfer case. Surprisingly, everything looked good. Gear oil was black, but no big chunks of metal on the drain plugs in any of them.

Put everything back together, including a new transfer case rear seal. I didn't do the pinion seal, since after I opened up the breather on the rear diff, I don't think it's leaking anymore.

So why am I posting? Well, the pop in the driveline is still there, and so is a consistent scraping or squeaking (this was there before, too). The pop happens when the truck is first under load. And the scraping happens worse in reverse, but is audible in first. It goes away after I get some speed up.

Does the scraping sound like a pinion bearing? If so, I'm looking at some money, since I'm not good enough to get all the R&P adjustments right.

And what about the pop? Should I just crank down on the pinion nut and hope the preload is right?

Or can I just ignore all this on a rusty 2nd truck, and drive it till it dies?

[bkfj40]

why worry about replacing the pinion bearing and adjustments...just go find another third and be done...I've bought and sold multiple ones for minis and cruisers for $25-$50...

bk

[WristPin]

still could be a ujoint. its easier and less technical than dealing with preload.

[WristPin]

i scanned my manual for you.

the first scan is based on complete R&R of the diff.


this is the second step:


final preload adjustments:


i hop this gives you some kind of direction

[forestdan7]

Man, this forum is the best thing to ever happen to my Toyotas.

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll replace both U-joints first, see if it gets better, then consider rebuilding it.

Or just get a used one. Especially if they're that cheap.

Wristpin, thanks for taking the time to scan those pages.

I'll post the results when I get it figured for good.