Pinion bad? (1 Viewer)

[dinkleberry]

Taking out my drive shaft yesterday to do the E-brake, I noticed something potentially bad. With the wheels on the ground and chocked I could turn the pinion yoke about an eighth (maybe alittle more) of a turn back and forth without movin the tires. That seems excessive to me, but I've only had experience with GM diffs.

The PO had a Detroit and 4.56s installed before I bought it. There are no leaks at the pinion seal, no vibrations (bad bearing), and when I changed the diff fluid last week it was clean. Could it have been set up wrong? Crush sleeve (if there is one)?

There has been a clunk when on and off the gas, which I assumed was the bad trans mount. I fixed the mount but haven't tested it yet. Don't know if I should actually drive it. I am planning to pop the cover tommorrow and take a look. The question is what am I looking for? Wear pattern?

 

[woody]

You may only be experiencing the lash of the locker as it moves from drive-to-coast-to-drive. Once the cover is off, you should be able to hold the ring gear and then move the pinion...should be a minor amount. Also, check the adjusters for the side gears on the carrier, make sure there is no side-to-side movement in the ring and that the lock tabs are in place.

I'm gonna guess normal lash, but an inspection is a good idea.

 

[Outback]

I don't mean to hijack your thread Dink, but I have a speed = pitch dependent "whine" in my '80 that I am attributing to pinion bearings wearing out ??? I have some "slop" that I feel when taking off sometimes too :-\

What are the signs of pinion bearings wearing out or getting bad? Could this be Xfer case problems?

My rig is a '93 and has 260k miles on it

Jody.

 

[Pin_Head]

Bad pinion bearings tend to make a low frequency whirring or rumbling noise. Bad transfer case bearings tend to make the gears whine.