New member, long-time owner ('00 XLT 4.0, 115 k miles), needing a little help on a rear diff issue. Realized my diff cover gasket was leaking, and of course the fill plug is corroded - 3/8" drive doesn't sit tight, so I can't get adequate purchase with either a bar or an impact wrench. I've got some good ez-outs, but due to the driveshaft and flange, I can't line up a drill straight onto the plug to drill it out, so it looks like I'll need to disconnect the driveshaft and remove the flange. Before I do this, I wanted to see if I could get a couple of stupid questions answered....

1) Can I remove the flange without disturbing the pinion seal? (I'm not opposed to replacing the seal while I'm in there, but would rather keep the job as simple as possible for the moment)

2) I see a lot of references to properly torquing the pinion nut when I reinstall the flange, but haven't found a clear write-up on how exactly to do it - can anybody point me to one?

If you remove the pinion flange, you might as well replace the seal, but if it's high mileage, it may have a groove worn in to the pinion flange sealing surface.

As for torquing it back to spec, when I've done mine in the past, I always marked the nut and the threads on the pinion shaft, and was sure to re-tighten it to that same spot. The crush collar takes a TON of force to tighten it past the original point, so when you tighten it back to the spot it was at originally it will pretty much stop right there unless you're using a 5 or 6 foot bar to tighten it.



GB

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2001 Edge Regular cab, auto 4.0L 4x4 4.10LS 8.8

1987 standard cab w/92 5.0/T5Z 31 spline 8.8 w/Torsen

1989 Regular cab longbed, manual 2.9 4x4 - Parts BroncoII's x 3

Thanks, Bird ... I didn't want to mess with the seal until I had a better grasp of the crush tube and such, but now I do, and will replace it.

Don't know why I didn't find this writeup earlier, but it answers my questions, so I'll leave it here as a pointer for any future readers:

How To: Replace Rear Pinion Seal