ok i seem to be having problems with the crush sleeve on the rearend. i cant get it to crush. my impact wont do it. i cant do it with a breaker bar. the press i think is going bad so it wont do it either. now im not sure what to do. its a cast housing and its a long sleeve not the short little one that was in there. one thing i dont like at all is that after sliding the flange on the pinion and putting the washer in there i only have two threads to bite onto. i drilled out a thinner washer to use and expose more theads, but it cant take the torque. ive not had problems like this before. i know it needs a lot of torque but damn, i just cant win.

any suggestions on how other people do it? thanks

 

I quit using crush sleeves a while ago and now nothing but solid spacers. Anyway an impact will not crush the sleeve, even if it did how would you stop it before it was overcrushed.
I put the pinion in the corner of the vise, you can just get a hold on it then using the johnson bar???? and a long pipe on the handle I reef on it doing part of a turn at a time , checking for clearance.
If you overtighten you need to replace the crush sleeve. You can buy solid spacers with a shim kit that allows you to install shims, tighten with the impact, check clearance and make adjustments.
For the final setup use a new pinion nut and loctite and an impact.
Gary would know where to buy the solid shim, I make my own.

 

Norval, who's Gary and how can I touch base with him?

 

gtr1999 is Garys forum name. He is on here quite frequently. He knows his rear ends!

 

I too try to use solid spacers when they can be located, but this will help if you have to crush a stuborn sleeve. I use a piece or 1/4" thick flat plate any lenght and width (you can decide when I explain what I did). I took the yoke and transfered the bolt pattern to my new tool, drilled them out, next I found the center where the pinion nut would be (make an x between the bolt holes). I then used a holesaw to bore the pinion nut hole, drill the hole just big enough that the socket your using to tighten the nut will go through without flopping all around. Use four bolts to attach it to the yoke to prevent damage to the yoke. I know you see where I'm going with this, it doesn't change the fact that the crush sleeve still has to be adjusted but this tool will help, a pipe wrench and cheater pipe just doesn't work for me any more. I also use nickel antiseize on the threads and contact parts of the nut and washer while assembling, just to reduce the gauling effect while making the adjustment, I put loctite on the exposed threads when satisfied with the bearing preload. The longer you make the yoke tool the more stable it will be while applying the torque necessary to crush the sleeve. Simple but it works for me, I set up 6 to 12 gears a year and have several of these tools for differant bolt patterns of the yokes I've had to use. Good luck

 

Hum, every crown has a wise guy!

 

You can get the solid pinion spacer kit from Ratech. They supply most of the rear end kits to the car vendors. Part number is 4110 list price is $37.78 on the last price sheet I have. You might be able to get it for less.
It's setup like the rear bearing endplay. Same principle- shimming the bearing preload to a set point.
I wrote a paper on how I rebuilt the rear ends, it should be here if you do a search. It was pulled up a couple of weeks ago. If you can't find it I can email you one.

I tried several ways when working with a stcok type crush sleeve. My impact gun won't start it but will once it begins to crush. One way I do it is to measure the original sleeve to see how close you're going to have to get. Then I measure the new one. I start to crush the sleeve on a press,if you have an old pinion or shaft to set it up on it will hold the sleeve parallel when crushing. If not just slowly crush it until it begins to compact. Then you can use your gun to finish it in the assembly. You have to have a very good inch pound dial wrench to set them up. When you feel the yoke start to drag go very SLOWLY until you get the 15-20 in/lbs of rotational drag. Do this without the new seal in place. When you have it set then install the seal and new nut using red loctite while again setting to the torque rating. I witness mark the nut to pinion too in case you ever have to replace just the pinion seal, you'll have a reference point.
Note the seal should be 1/8" above the housing. I had one housing that was off and the seal was slightly dragging enough to throw off the pinion setting.

Here's the seal gap

Here's the finished job


Good luck,
Gary

 

Ratech's number is 513-742-2111 Cincinnati OH
www.ratechmfg.com


Gary

 

Just wondering, why do you leave the 1/8" gap at the seal seal? I drive mine all of the way in, and I've never removed one that was not completely installed. Could it be to relocate the sealing surface on the yoke? I'm just asking to see if I might need to change my assembly method. Thanks

 

It's part of the rebuild procedure in the GM overhaul manual. The counterbore is not full depth for the seal, I would guess you're correct that it positions the seal. Driving the seal in all the way may distort it once it hits the bottom of the bore. Also be sure to use Permatex #2 on the pinion splines to prevent an oil leak.

 

well i used the vise trick. had to have a helping hand to hold the rearend in the vise. used a long breaker bar with a pipe extension. i got it after that. thanks for everones replies. i might try that solid spacer in the future. the trailing arms arent too bad if you ask me. do these solid spacers also exist for other rearends like a solid axel ten bolt rear? thanks again everyone